The Empty Man

The description said it was about an ex-cop investigating a series of disappearances, so I was very confused with the first 20 minutes taking place in the mountains of Bhutan, where one of a quartet of hikers finds a bizarre shrine/skeleton in a crevasse and ultimately brings about the death of the other three.

Then, the movie shifts to St. Louis, to an ex-cop who agrees to help a friend locate her missing daughter. His search leads him to something called the "Empty Man", which is one of those urban legends where you summon it by blowing through a bottle on a bridge while thinking about the Empty Man. It would seem difficult to accomplish since no one seems sure what the Empty Man is, but it works somehow.

Honestly, I'm still not sure what the Empty Man is after the movie was finished. Some other-dimensional thing that wants in to our reality is the best I can figure. Why it wants in, I'm still not sure. Why, once summoned it does the whole bit where you only hear it the first night, then see it the second, then it takes you on the third, I don't know, either. It would seem to deflate the threat because that means you as the audience know the first two times it appears are ultimately just a display. Nothing is going to happen, yet. 

In practice, I actually did get spooked when it rushed towards the camera, so I guess it's effective in spite of the apparent rules. Not like you can count on eldritch horrors to follow the rules. Plus, the movie likes creating the sense that something could happen at any moment. Lot of shots peering into an indistinct distance. Poorly lit hallways or foggy bridges, seemingly empty forests where you think something might happen. Although the best part was when he finds a bunch of cultists dancing around a huge flame and they notice him. Wouldn't have minded that chase going for a bit longer.

The movie is over two hours, and it does drag at points, but I'm not sure what to cut. There's a lot of him running from one place to another, but it's part of his journey deeper into the mess and confusion as the clock ticks away towards the third night. The scenes with the police are mostly irrelevant, other than I guess we'd expect the police to be making some token effort to investigate a bunch of disappearances turned apparent suicides.