In Men, Alex Garland’s loftily titled new horror movie, a dream house opens its doors to the stuff of nightmares. As the film opens, Harper (Jessie Buckley), a city type working in finance, heads for the bucolic English countryside to stay in an enormous, tastefully decorated manor-for-rent a few days. The area, four hours from her flat, is so idyllic you can hear birds chirping even when you’re inside and nowhere near a window. This staycation of one is a gift to herself amid a very difficult time: after Harper told her husband (Paapa Essiedu) that she wanted a divorce, he followed through on the threat that he’d kill himself if she left him.
But Harper finds quickly that she’s about as uneasy at this centuries-old house as she is at her now trauma-suffocated apartment, piqued by the brooding red paint with which its walls are slathered and the property’s owner, Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear), whose geniality is unmistakably spiked in a polite condescension that seems like it could turn nasty on a dime. Harper gets some relief from the frequent FaceTime calls she makes to her best friend Riley (Gayle Rankin) and some soaks in the luxe bathtub. But hostility soon dominates her supposed-to-be-tranquil vacation, intensified by her still-raw sense of guilt.
Read the full column on 425.
Peterson Reviews 