Pregnant Becky (Laysla De Oliveira) and her brother Cal (Avery Whitted) are on their way to San Diego, where she wants to have her baby and give it up for adoption. They rather randomly stop next to a large field of tall grass on the way and hear a boy, Tobin (Will Buie jr), calling for help, claiming he has lost his way. So they're off to the rescue. But once in the grass they not only lose their way as well, but also each other. And soon they notice there's more to the grass than just grass, and whatever it is, it's sinister and seems to be reluctant to let them go. Cal eventually finds Tobin, and Tobin takes him to the center of the field, where there's a giant magic rock, somehow presiding over the grass. Becky meanwhile bumps into Tobin's father Ross (Patrick Wilson), who promises to take her back to the road - but she soon dies (off-screen) instead.

Travis (Harrison Gilbertson), Becky's ex and father of her unborn child, eventually comes looking for her, and somehow concludes she must have gone missing in the grass. Somehow, he finds the dead body of Becky, too, and runs into Tobin - who acts all weird. Then apparently Tobin, Ross, and Tobin's mum Natalie (Rachel Wilson) arrive at the road next to the grass, as this is apparently a time loop, and now it's Travis who rather unintentionally lures them into the grass. They in turn lure time-looped Becky (alive again) and Cal in, and somehow they're all united at the magic rock - where it turns out that Ross is in fact batshit crazy and somehow in league with the grass, and suddenly they find themselves not only super-confused by the grass but also on the run from Ross - but where to run to when directions don't make any sense ...

Now I have to admit, I love the idea of tall grass as a horror "monster", it practically lends itself to a weird ride of surreal horror. Unfortunately, In the Tall Grass is anything but, it's basically just a dull routine horror that does everything to take no risks, presenting the audience with cookie-cutter characters having soap opera problems - which is often the case with Stephen King characters (and I admit I have not read the novella this movie's based on yet), with the problem being that King's just not terribly good at it - being exposed to inexplicable threats but learning a valuable lesson. Now on top of that, the film's build-up is all wrong to really suck the audience into the story: The grass is immediately presented as something threatening through music, camera angles, even the cast's acting and the like, there's no mounting of danger, no gradually getting into the threat. And about halfway through, the film even loses trust in its main villain and presents us  human baddie instead - and don't even get me started about the grass-faced humans in the finale, they're just ridiculous.

That said, In the Tall Grass isn't all bad, it's at least atmospheric and gets the most out of its location, and one has to give props to the film even trying to make a monster movie starring grass, it's just that the result is a tad on the disappointing side.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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