French director Pascal Laugier’s first English-language feature, “The Tall Man,” wasn’t seen by many, perhaps because that convoluted mystery-thriller with Jessica Biel wasn’t really the straight horror film it appeared to be. Maybe that explains why Laugier’s first film in six years returns to the terrain of his more successful 2008 breakout, “Martyrs.” While not as graphically icky as that film, his new “Incident in a Ghostland” adds up to much the same thing: It’s thoughtfully, even elegantly crafted, light on plot, character development, and explication, but very heavy on the torture inflicted on terrified young women. For some horror fans, such “extreme” content in a relatively upscale package made “Martyrs” special, and they may enjoy a similar frisson here. The rest of us will again feel a tad queasy about the way Laugnier meticulously showcases sadism while seeming comparatively indifferent to matters of basic storytelling logic and suspense.
- 6/22/2018
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
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