Alex Garland Calls 'Men' A More "Aggressive, Ghost Story" Horror

Writer/director Alex Garland has been one of the more unique voices in the world of genre entertainment with an excellent track record including things like “28 Days Later,” “Sunshine,” “Never Let Me Go,” “Dredd,” “Ex Machina,” “Annihilation,” and the tech-thriller FX series “DEVS.” He’s back with his new film “Men” that will be out next month, and while he continues to be a bit evasive about details of the film, he’s certainly leaving enough crumbs to get us excited. Garland is referring to the visually striking pic as “a ghost story” in a new interview.

What we do know is, in “Men,” Jessie Buckley is hounded by James Bond alumni Rory Kinnear who plays multiple characters that impose themselves upon her in the English countryside. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the director commented on the running theme of toxic masculinity in his films and how the film is more of a visceral, “aggressive” experience rather than an intellectual exercise.

READ MORE: Alex Garland Says ’28 Days Later’ Is A Zombie Movie & His New Pic ‘Men’ Falls Under “Folk Horror”

“In my mind, a film like ‘Men’ is connected to a film like ‘Annihilation,'” Garland told EW. “They’re very much about how you’re feeling about something. ‘Men’ is a gut-level film. I’m proud of ‘Ex Machina,’ I really love it, but it’s an intellectual film. ‘Men’ is not, I think.”

“Men” is apparently also very forthright about its themes of masculinity, the women that are often the victims of this, and the #MeToo movement.

“A huge amount of it is about how the viewer responds to it,” Garland replies to the notion that film invokes the current #MeToo climate. “The film is about giving 50 percent of something, which could be touchstones, and the viewer is providing another 50 percent. If that is your response to it, I’m fascinated by that.”

Garland also hopes to keep audiences on their toes and subvert expectations with “Men.”

“I’m in my early 50s,” he said, “and my main problem with film tends to be feeling bored. I sort of feel like I know where this is gonna go, I feel like I’ve seen this or that sequence of events play out an unbelievable number of times. I’m hoping to disrupt that a bit. If you can just slightly mess with that, and keep them on their toes — that’s the plan, anyway.”

“Men” will be released by A24 on May 20 and will debut a few days earlier at the Cannes Film Festival in the Director’s Fortnight sidebar.

Alex Ga