Plot Summary: James, an ex-cop, searches for his neighbour's daughter after she and her friends summon The Empty Man.
Consider this, you have a chance to summon an entity and you know with absolute certainty that the entity will come.
So you call this entity and of course, it makes sense that you want this entity to do something for you. You don't want to just call upon a supernatural entity just so that it can haunt you, right?
Well, that's who the Empty Man is. Simply empty. People keep summoning him but what exactly does he do apart from making you murder yourself?
THE EMPTY MAN Movie Plot
Four friends go hiking atop a mountain in 1995.
For some reason, one of them, Paul, blows into a flute kind of instrument and is suddenly beckoned into a crevice where he willingly falls.
His friends come looking for him and find him in a catatonic state staring at something in front of him. His friends realize it is a weird skeleton.
The friends find an empty house just as a snowstorm hits and try to blame one another for Paul's condition.
Later, while two of the friends have gone to wander about, Ruthie goes outside for some fresh air and instead witnesses a strange creature who charges at her. She goes back into the house and bolts the door. But it isn't the weird creature but her friends who are wondering why she slammed the door on their faces.
Later at night, while everyone is sleeping, Paul decides he wants to wake up and whisper something that sounds like clicking sounds in Ruthie's ear.
The next morning, Paul is missing and his friends find him sitting near a cliff. They are fed up of taking care of him already and voice insults. Ruthie doesn't like it one bit and goes on a stabbing spree, tossing her friends off the cliff. Then Paul stares at her, still playing the instrument and Ruthie realizes she hates the sound and rather fall off the cliff herself than hear it.
The year is now 2018.
James is a store owner of security items. His wife and kid were killed in an accident and he is quite traumatized by it. When he returns home, he finds the neighbour's daughter, Amanda, sitting on the bench outside his home.
They share an odd conversation where she remarks on things not being very real and James makes a weird face reminding her some things are real. Amanda is stubborn about her outrageous beliefs and is obviously behaving like someone who has been brainwashed by a cult.
The next day, Nora, Amanda's mother, calls him to tell him about a weird occurrence at her home. Because he was a former police officer, he heads out there but why does Nora call him? Spoiler alert, they were having an affair and now Nora calls him for everything.
In this case, Amanda has scribbled on the walls blaming The Empty Man for something.
The Empty Man made me do it. She has disappeared and James volunteers to find her mostly because upon police investigation they find that the blood used to scribble the message wasn't human blood and James wants to know which animal she slaughtered.
He checks out her friend circle and stalks Amanda's friend Devara who is pretty much ready to reveal everything after being offered a cigarette.
She tells him about the night she hung out with Amanda and their other friends all who thought wandering on a bridge was a cool place to be on. Amanda is in a world of her own and out of nowhere tells them they can summon the Empty Man. According to the legend, or according to Amanda most probably, on the first day after summoning The Empty Man, you will hear him, on the second day you will see him and on the third day, he will come to find you.
Ooh! What a fun game to summon someone to stalk you. Gone are the days when teenagers were content with likes and followers on social media. Now they want a creepy being to stalk them?
It doesn't take much convincing to get all the friends to agree to blow on a dirty glass bottle laying on the side of the road because an empty bottle means the Empty Man is desperate to be contacted.
Devara isn't too much into it and thinks it is childish but peer pressure makes her blow on the dirty bottle. The friends immediately see or feel something on the other side of the bridge and are spooked and run away. Why call the Empty Man when you wanted to avoid him?
The next day Devara claims to see Amanda at the mall whispering in another friend's ear. Another clicking whisper.
Devara says that was the last time she saw Amanda then gets spooked when she sees an odd figure which she thinks must be the Empty Man.
Later that night, Devara goes to the spa to relax after going on and on about The Empty Man with James. But just when she thought she was going to get a break from him, The Empty Man appears and kills her with a pair of scissors for some reason and then makes it look like she pulled herself up against the wall and stabbed herself with it.
