With the A24 horror film Men releasing in theaters soon, there are moments from the trailer that inspire true fear many women have felt in their lives from the various comments general society has made about their responsibility to keep volatile men under control. The fault usually falls on women when men have acted out violently, especially toward women in some way. The director, Alex Garland, has done an amazing job in the trailer of capturing the realism of that fear and enhancing it in a way that can only be performed in a horror film.
The Men trailer starts with some rather calming music as the main character checks into her rental home for, presumably, the film's duration. One of the first questions the antagonist asks is if she'll be staying alone, and she turns to clarify the meaning of that question. He quickly recovers by reminding her she's technically a Mrs., so he wanted to know if she expected her husband's company in the house. She shakes her head to dismiss the suspicion of that question and answers him, still seemingly put off by the initial inquiry.
Most people who haven't experienced feeling chilled by slightly off-putting interactions might not realize the implications of that question. Some people might find it perfectly normal to wonder about such a small thing, but the reality of that question implies that the asker could be calculating the difficulty of planning a future attack. If a woman is staying alone, then it might be easier to break in and plan some sort of assault. Thinking this way becomes a reality for women as they age and learn the cruelties of the world, making their hackles instantly rise when someone asks such an intrusive question, even if it might not seem like it on the outside.
The antagonist continues to make weird jokes toward the protagonist, and she responds with fake laughs to appear friendly. She also openly discusses a trauma she suffered to a priest, someone most people would assume is safe to talk about such topics with, but he puts the blame for her trauma on her. He implies she could have done something to stop her husband from jumping off their roof to his death, and he doesn't back down from his assumptions even as she stands her ground that his death wasn't her fault.
This line of thinking directly correlates to the general societal expectation that women fix men's mental illnesses and that they weren't enough in some way if his mental illness goes unchecked or becomes worse, especially resulting in death, a self-induced medical emergency or incarceration of some kind. Men's theme is continued in the trailer when the protagonist enters a bar, and all the men in the room share the same face and gaslight her out of her belief that she's being followed. They imply the man following her couldn't care less about her and probably didn't even notice her, attempting to make the protagonist think the entire event happened in her head.
Obviously, this is also a reality women often face as they're portrayed as being dramatic about clearly creepy behavior from strangers. One powerful symbolism from Men's trailer is the fact that most of the men she interacts with all share the same face. This indicates to the audience that all these men think in the same way, even if they might work various jobs or live their lives differently. This mirrors the reality that predators can be anywhere and don't have a big, flashing sign to alert others of their presence. They are living in society, behaving rather normally and undetected.
Men is sure to be a thrilling and horrifying ride as the comparison to real-life fear of assault is correctly portrayed behind the horror style of storytelling, especially when adding the extra element of symbolism with the apples falling from the tree. Even biblically, the fall of man was put on the shoulders of women when Eve accepted the forbidden fruit and ultimately lost her and Adam's place in the Garden of Eden. All of these elements come together to tell a rather terrifying tale that is surely worth seeing.
To watch the horrors unfold in Men, catch the A24 movie premiere on May 20.
