It Comes At Night (2017)

Running Time: 1hr 31min

Release Date: June 9, 2016

Written/Directed by: Trey Edward Shults

Review by: Stacey

Someone yesterday told me that the reason I didn't like this one was because I "didn't understand it."  1) If you have ever said this to someone, you're an idiot. And 2) I assure those of you who haven't seen it, or have and didn't like it, there really isn't much to "understand."  If you didn't like, it's probably because the trailer was misleading as hell and the movie itself was largely underwhelming.

Paul (Joel Edgerton) has secluded himself, along with his wife and son, in their home deep in the woods while some unknown virus seems to have taken over the outside world.  When they allow another family to take shelter in their home, the fear and paranoia from outside starts to seep in.

See?  That's honestly about it.  Nothing too deep to "understand".  And as far as the trailer being misleading, that was actually something that a lot of people agreed on once they saw the movie, including me.  I was half expecting more of a supernatural element, or a zombie-type thing- hell, even a home invasion seemed like one of the options according to the trailer.  I actually just re-watched the trailer right now, and I'm kinda bummed they made it seem far more exciting than it actually was.

There wasn't even an issue with the pacing, the movie just kinda petered along until maybe the last 10-12 minutes, when it did admittedly get tense, but it was snuffed out by the ending that just kind of...happened and that was it.  I was willing to forgive the 90% of nothing that happened if there was at least some kind of tonal shift, or even a dang twist from left field but everything seemed to go along as expected: *SPOILERS* virus ravages the world, family takes in strangers, they turn on each other, people die and people get sick. No one wins.

The movie was littered with several plot holes and it was hard to overlook.  I was surprised they didn't attempt to expand on the two men they ran into in the woods at one point during the film, they seemed like cannon fodder when I was almost expecting some shadiness.  Not to mention the title itself is misleading, because nothing ever REALLY comes at night.  Same person who said I "didn't understand the movie" attempted to suggest that the fear and paranoia was what came at night, which I could get behind if the fear and paranoia wasn't already a thing clearly displayed throughout regardless of the time of day.

To give It Comes At Night a little credit, I will say I enjoyed the characters for the most part.  I've usually enjoyed Edgerton's work, so at least he wasn't a disappointment.  And as I mentioned earlier, there were some tense scenes at the end, but they just weren't enough to redeem the rest of the film for me, at least.

I won't dissuade anyone from giving it a watch, because I feel like everyone should be able to form their own opinions about a film, but I will say it felt similar in many ways to A24's other flick, The Witch, so if you didn't dig on that one (like I didn't), you probably won't get along with this one much either.

1.5/5

Available for purchase on VOD now!

Check out the trailer below: