After her abusive husband dies in a fall, Harper rents a house in an English village to recover. Every man she meets there, from the landlord to the vicar to a naked stranger, seems slightly off. They also share the same face. Garland's folk horror is strange and divisive. Watch how it turns one woman's guilt and fear into the landscape around her.
Men is a 2022 horror and drama film directed by Alex Garland. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 psychology, 1 sound and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Black Swan uses several of the same techniques.
Making something familiar look slightly wrong, like an ordinary house or face that feels off. The dread comes from that strangeness, with no obvious threat on screen.
How this film uses it
Rory Kinnear plays almost every man in the village, including the landlord, the vicar, the policeman and a boy with his face. Harper never comments on it, so you start to wonder if you're the only one noticing. Familiar faces turn into a threat just by repeating.
Where to see it
The village pub. Harper walks in and the barman and the few customers all look like Geoffrey, her landlord, while he chats with her as if nothing is odd.
Repeating a short piece of music or a sound every time a certain character, idea or feeling comes up. You learn to connect the 2.
How this film uses it
Harper sings a few notes into an old railway tunnel and listens to the echo stack up into a chord. Composers Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury turn that 4-note phrase into the film's main theme. Every time it returns, you're back in that tunnel just before something starts running at her.
Where to see it
The tunnel in the woods. Harper plays with the echo, then a figure appears at the far end and charges toward her.
Cutting between the present and scattered, out-of-order flashbacks, the way a painful memory comes back in pieces. You put the backstory together as the character remembers it.
How this film uses it
The story of Harper's husband James comes back in short flashes. You see their fight and her locking him out in pieces, out of order, while she tries to enjoy her holiday. The memory keeps cutting into the present the way guilt does.
Where to see it
James's fall. Harper looks up from her flat and sees James drop past the window to his death.
Showing the human body being changed, damaged or falling apart. The horror works because you imagine it happening to your own body, and it often stands for mental suffering.
How this film uses it
In the ending, the men give birth to each other one by one, each body tearing open to produce the next. The injuries match James's wounds from his fall. It's hard to watch, and it drags the film's ideas about men into something physical.
Where to see it
The birth sequence. The naked man gives birth to the boy, who gives birth to the vicar, then Geoffrey and finally James.
Questions
Men: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Men use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Men (2022): Uncanny, Leitmotif, Fractured Memory Editing and Body Horror.
Who directed Men?
Alex Garland directed Men, released in 2022. CineCode also covers Ex Machina (2014), Annihilation (2018), Civil War (2024), Warfare (2025).
What films are similar to Men?
Films that share techniques with Men include Black Swan (2010), Get Out (2017), Mulholland Drive (2001), Project Hail Mary (2026).
