Blog Post: Movie Review

The following was written for an assignment for a class called "Writing for Target Audiences" in Summer 2021.

Please note there were certain formats and content criteria for this assignment.

In this particular assignment, I had to write copy for an established blog site in an industry of choice.

In the .... Boring Grass?

Based on the 2012 book by Stephen King and his son Joe Hill, this “supernatural horror” film takes one through a story of a brother and sister driving cross country to San Diego. Becky (played by Laysla De Oliviera) is 6 months pregnant and after the baby’s father abandoned her, she decided to give up her baby for adoption to a nice family in California. Halfway through the drive, Becky and her brother, Cal (played by Avery Whitted), are forced to pull over when she starts to feel nauseous. After Becky gets sick on the side of the road, they hear a boy lost in the fields nearby calling for help. They enter the thick tall grass to help the boy and the siblings get trapped in the field by an unknown supernatural force. The 2019 Netflix film also stars Patrick Wilson, Harrison Gilbertson, and Will Buie Jr.

Vincenzo Natali both wrote the screenplay and directed this movie and for his first movie based on a Stephen King novel, he didn’t quite pull it off for me. While Mr. King wasn’t involved in the making of this movie, when compared to other Stephen King adaptions, it didn’t come out with as much of a “bang” as some others do. The first half-hour seemed to last forever and watching felt almost like a chore. However, the moment when it all sort of comes together and the viewer sort of gets an idea of what’s really going on with the field, it all of a sudden seems more like a Stephen King movie. To me, the plot is the only thing that carries that “King” factor.

It wasn’t until about forty-five minutes into the movie that the first truly menacing thing occurred. When the grass crawls up Becky’s legs, into her uterus, which induced creepy visions for her and gave me literal goosebumps. The visuals that flash through various shots, including some red-filtered views of the sky and the mud people who serve the field finish as we see the leaves and vines take over her baby inside Becky’s womb. Up until that point, it just seemed like a lot of aimless running around in a magical maze – there’s nothing truly menacing to keep the story moving and the viewers invested.

I consider myself to be a tough critic when it comes to movies The film contains a few very well-done cinematic shots but overall I wouldn’t consider it nearly as artistic as some other movies I’ve seen in this genre and the execution of the plot made the movie seem more “psychological thriller” than a true “horror” in my opinion. The aspect of the time loop within the field didn’t fully line up for me but then there aren’t many portrayals of time travel in TV or movies that I completely understand. All in all, my viewing experience for “In the Tall Grass” was enjoyable, but it wasn’t necessarily jaw-dropping and it didn’t leave a significant impression on me after the fact.