Kabe-otoko

"The wall man" is a strange movie... it basically revolves around a couple of which the woman works on an annoying entertainment program and the man as a photographer and artist. Somehow a rumor gets spread about a man living inside the walls and watching people. The entertainment program picks it up and keeps repeating it until it becomes an urban legend. Some viewers respond to it and also the photographer gets obsessed with this idea and starts talking mainly about "the wall man" and taking photos of empty walls. Now when you think you get a horror movie you are plain wrong and I think IMDb should change that genre. There is just one scene involving a nightmare that is dealing with horror themes. The rest is just about the obsession with that idea and the photographer descending into madness and talking to the wall man. This movie is rather an odd drama than a horror movie and its message to me still is not quite clear. The whole subject of how rumors spread and how media makes people believe things and act strange is pretty much at the center. Strange TV-Shows always are intercut... the womans show seems ridiculous and most other shows are depicted equally with men wearing womens wigs while reading news. Most of the time the photographer stares at walls a TV is on and the rumor about the wall man also involves him watching TV and changing channels. The movie starts off very interesting with the visualization of the wall man moving inside the wall and watching people, also music is used in an atmospheric way and the movie has some nice audio/visual ideas. Unfortunately it is very fragmented changing from moody dark scenes to ridiculous TV Shows and the photographer always smiling in a strange overly happy way. "The wall man" sure is rather a symbol for either modern media craze or the descend of the characters into madness or their obsession with a subject the focus too much on... I didn't quite get it. Since you never see the Wall man and there is hardly any blood or shocks "The wall man" to me rather is a pretty offbeat drama that is way too fragmented to fully grasp the idea behind it.

Urban legends of any sort are always cool to ponder about. And when I heard about The Wall Man, a force of sorts that lives in the walls, all walls, I was pretty excited about the idea. It's not everyday you get movies like this, so I quickly grabbed the chance to check it out. Well, overall the film is good enough I guess, but for this guy it didn't deliver enough, of anything.

Photographer/Artist becomes obsessed with The Wall Man. That is basically what the movie revolves around. You do have some side characters like his girlfriend, and his helpers. But really, any time the movie felt like it was going anywhere was when our lead man was on screen. Only because he was obsessed with this Wall Man, and that is why we are watching the film. It's all about the Wall Man, and if we're not lookin at a wall, the movie tends to drag. Haha, would you believe that? Would you believe a wall, a blank wall, could create anticipation? Well, believe it. Easily the best scenes of the movie are when the characters are talking to, leaning on or staring at the walls. Haha, that sounds crazy.

Overall the movie moved at a nice pace, a little uneventful at times. It wasn't as creepy as I'd like it to be, but hell, I bet it's tough to make walls creepy. Also, the ending is kinda confusing. But no matter, with great production and a cool idea The Wall Man is a good enough flick. 6.5 outta 10