Review: ‘Men’ an arty horror film that stumbles in the woods

Somewhere in the southwest of England is a sprawling stone estate nestled along hedge-lined lanes that you can rent, complete with wood fireplaces, low oak beams, an apple tree in the yard and a room for a baby grand piano. This is where Alex Garland’s sophisticated horror film “Men” is set. Garland has proved masterful in sci-fi with “Ex Machina” and the criminally underappreciated series “Devs,” but here with ancient myths, thick forests, figurative stone carvings and heavy symbolism, he’s lost his way. After Harper innocently eats an apple on the estate’s front yard, she is reproached by the owner and we can see the future: Men being nasty. At one point, Harper calls the police and the dispatcher could represent all of us when she asks: “Explain what’s happening, please.” Director of photography Rob Hardy, a longtime Garland collaborator, is a master at stillness and signals, capturing the beauty of a forest in one moment for its wildflowers, rain droplets in a puddle or a slo-mo dandelion in the wind, but also its terror and muck.