I wasn't that excited to see the Warren Skeels directed and co-written thriller - The Man in the White Van, yet it has actually turned out to be the best of the three movies I watched this past weekend for review. While it has a very grounded feel to it, there were neat elements of horror films and thrillers to be found throughout, and the early 1970's setting allowed it to set itself apart just that little bit.
Annie (Madison Wolfe - Malignant, The Conjuring 2) is the teenage middle sibling of three, who lives in a large house outside a peaceful rural town with younger brother Daniel (Gavin Warren), older sister Margaret (Brec Bassinger) and parents Hellen (Ali Larter - Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, House on Haunted Hill) and William (Sean Astin - The Lord of the Rings trilogy) in the early 1970's. Annie begins to notice a creepy old white van following her, but due to being known for having an overactive imagination, her concerns are dismissed by her family. It turns out she is right to be concerned, as the van belongs to an unknown person who has been abducting children for many years, and now has his sight set on Annie.
Lately, I have seen quite a few films I would term 'slow burns' and all have really felt as long as their runtimes. I think that The Man in the White Van is an example of slow burn done correctly, as despite the real horror not beginning until there was just thirty four minutes to go in the hundred and four minute long thriller (that includes ten minutes of end credits), I was invested throughout.
The focus is on Annie, but the film jumps around in time a bit, with most the story taking place in 1974, but showing both Annie's encounters with the van in the preceding years, and the abductor kidnapping victims. The cast felt larger than it actually was, but all characters seemed to serve a purpose, from Annie's love interest, Mark (Noah Lomax), to best friend Patty (Skai Jackson), all played the roles well. It was of course nice to see Astin in a small but important role.
The little abduction sequences work at showing that the van is something to be feared. I say 'van' and not 'man' as the vehicle has a life of its own. It often bursts onto screen with a dramatic musical intro, and over the course of the film far more is shown of the vehicle than the man driving it. It gave me elements of the shark appearing in Jaws, of the terrifying lorry in PG thriller Duel, and even of the rusty old van from the beginning act of Jeepers Creepers. I liked that you never once get a good look at the person driving the van, he is shown in extreme close-up, such as of his arms or feet, the face is just glimpsed once reflecting off a mirror and even then just a part of the face. My one complaint with the effective antagonist is that despite the film feeling grounded and realistic in its portrayal of events, the antagonist has a weird habit of walking after his victim in the style of classic slasher villains like Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers. If it was truly sticking to the realism it often went for then I think they would have had the killer running after his victim. It might take a while to get to the meat of this thriller, but the lead up was well handled, I was a fan of the movie showing the van and Annie's encounters in the lead up to her final encounter with it.
The Man in the White Van was a lot better than I expected it to be. I liked how many different horror films and thrillers it seemed to pull inspiration from, but then altered these moments to make them its own. There were echoes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween and more, but all dressed up in a more realistic portrayal. If you are here for a high body count then you might be left wanting, as other than the short abduction scenes of various victims there isn't really much horror happening up to the third act. I was impressed with the quality of the filmmaking here, and I liked the adherence to never showing the killer. The Man in the White Van comes to U.S theatres on December 13th, and is apparently based on a true story.
SCORE:
No comments:
Post a Comment