A fun film to see with your crew for a raucous time, but I did find it lacking beyond the “know nothing, just see it” wildness. It’s a good time and does have a nice mixture of pseudo-wtf?! being paired with a juxtaposing atmosphere. The tension, especially early on, is well drawn out, pairs with its consistent themes and allows for some snickers when it drastically guts that same tension it craftily concocted.
Malignantis an obvious conjoined recent flick, with its female(s) protagonist, its over-the-top horror-to-humor pipeline,a nd I think what many perceive as its outrageousness/shock. I might have liked it a bit better than Malignant, but I think Barbarian has less rewatchability. Though that has been the overt recent link, I think Men deserves more of a shout. The lurking terror of what men bring is what truly haunts this film.
This film is all about rape. The specter of it, the horror of it, it’s preoccupation as the dark side of our sex centered existence. The barbarianism of such an act - it’s cruelty, it’s calculation, it’s total results. Men are a torment even if their hand isn’t the one around your throat - it was still their vile creation, bore out from their despicable base nature at its worst.
It is gimmicky and try hard. It does things well, even when it drastically changes tone, those transitions/repositions come off well. But it is silly and boundlessly excessive, for good and ill.
Fun with friends but the frights arent lasting and the fare might be a bit flimsy.