Men

Harper retreats to a rural English village after a personal tragedy, hoping the quiet will ease the ache that follows her. The countryside seems tranquil at first, with sunlit fields and small-town rhythms, but a quiet, watchful presence keeps brushing the edges of her attention. From the trees and hedges, something seems to observe her, testing her nerves and blurring the line between reality and memory. As nights grow longer, the peaceful landscape curls into something unfamiliar and claustrophobic. Objects and sounds recall losses she has buried, turning her solitude into a pressure cooker where fear and memory collide. The tension spirals, pulling Harper toward a confrontation with parts of herself she would rather forget.

Directed by Alex Garland, Men released in 2022 as an original screenplay not adapted from other material, with Jessie Buckley leading as Harper and a production budget around 6.5 million dollars. The cast also includes Rory Kinnear Paapa Essiedu Gayle Rankin and Sarah Twomey, and filming in the English countryside deepened its atmospheric sense.

Critics describe the film as a tense, unsettling meditation on grief and the fragility of safety. It blends psychological dread with surreal imagery, turning a quiet country setting into a venue for exploring trauma, vulnerability, and the discomfort of male power. The storytelling leans on claustrophobic framing, a measured pace, and a score that amplifies the sense of being watched.

Cultural chatter circles around the film's audacious tone and its provocative questions about gender and fear. Some scenes linger in memory for their unsettling mood and stark confrontations, inviting conversations about how society handles grief entitlement and the way a landscape can mirror interior unrest. The movie also sparked debate about how horror can stage conversations about power dynamics without explicit villains, and about what a solitary setting can reveal when the mind is under strain.

Worldwide, the movie grossed about 11.15 million dollars, a modest return against its 6.5 million budget, reflecting a strong but niche audience draw for a nightmare rooted in psychological horror.