Review of It Comes at Night (2017) by Reuben M — 05 Nov 2018

This movie was done no favors at all by its marketing and its title. Both imply this is some kind of horror film. IT IS NOT A HORROR FILM (at least, not in a more traditional sense of the word). I had read enough reviews to get some idea of that...but the folks I went to the film with were expecting something more along those lines and they were perplexed and disappointed.

The film is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a germ/disease of some kind has wiped out most of humanity. Paul (Joel Edgerton) and his family (wife, son, father-in-law) are holed up in their home in the middle of the woods and have a thought-out process for survival. Nonetheless, the film opens (so not really a spoiler) with the father-in-law dying from the disease. The family has essentially hunkered down. They are good people, but the stress of the loneliness and fear has made them tight, tense and a touch paranoid. But despite that, after some reluctance, they invite a young family (husband, wife, child) into their home when their paths cross.

The movie is about tension and distrust. The two families can work together for their mutual safety...but we also know that to each person, their OWN family is most important. In our "normal" times, we are able to help others without fear of death. Someone has car trouble on the highway. We may help them without much second thought because (as long as we don't step out into traffic) we won't die because of it. We still "look out for #1" but have plenty of space in our lives to help others. In IT COMES AT NIGHT, the survivors have the INSTINCT to help, but will it be overshadowed by the instinct to survive (and in this case, "survival" means family survival)? Our human tendencies to "help each other out in crisis" (as we often see during times of natural disaster) comes into conflict with our self-preservation and paranoia.

It is Paul's house and he has laid down the rules he best feels will keep everyone safe. When others slip...are they doing it to be spiteful or are they careless? When every sound from the outside engenders fear (especially at night), when no one can sleep because of the tension and bad dreams and when people who don't know each other must live together under the most dire of circumstances...something must break. And it breaks in a major way (at least for these people).

The movie is tense, tense, TENSE. You spend almost every moment breathless, not knowing what comes next. There is the not knowing, and then there is the director's insistence on not telling you everything you want to know. You have to guess or infer. Most movies spoon feed you things: what just happened, what does it mean, what do the characters think about it and how are they reacting to it. These are the things we get from most movies. Director Shults keeps these things from us way more often than we are comfortable with...and this heightens our tension and lack of ease. We become uncertain of the motives of characters...in particular the "new" family. They SEEM nice and normal and helpful. But ARE they? What really happened that night? You get the point.

The ending of the movie has been controversial, and I agree that it is dis-satisfying. It is great in some ways, but again, it leaves questions unanswered. It's frustrating, because we don't get the release of tension we crave. It's also shocking. But I agree it is perhaps more than we should be expected to patiently endure.

The film is low-budget and has limited sets and scope of location. That works for the story, but there's no getting around the shoe-string budget. I'm okay with it, but as is often the case in low-budget, claustrophobic movies...the pace can drag a bit. The cast is fine but just fine. Star Joel Edgerton is always a bit problematic for me...he can be quite good (WARRIOR, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL) or quite bad (GREAT GATSBY, THE GIFT). Here he leans to the plus side, and is fairly convincing...but he's not so much commanding as he is simply on screen all the time. It's mostly told from his point of view, so arguably a better performance would have made the film more compelling.

But in the end, it's all about the tension...and this film has it in droves. If you like to have your tension measured out in tolerable doses, with a good catharsis at the end...keep looking!