It Comes at Night review

IT COMES AT NIGHT:

A CLEVER, CREEPY, AND UNFORGETTABLE NIGHT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

A24

Something creepy is coming in It Comes at Night

            From director, Trey Edward Shults (Krisha) comes his second feature film as a director, the new horror film, It Comes at Night. This is another one of those atmospheric horror films where it’s what you don’t see that’s scary than what you do, so if you watched the trailer expecting constant jump-scares and gore you might be disappointed.

            But with that said it allows more time to flesh out the film’s characters and be more creative and imaginative with its scares and give audiences a fresh throwback to classic horror and a strong story. The film succeeds and is another one of my favorite horror films in recent years, it’s no It Follows or The Witch but a smart, slow, and thrilling scary flick that kept me hooked from start to finish.

            A terrifying and highly contagious disease is spreading across the world, a former teacher named Paul (Joel Edgerton-Star Wars: Episode II and III, The Gift, Midnight Special) lives in seclusion in his home with his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo-Selma, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Alien: Covenant), teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.-A Sort of Homecoming, Dancer and the Dame, The Birth of a Nation), elderly father-in-law Bud, and their dog Stanley. Suddenly Bud gets infected by the disease and Paul and Travis carry him outside wearing protective gloves and masks, shoot him, and burn his body in a shallow grave causing Travis to suffer from nightmares about the disease and his grandfather.

             Soon the tenuous domestic order Paul established with his wife and son are put to the test when a desperate family arrive and seeks refuge. Despite good intentions from both families, circumstances of paranoia and mistrust occur as the horrors outside get closer and closer and unleashing something monstrous within Paul as he learns that protecting the ones he loves come at the cost of his soul.

            Overall, It Comes at Night is a satisfying throwback to classic horror, a creepy forest, a family you don’t know how to feel about, disturbing imagery, and production design and music that feels like you’ve gone back in time to watch a horror movie from the 80s. The movie isn’t a jump-scare filled gore-fest but more of a psychological thriller where you’re not sure what’s real and what’s not.

            These aren’t typical horror movie character stereotypes but instead two families trying to survive under dark and catastrophic circumstances. There’s no real hero or villain in this movie just two families under the same roof surviving and you care about these characters.

            A minor issue I had with the movie’s pacing is sometimes it feels like it’s trying to set up a big scare when really, it’s either a kid having a nightmare or one of the family members working on something. It doesn’t bother me or affect my opinion on the film but there are times in the movie where I think they could have added some more scares in there.

            This film is destined to become a new horror classic and follow in the footsteps of The Witch, It Follows, The Conjuring. It’s got suspense, atmosphere, strong characters, low budget effects that look very impressive, and a frightening soundtrack that sends shivers down your spines.

            This is my “Go To” horror movie of the summer, forget The Mummy just go see this instead.