James tries to find the other friends but the houses and empty. Unfortunately, not many of them have parents or pets and the doors are all open. He heads to the bridge thinking that is probably where they were hiding when he finds an empty glass bottle. James wants to summon the Empty Man too. He witnesses something eerie and is led to the stairs that lead below the bridge. There he finds the rest of Amanda's friends hanging and the same message blaming the Empty Man for the murder.
James heads to the police station and is informed of Devara's suicide.
He can't believe the friends committed suicide and can't find Amanda yet. He knows the police are incapable of solving the mystery as they are in literally every horror movie and sets about to become a detective himself. He learns about a cult called the Pontifex Institute and heads out there.
He starts to show Amanda's picture to everyone but no one has seen her. A shady guy called Garret chuckles at him.
He then attends a lecture by Arthur who says something cryptic about the abyss and people wanting to look into it and some more philosophical stuff.
It is when he mentions the Empty Man that James pricks his ear up and decides he's on the right path. He decides he wants to do some more stalking and ends up in a cabin in the woods where he finds some files on Amanda, Paul and himself. He opens the file and finds nothing.
When he leaves, he spots some cult members having a bonfire and keeps watching them. The fire goes out and James senses they have spotted him. In the next instant, he is chased by the whole group and barely manages to escape.
He goes to the police station and of course, he isn't taken seriously because well, it is still a horror movie.
He goes to Amanda's mother to tell her about the Institute and they receive a call again with the clicking whispering. James takes her to a hotel and they talk about their affair. Apparently, he was with her on the night James' wife and kid were killed in an accident.
The words "Where were you?" are repeated.
James is now at his wit's end. He could have just walked away but he wants to stay on and go completely crazy. He finds the shady guy from the cult who tells him about a man in the hospital that is basically being used as a vessel for the Empty Man to transmit messages. No idea what it is or how the cult is benefitting from the Empty Man. All this talk about the Empty Man giving people what they want but so far he's only murdered the people who have summoned him.
James reaches the hospital to find it is Paul who is in a coma and in the ICU for years and none of the doctors seems to care much about his identity or anything.
THE EMPTY MAN Ending Explained with Spoilers!
James finds the cult members worshipping him but then also finds Amanda shaving and grooming Paul. She tells him about how Paul is unable to stay stable because of the Empty Man using him as a vessel. They need a new one, and plot twist time...it is James!
Apparently, James never existed and the cult brought him to life. The Empty Man tried to use him before but couldn't because James wasn't guilt-ridden and so the memories of his dead wife and son were planted in him.
James can't believe he's just a nobody and calls Nora but she has no idea who he is. James doesn't try the police. One phone call is enough to confirm his doubts.
Amanda seems to have removed the illusion of James in everyone's mind because how is it that her mother and the police knew of James' past?
James then falls into a hallucination and decides he's okay with the Empty Man using him as a puppet.
He awakens and the first thing he does is kill Paul.
Then he enjoys being revered by everyone at the hospital.
Apparently, there are nurses who are Empty Man believers too.
The movie had some interesting moments but James being used as the Empty Man seems far-fetched.
All that was required of him was to be guilty. Did he really need to be taken all around town just so he can be told at the very end of his true identity?
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Yeah good point. I mean why give him a fake story or have him do anything. How does a cult make a 35 year old man? Why not put the empty man into a comatose little kid or something? Crazy, pointless movie. They should've just stuck with the weird stuck in cabin part instead of this wannabe intellectual cult babble.
ReplyDelete"The Empty Man tried to use him before but couldn't because James wasn't guilt-ridden and so the memories of his dead wife and son were planted in him." How could he have tried to use him before when he didn't exist up until three days ago?
ReplyDeleteHow does James hear and see himself in that huge basement classroom? I can't figure how that fits into the context of the plot either. So much of this movie seems fairly clever, but the more you think about it, the more holes you notice.
ReplyDelete