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| “ | No. Don't worry, son. It's just flesh. And all flesh is grass. | „ |
| ~ Ross Humboldt. |
Ross Humboldt is the main antagonist of Stephen King and Joe Hill’s horror novella In The Tall Grass, and it’s 2019 film adaptation of the same name.
A former real estate agent, he and his family got lost in a grass field after going in to save someone who was shouting for help. After getting lost and split apart from the others, Ross happened upon a rock in the center of the field, which was the culprit behind its paranormal strangeness. After touching it, he became a deranged serial-killer that sought to either make the other field inhabitants touch the rock or kill them.
He is portrayed by Patrick Wilson, who also played Agent Lynch in The A-Team, Josh Lambert in the Insidious films, Ocean Master in the DC Extended Universe, Alex Murphy in The Commuter, and voiced Jim in American Dad!
Contents
- 1 Personality
- 2 Biography
- 2.1 Past
- 2.2 In The Tall Grass
- 4 Gallery
- 5 Trivia
- 6 Navigation
Personality[]
In the beginning of the film, Ross was revealed to be a greedy real estate agent. Other than this, not much is known about his original personality up until he touched the rock.
After touching the rock, Ross became an obsessed psychopath which homicidal tendencies. Promising the others that he knew the way out, he would actually lead them to the rock and attempt to get them to touch it. This was–in his words–a way to give them some form of redemption. Ross would brutally murder anyone, even his own family, whether it be due to their opposition to touching the rock or just out of pure spite. Ross' intentions mainly involve serving the rock, which for the most part are largely enigmatic.
Biography[]
Past[]
Ross, his wife Natalie, and his son Tobin, pulled over near a cornfield where they heard Travis' voice shouting out for help, prompting all of them to go in after him. After going into the field, he and his other family members became lost and separated, Ross eventually ended up finding the rock and touching it. After touching the rock, he became corrupted with its influence.
In The Tall Grass[]
Becky Demuth first stumbles across Ross, who told her that he's looking for his family and that he knows the way out of the field. She agrees to follow him for a long while until eventually they stumble across a first aid kit. After looking up form the kit, Ross is gone. She is murdered shortly after this.
Ross isn't seen for a while after this, but it is revealed how he got into the field via Travis' shouts for help. Ross later reappears to perform CPR on Becky after a version different from the one previous passed out. He was able to save her and said that he was able to get to find the road, promising to lead her, Tobin, and Cal in the right direction. Rather than leading them to the road, however, he led them to the rock and told them that it was in fact the way out, adding that all they had to do was touch it. Before Cal could touch the rock, Natalie appeared and warned them to stay away from Ross. Ross became irritated and insisted that they had to touch the rock. In order to escape, Travis tackled Ross, allowing the others to move along. Travis followed them soon after as Ross proceeded to crush his wife's head, shouting that flesh is grass.
Ross later reappears to strangle Cal. Near the site of where he was doing this were three other Cal corpses, implying that this was not the first time Ross had done this. Ross later kidnapped a sleeping Becky and brought her to the rock, implying that he wanted to sacrifice the baby she was pregnant with to it. He was able to wake her up by feeding her grass. While he was standing over her, she grabbed a pair of scissors that she had from the first aid kit pile and stabbed him in the eye. The others came to her aid, but just as they did Ross took an old bone and stabbed Travis in the chest. While distracted with Travis, Becky took the opportunity to stab Ross' other eye, rendering him completely blind. While blinded, Travis pinned him to the ground and strangled him to death.
Powers & Abilities[]
- Superhuman Strength - Ross was revealed to possess superhuman strength when he was seen crushing his wife's skull using his two bare hands.
- Grass Field Omniscience - After having touched the rock, Ross was implied to have the ability to know everything about the tall grass field, as this ability was demonstrated by Travis when he touched the rock.
Gallery[]
Before entering the field.
Touching the rock.
Killing his wife.
Tackling and strangling Cal.
Being strangled to death.
Trivia[]
- At the end of the movie, it was revealed that Travis was able to use the rock's powers to help lead Tobin out of the field. This may imply that how one is affected by the rock's powers depends on what kind of person they are, as Ross became a bloodthirsty murderer instead of helping his own family.
- For some reason, Ross claims that the rock told him the way out of the tall grass, but he doesn’t want to leave, this could suggest that Ross was just manipulating Travis, Cal and Becky just to have them touch the rock.
- In the novella, Ross is depicted as a minor character, who only interacts with Becky, and murders his wife in front of her. His death is also different, where he is instead killed by Becky, getting stabbed to death by her house key, rather then being strangled to death by Travis, (who is briefly mentioned at the end of the novella).
