In the Tall Grass
Premise - Based on the short story written by Stephen King and son Joe Hill, a brother and pregnant sister find themselves in middle America on a cross-country road trip. Pulled over on the side of the road, they hear a young boy screaming for help in the middle of a tall, grassy field. Their quest to rescue him are complicated when they realize that the field of grass is always moving, and once in, there's no way to find your way back out.
Review - I read the short-story version first in Full Throttle, and as I stated in my review there, it was one of my least favorites. It also felt the most to me that it belonged as a short story and not a full-length tale. When I saw there was a Netflix version, I thought "Oh, that's cool, they made like a 15 minute short film." But I opened it and it was AN HOUR AND FORTY MINUTES. I was sooooo confused. It's a story about walking around in the grass, how could it be nearly two hours??
When I started watching it I was even more confused, because it began right at the front of the tall grass (I thought maybe they'd add some introduction as Becky/Cal set off on their road trip?) and we were about halfway through the story in the first ten minutes. It stayed faithful to the novella so theoretically there were only a few minutes left. I had absolutely no idea where it was going.
And then the twist hits - not only does the grass move through space, but also through time. Time happens in endless twists and turns, just like the grass does. Suddenly we had a feature film here. It felt a bit like Prisoner of Azkaban, or Insidious 2 if you want the horror equivalent. It's been done already, a bit cliche, but always remains entertaining nonetheless. I really enjoyed this aspect of the story.
Other than the time loops, the biggest change from the original story was the addition of Travis, the supposedly deadbeat father to Becky's baby. I'm not sure how, but he became the hero of the story, which was an odd choice. He's completely out of the picture in the original. The original story focused much, MUCH more on the familial relationship between Becky and Cal, which was not really explored here. Becky and Cal are supposed to be inseparable, like twins, can almost read each other's minds they were so in sync. That was what was supposed to be so disorienting about the grass, where they couldn't find each other. None of that is really in the film.
What is in the film is the baby eating. I wasn't sure if they would keep that or leave it out, but oh goodness they kept it. It felt a bit out of place, to be honest, even though it worked in the story. That's because in the story they focus a bit more on having to eat the dead to stay alive. The dead is a theme in the film, as the grass doesn't move dead things, but needing to eat it didn't come up until the baby scene so...
Oddly, I imagined the grass being a lot more yellow looking. Probably because I was picturing a dry, central America. This grass was such a deep green it was unsettling. And they did the best they could cinematically with it because, honestly, how many different shots can you get of just a big field of green grass and a group of people walking through it. Some of the "stylistic" shots though of trying to visualize what it's like to touch the rock I could have done without. Just have them touch the rock and show the ecstasy on their faces.
Spoiler alert, there is a happy ending, unlike the novella. The time loop is broken and a future version of Tobin is able to stop them from listening to past-version of Tobin and entering the grass. I suppose to appeal to the mainstream you can't go as far as having a woman eat baby against her will and then not undo it by the end, it'd be too much. (68/100)
Quote - "All flesh is grass"
What to watch for - Tobin was simultaneously creepy as hell, and sweet and trustworthy. It depended on which timeline we were on. He becomes the hero by the end.
If you liked this film, I'd recommend reading the novella version and other short stories in Full Throttle!
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