Jessica Biel is one of today’s hottest young actresses. She started out on the soap opera 7th Heaven and eventually transitioned to feature films. Her latest film The Tall Man is a little-known thriller which sadly doesn’t really show her true talent and range as an actress. She showed lots of promise in the horror/thriller genre with the 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre but unfortunately, The Tall Man is just a scattered and confusing mess.

Cold Rock, Washington is a poor mining town in the middle of nowhere. Nothing really happens there until a series a child disappearances plagues the area. The town has nicknamed the possible kidnapper “The Tall Man”, a supernatural baddie who abducts young children. The film follows Julia Denning (Biel), a nurse, whose daughter gets taken by the Tall Man and her subsequent search for her daughter and the truth.

The Tall Man is a real disaster. There are bits of a good movie here but they are buried under an over-complicated plot, B-movie actors and a mediocre script. Biel tries her best to drag this trashy thriller out of the depths of despair but even she can’t save it.

Stories about missing children, if made the right way can draw out powerful performances from the adult actors who are searching for said children in the film. Mel Gibson’s performance in Ransom is a fine example of this. He showed raw emotion and showed that he has a real purpose throughout the film. In The Tall Man, Jessica Biel’s character has a purpose but it just doesn’t shine through. She’s too busy covered in fake blood and breathing heavily, that she fails to give a performance audiences can really enjoy. It really is too bad but The Tall Man is a big disappointment.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

The bonus features for The Tall Man fall somewhat short. There are visual concepts, a deleted scene and a trailer for the film.