20th Century Studios has released its official trailer for The Empty Man, along with what seems to be a malevolent spirit headed in your direction. The upcoming horror movie was written and directed by David Prior, who adapted the story from a comic book series of the same name by Cullen Bunn and Vanesa R. Del Rey.
The menacing trailer shows a group of teens messing around with an urban legend that inevitably proves to be true, thereby summoning a demonic entity to wreak havoc upon their small town. James Badge Dale (The Departed, World War Z) plays the former detective who senses something supernatural in the air. Samantha Logan, Marin Ireland, Stephen Root, Ron Canada, Robert Aramayo, and Joel Courtney also star.
There are some stale horror tropes at play in the trailer: bored teenagers in a small town egg each other on to prove their fearlessness by engaging supernatural forces they may or may not believe in but have no business dealing with. A grizzled former law enforcement official with a dark past that lost him his job feels compelled to investigate a case when no one else will. Prior's paranormal thriller is based on the first graphic novel in a series, however, so the movie's source material may lend it a little more depth than your average major studio scare machine.
Supposedly, The Empty Man is "coming for you." Whether he'll find you remains to be seen: the movie arrives in theaters on October 23rd. With cinemas slowly re-opening post-quarantine and former moviegoers electing to get their entertainment from home, the empty man may find himself haunting an empty theater. You can read the official synopsis here and decide for yourself whether seeing the hollow boogeyman is worth risking other invisible threats:
After a group of teens from a small Midwestern town begin to mysteriously disappear, the locals believe it is the work of an urban legend known as The Empty Man. As a retired cop investigates and struggles to make sense of the stories, he discovers a secretive group and their attempts to summon a horrific, mystical entity, and soon his life—and the lives of those close to him—are in grave danger.
Source: 20th Century Studios/YouTube