JP Nunez
Trailers have a tough job. They have to show enough to convince people to watch the movie, but they also have to safeguard all the film’s secrets. That’s an almost impossible balance to get right, but the trailer for Alex Garland’s upcoming movie Men absolutely nails it.
Plot details are scarce right now so all we know is that Men is about a woman named Harper who goes to the English countryside to heal after some sort of tragic experience. However, someone (or something) begins to stalk her, and this ordeal eventually becomes a full-blown nightmare.
That’s super vague, but it’s also super intriguing. Who or what is stalking Harper, and what does it want? That’s already an interesting mystery on paper, and when you watch the trailer, it becomes even more captivating. We see glimpses of what appears to be a man stalking our main character, but most of the time, he’s too far away to get a good look at him.
And the one time we do see him clearly, he disappears in the blink of an eye, so we know something is up. We just don’t know what that something is. Is Harper’s stalker a supernatural entity, or is this a Repulsion-style psychological chiller? We simply don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.
On top of that great mystery, the Men trailer also features a superb atmosphere. It’s soaked in a feeling of inescapable dread from beginning to end so you just know the movie is going to keep your eyes glued to the screen the entire time.
All in all, this is just about a perfect piece of marketing. It lets us know without a doubt that fans of slow-burn, atmospheric horror are not going to want to miss this film, but it manages to do so without spoiling any of the movie’s mysteries. I know I’m completely sold, and if Men is anywhere near as good as this trailer, it’s sure to be one of the best horror films of the year.
Men hits theaters on May 20.
