‘The Tall Man’ Goes Big With New Posters and a Trailer

It's been four years since French director Pascal Laugier delivered his brutal, almost unwatchable horror film 'Martyrs,' and nearly as long since we've heard anything about his follow-up effort. That ends today with two posters and a trailer for 'The Tall Man.'

Laugier caused quite a stir on the horror scene with his previous picture, which could best be described as metaphysical torture porn and featured scenes of incredibly vicious violence. Yet the movie did have higher ambitions and was clearly the work of a gifted filmmaker, marking Laugier as a talent to watch.

His long-announced 'The Tall Man' is finally bearing down on us and it seems to indicate a pivot away from the darker, confrontational 'Martyrs' into more traditional horror territory. Jessica Biel stars as a nurse who lives in a small, dying town beset by the disappearances of several children -- all allegedly taken by a mysterious figure known as the Tall Man. Here's the official synopsis:

In an isolated, slowly dying mining town, children are vanishing without a trace – abducted, the townsfolk whisper, by a mysterious entity known locally as “The Tall Man.” Town nurse Julia Denning seems skeptical…until her young David disappears in the middle of night. Frantic to rescue the boy, Julia lives every parent’s darkest nightmare in this twisting, shock-around-each-corner thriller from acclaimed director Pascal Laugier ('Martyrs') called THE TALL MAN.

Sounds spooky enough, and we liked it when we caught it SXSW festival earlier this year. Check out the international trailer, which calls the movie 'The Secret,' and the two posters (one domestic and one international, the latter also using the title 'The Secret') and see what you think. The movie opens from Image Entertainment in limited release on August 31st, before going to DVD on September 25th.