SummaryAfter a group of teens from a small Midwestern town begin to mysteriously disappear, the locals believe it is the work of an urban legend known as The Empty Man. As a retired cop investigates and struggles to make sense of the stories, he discovers a secretive group and their attempts to summon a horrific, mystical entity, and soon his life—and t... Read More
Directed By:David Prior
Written By:David Prior, Cullen Bunn
The Empty Man
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Jan 14, 2021
63
The Empty Man draws comparisons to junky studio fare like “The Bye Bye Man” and “Slender Man” but this is a far more ambitious and accomplished piece of work than its reputation.
Oct 26, 2020
58
While the film never quite elevates itself to a harmonious balance of camp and art house, The Empty Man doesn’t lack ambition.
User score
Mixed or Average
53% Positive
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
27% Mixed
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
20% Negative
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
Sep 16, 2021
10
One of the greatest horror films ever made. Deep, dark, terrifying with fantastic direction and music. It has tons of ideas and themes that are all so captivating and the visual connections are phenomenal. Don't have any issues with it. Definitely check it out it deserves your time.
Jul 18, 2021
10
Impressive scope and structure. Brave genre hopping story. Deserves more hype. The negative reviews are from people whos expectations were based on the trailer. Bad marketing, great film.
Apr 9, 2021
10
Criminally underrated, "The Empty Man" is epic and visionary, existential horror dialed to 11. This is without doubt one of the creepiest movies I've ever seen. Don't let the title fool you, or if you are going to think about it terms of other "... Man" films, think "The Wicker Man", because that's the only one worthy of being mentioned in the same breath. The never ending loop of expanding and contracting possibilities, experiences and visualizations that are established in the nightmare logic of the film will rattle your bones and make "your brain itch". The sound design is stunning and terrifying....like it was piped in directly from hell itself. The film went through quite a difficult process to get released, and terrible marketing choices (and trailer) took a toll, but ratings average will surely continue to increase over time as it finds the audience it was actually intended for. This is a guaranteed to be a future monster cult hit. "The Empty Man" has a very high rewatchability ****'s a film that will invite and hold up to multiple **** you like deep horror, get one in as soon as possible!
Oct 31, 2020
4
It's fun to see a film that with its own title, unknowingly lends itself to the joke that a lot of people will use in their reviews, because for all intents and purposes this was a dud. Apart from its excessive duration, its biggest problem is its lack of conviction and it's not that the atmosphere and the tone have been a waste, however both never manage to be convincing and if you're trying to sell a monster, it has to be convincing no matter what. Perfect trifecta of irrelevant beings with Slenderman and The Bye Bye Man.
Jun 12, 2025
2
The 20-minute prelude story is significantly better than the rest of the movie. Yes there’s 2 stories in this film but the first one is the only one worth watching and honestly, they should have just fleshed that one out into a 90-minute film. The second half is basically 2 hours of boring investigation work into a cult with very mild horror. It is really drawn out and isn’t remotely interesting. The ending is pointless and doesn’t really make sense if you stop to think about it. There are much better horror films out there, so I strongly recommend that you don’t waste your time on this film.
Production Company:
- Twentieth Century Fox
- Boom! Studios
- Out of Africa Entertainment
Release Date:Oct 23, 2020
Duration:2 h 17 m
Rating:R
Tagline:The first night you hear him. The second night you see him. The third night he finds you.
Website:
Awards
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards
• 1 Nomination




























