IT COMES AT NIGHT – Review

In IT COMES AT NIGHT, a special emphasis is placed on eyes and facial expressions. The importance of this isn’t to focus necessarily on intensity, like in the Italian Spaghetti Western style of storytelling. Rather, the eyes seem to be a symbol of truth. “Look at my eyes,” is a line that’s repeated by different characters. These dramatic moments always involve a character looking at another opposite them and having to decide whether the person is telling the truth or lying. However, it becomes apparent that these characters should’ve been looking at themselves in the mirror and judging their own character and personal decisions.

Paul, a family man (Joel Edgerton) tries to protect his wife and child from an unknown virus by taking refuge inside a boarded-up home. One night, Will (Christopher Abbott from GIRLS) is caught breaking into their home. Tension mounts over what to do with the man and if he should be trusted, but as the stranger reveals that he was in search of fresh water for his family (Riley Keough and Griffin Robert Faulkner), a truce is met. Paul agrees to take the family in, on the condition that they follow the rules – one of which being to never go out at night and another being to always keep the red door locked at night. However, the world that Paul has built is pushed to the breaking point as paranoia and mistrust set in.

Director Trey Edward Shults seems to be making the case against survivalist plans. You can’t always plan for the apocalypse, and that becomes almost immediately clear. Most importantly, you can’t prepare you for the decisions and consequences you make in a moment. What could have been just a WALKING DEAD knockoff finds its own voice through the constrained intimacy of the house and the surrounding woods. Though many will bemoan the lack of gooey, ghastly figures, the focus on a tight-knit group perfectly highlights the character’s interactions and emotional shifts.

The strong cast comprised of characters that seem fittingly like the everyman and everywoman are relied on heavily to push the film forward. Kelvin Harrison Jr. really makes his name known as Paul’s troubled son in a role that requires mixed emotions that range from heavy despair to restrained fear. Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbott have both previously proven their knack for character-driven drama, and here, they both excel at creating characters that are captivating in their uneasiness. Unfortunately, as is the case with many horror films regardless of them being studio films or art house fare like this one, the female characters are quite a bit underwritten compared to their male counterparts. Carmen Ejogo and Riley Keough are practically forced to sit back and watch the boys argue over who has the bigger gun (read that as you may).

A strong score adds significantly to the tension with some moments being emphasized with somber bluegrass violins, while others are given a more tribal rhythmic beat. Yet for a film that is heavy on tension and forcing characters to confront one another, the screenplay (also from director Trey Edward Shults) rarely offers up answers to the questions the audience will have throughout. This feels both refreshing and yet slightly convenient. Similar films often feel the need to come up with a clever way of explaining how the situation came to be and what is actually out there in the woods. Take for instance the recent direction Ridley Scott has gone towards with his last two ALIEN films. The need for an explanation is often dull and tiresome, removing the element of the unknown that our mind finds so much more terrifying. While IT COMES AT NIGHT doesn’t play too far outside the virus survival-horror sandbox, its stubbornness to distance itself from the conventions of the genre while also delivering traditional loud jump-scares feels like a case of the fear of what you are. Essentially, the crux of the film embodied in its own filmmaking.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

IT COMES AT NIGHT opens in theater June 9th