JP Nunez
About a month and a half ago, we got our first teaser trailer for Alex Garland’s upcoming film Men. It was brief and mysterious, so it didn’t really tell us much about what to expect. It just hinted at the movie’s tone and some of its creepy imagery, but it was enough to get us interested. And now, just six weeks later, we’ve finally gotten our first full-length trailer for the film and it’s just as good as the teaser.
For starters, this new Men trailer tells us a bit more about the movie’s plot. For example, we already knew it was about a woman named Harper who goes to the countryside to heal after a horrific tragedy, and now we know that the tragedy was her husband’s (apparent) suicide. Similarly, we knew that something (or someone) was going to stalk her, and this new trailer implies that it’s some sort of shapeshifter who takes the form of different men.
Beyond that, we’re still pretty much in the dark about the movie’s plot, but that’s a good thing. It’s always better to learn about a story as we see it unfold in front of our eyes, so if a trailer can get us interested while still keeping the plot a mystery, it’s done its job.
And that’s exactly what this full-length Men trailer does. While it repeats a lot of footage from the teaser, it also gives us enough new content to hammer home just how eerie this film is going to be. In particular, it shows us a bunch of male characters that Harper meets around her new home, and pretty much all of them are super creepy.
They don’t do anything too explicitly horrific, but their mannerisms and the way they deliver their lines let us know that something isn’t quite right with them. On top of that, some of them seem to be played by the same actor, so that adds another layer to this already terrifying mystery.
Then, in the last 20 seconds or so, the trailer gives us a brief glimpse of some full-on horror, and it’s awesome. We can’t tell exactly what’s going on, but if these few moments are any indication, the payoff in this movie is going to be just as good as the setup.
When you put this all together, you get one hell of a trailer, so I absolutely can’t wait to watch Men. It’s been on my most-anticipated list ever since I first heard about it, and you can bet I’m going to be first in line to see it when it finally comes out.
Men hits theaters on May 20.
