Editorials

Anything But Empty: The Making of Cult Classic ‘The Empty Man’

August 11th, 2023 | By Chloe Waryan

From the name alone, The Empty Man conjures thoughts of movies like Slender Man or The Bye Bye Man. But the film is actually named after a comic book created by Cullen Bunn and Vanesa Del Rey from BOOM! Studios. This slow-burn cosmic horror movie differs wildly from Marvel adaptations and other horror blockbusters with its ambitious script and beautiful cinematography. Though the film was supposed to be released in April 2019, The Empty Man was delayed three times and finally released in October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. But not many people saw it until early 2021 when the film hit VOD and began to gain a second life as a “hidden gem” amongst horror fans. So why did this great movie do so poorly at the box office? And why do horror fans love it so much? 

The Empty Man was the last film by 20th Century Fox before the studio was bought by and merged with Disney. History has shown that Disney doesn’t quite know what to do with horror movies, let alone a 137-minute-long cosmic horror. Along with a misleading name, the trailer for The Empty Man gives the appearance of a completely different film. By framing the story around teenagers and focusing only on action scenes, the trailer portrays the movie as a PG-13 Blumhouse film, replete with jump scares, twitchy editing, and violence. But that’s not what the movie is at all.

The Empty Man opens with a group of American backpackers in Bhutan. One of them, Paul (Aaron Poole), falls into a cave, accidentally unleashing an ancient evil. His confused friends attempt to help him but meet a bloody end.

Director David Prior is a longtime collaborator with director David Fincher. This is evident through the first few minutes of The Empty Man, with many gorgeous static shots and seamless cuts reminding viewers of Fincher films like Zodiac. Under the supervision of cinematographer Anastas N. Michos, each shot of Bhutan is beautiful enough to be printed and framed. This prologue is about 20 minutes long before The Empty Man title card even appears on the screen.

The story then moves to present-day Missouri, where ex-cop James Lasombra (James Badge Dale) is working at a tactical gear shop and grieving the loss of his wife and son. After he learns that his family friend Nora (Marin Ireland) can’t find her 18-year-old daughter Amanda (Sasha Frolova), James begins to investigate. Amanda’s room is nearly untouched, save for a brochure on the Pontifex Institute, a note about something called a “tulpa,” and the words “The Empty Man Made Me Do It” written on the bathroom mirror in blood. 

James pulls up to Amanda’s school – aptly named Jacques Derrida High School after the philosopher who interrogated ideas between text and meaning. There, he meets Amanda’s best friend, Davara (Samantha Logan), who is familiar with the urban legend of The Empty Man. In fact, Amanda and her friends summoned him on a bridge a few nights before. According to the legend, if you find a bottle on a bridge and blow into it, think about The Empty Man. Davara explains: “On the first night, you hear him. On the second night, you can’t stop thinking about him. And on the third night, he finds you.”

James begins looking into the next clues left by Amanda: the Pontifex Institute and tulpas. On a dramatic Wikipedia search, James learns that the Pontifex Institute is linked to occult rituals in Missouri and Bhutan. James also discovers that the word “tulpa” means a thought-made paranormal phenomenon. A tulpa is described as a “thoughtform,” “manifestation,” and “Thought + Concentration + Time = Flesh.” It’s a concept similar to Slender Man; the notion of something born out of the collective consciousness into actual existence. This is when the movie starts to become a cult story, in both narrative and critical response. James dives further into the Pontifex Institute, visiting their headquarters in St. Louis, where the mysterious leader (Stephen Root) greets him as if he’s seen him before. There, James is confronted with the shock of his life, turning everything he thought he knew upside down.

The Empty Man was handled terribly by the studios involved. The last few days of filming were difficult due to an unexpected snowstorm. After shooting was halted, production executive on the film Mark Roybal, who had championed the film from the beginning, left Fox. Then the film sat until the studios realized that they were going to lose their tax rebates from filming in South Africa. Prior was asked to cut together a test screening a matter of days after production wrapped. He didn’t have enough time. The test screening went poorly, so the studio made a 90-minute version of the film, and it tested even worse. According to an interview in Thrillest, Prior wasn’t even sent a final cut of the film. “The studio’s attitude towards the movie was so debilitating and so dismissive,” he said, “… I had almost been half-convinced to not be proud of the movie.”

In the hands of another studio, The Empty Man may have been marketed as “elevated horror,” in the same vein as Ari Aster or Jordan Peele’s films. Instead, it was marketed as a Conjuring-esque horror blockbuster, leaving audiences confused. With the long runtime, challenging themes, and intentional but slow plotting – especially in the Bhutan prologue – critics felt deceived by its marketing. However, some critics understood the complications of the Fox-Disney merger, the pandemic, and other marketing factors. Brian Tallerico wrote for RogerEbert.com, “most often, studios bury projects like The Empty Man because they’re legitimately horrible… However, every once in a while, a studio buries a project because they don’t get it. How do you sell a film as surreal and unsettling as The Empty Man? You don’t even try.”

The fact that The Empty Man is so different is what makes it a unique and loveable horror film. The trailer gives very little away, so the element of surprise works in the movie’s favor. Bold creative decisions – such as the cold open in Bhutan or the recurring motifs of bridges and cult iconography –  only heighten the unsettling atmosphere. Horror fans love to claim little-known movies as their own, and it seems like Prior catered to this audience, drawing inspiration from subgenres like J-horror, Lovecraft, folk horror, and giallo. Even on a rewatch, the film offers multiple layers and thematic connections to horror cinema.

For a film about how dangerous information and ideas are disseminated, it’s sadly fitting that the marketing of The Empty Man had such negative consequences on its reception. But it’s also fitting that a movie about a cult has gained cult status through information sharing online.  Despite being conceptualized and filmed years ago, present-day nefarious cult-like groups are unfortunately relevant, making the film timely. Sean Fennessy of The Ringer podcast network stated on an episode: “The Empty Man has been on a long journey to relevance, and I sense the relevance growing over time.” But as of writing, the film remains exclusive to add-on streaming plans. While it’s available for digital purchase, it’s unavailable in physical form – though Prior said that he’d love to give it a Blu-ray release, if there’s a market for it. And if anyone could demand a Blu-ray release, we know that it’s our cult: the cult of horror fans.