'The Batman' Director Describes The Film As 'Almost A Horror Movie'

Warner Bros.

The Batman is finally on the verge of hitting theaters.
The Robert Pattison-starring film will release on Friday, March 4.
Director Matt Reeves recently teased that the film is “almost a horror movie.”

After multiple delays — the film was *originally* supposed to hit theaters in June 2021 — Matt Reeves’ highly-anticipated The Batman is finally on the verge of being released, as the film is set to hit theaters in the United States on March 4, which is just about six weeks away.

With a confirmed runtime of 2 hours and 55 minutes, The Batman is set to be the longest Dark Knight film ever made. According to director Matt Reeves, The Batman is set to be more than just a superhero movie, as the director recently categorized the film as “almost a horror movie” in an interview with MovieMaker Magazine.

“This idea of a place that is corrupt, and you try to swim against the tide in order to fight against it and make a difference, is quintessential Batman. And at the center of those noir stories is almost always the detective, right? And that’s why he is the world’s greatest detective. And so this story is, in addition to being almost a horror movie, and a thriller, and an action movie, at its core, it’s also very much a detective story.” [via MovieMaker Magazine]

In addition to the comments about the film’s genre, Reeves also confirmed that Paul Dano’s Riddley is largely inspired by the infamous Zodiac Killer:

“The premise of the movie is that the Riddler is kind of molded in an almost Zodiac Killer sort of mode, and is killing very prominent figures in Gotham, and they are the pillars of society. These are supposedly legitimate figures. It begins with the mayor, and then it escalates from there,” Reeves said.

“And in the wake of the murders, he reveals the ways in which these people were not everything they said they were, and you start to realize there’s some kind of association. And so just like Woodward and Bernstein, you’ve got Gordon and Batman trying to follow the clues to try and make sense of this thing in a classic kind-of-detective story way.”

Given everything we’ve heard about the film so far, there’s a very real chance that The Batman becomes one of, if not *the* greatest Batman movie ever made.

The Batman — which stars Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton/Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Jeffrey Wright as Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham District Attorney Gil Colson — is currently scheduled to hit theaters in the United States on March 4, 2022.