It Comes at Night (2017) [Blu-ray]
Horror | Mystery
Imagine the end of the world. Now imagine something worse. Award-winning filmmaker Trey Edward Shults follows his incredible debut feature KRISHA with IT COMES AT NIGHT, a horror film following a man (Joel Edgerton) as he learns that the evil stalking his
family home may be only a prelude to horrors that come from within. Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, the tenuous domestic order he has established with his wife and son is put to the ultimate test with the arrival
of a desperate young family seeking refuge. Despite the best intentions of both families, paranoia and mistrust boil over as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within him as he learns that the protection of his
family comes at the cost of his soul.
Storyline: Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, the tenuous domestic order he has established with his wife and son is put to the ultimate test with the arrival of a desperate young family
seeking refuge. Despite the best intentions of both families, paranoia and mistrust boil over as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within him as he learns that the protection of his family comes at the cost of
his soul. Written by A24
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, September 11, 2017 Chances are you've never even heard of, let alone seen, a micro budgeted indie Australian feature from 2015 called Plague, but if you have seen it,
you may have a definite sense of déjà vu as you watch It Comes at Night, since both films share more than a few similar if not absolutely identical plot points. Both films offer a post-apocalyptic landscape altered by some sort of hideous
disease which has taken out large swaths of the population, with one family trying to survive in an isolated outpost, only to ultimately be joined by another group, with simmering internecine tensions threatening to erupt at any moment. Plague came
and went without much of a theatrical life (that I've been able to document, anyway), matriculating to streaming services to Netflix (which is where I saw it, if memory serves), while It Comes at Night has become something of a critical darling,
and if not a box office blockbuster, enough of a success that its own micro budget was easily recouped during its theatrical exhibition. Much like Plague, It Comes at Night tends to suggest horror more than depict it outright, and in fact
It Comes at Night is probably even more discreet than Plague is in that regard. It Comes at Night is a bit discursive about what exactly is going on, though it begins with a riveting sequence showing an elderly man with some kind of
disease being coached to relax by his daughter — who is wearing a hazmat getup replete with a gas mask. The woman's husband and son transport the old guy outside (in a wheelbarrow) where the husband summarily shoots his father-in-law and then burns the
corpse as the victim's grandson looks on, obviously agonized. It's a completely visceral opening to a film that otherwise tends to keep its horror proclivities played pretty close to its vest, tending to deal more in interior psychological issues than
things that go bump in the night (though, as the title of the film may suggest, that tendency also shows up).
The trio of survivors turns out to be Paul (Joel Edgerton), Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) and the first "post killing grandpa" scene finds Sarah conflicted about having let Paul take Travis to witness the execution. It's
a quiet scene, one which finds Travis attempting to listen to his parents through the floorboards, but it immediately establishes the kind of intimate, anxiety filled, approach It Comes at Night takes with what is otherwise a pretty rote horror
film foundation. A kind of cheap scare comes when it turns out a supposed intruder Travis finds in the house is in fact the kid having a nightmare, but that immediately gives way to a real intruder trying to break through a locked door. Paul and
Sarah aim guns at the door, and when it burst open, Paul fires a shot, stunning a guy who is later identified as Will (Christopher Abbott). Paul's first order of business is determining whether Will has "the disease" or not, which he evidently doesn't.
Paul is nonetheless unwilling to take any chances, buffeting Will's head with the butt of Paul's rifle and then tethering the unconscious man outside with a bag over his head.
This opening skirmish amply details what becomes the roiling subtext of much of It Comes at Night, as Paul has an on again, off again level of trust with regard to Will. Sarah encourages Will, who it turns out is not infected but who has a
young family of his own, to come stay with the original trio in order to achieve something akin to safety in numbers, but Paul's reticence comes back to haunt the story at several key junctures.
The bulk of the central part of It Comes at Night documents the matriculation of Will's family, which includes wife Kim (Riley Keough) and son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner), into the workaday world of Paul and his family, all while distrustful
tensions lurk just beneath the surface. While the film would seem to be about Paul and his suspicions, it might be more emotionally relevant to consider Travis the focal character, especially since much of the film's shattering climax concerns his
reactions to events spiraling out of control.
The interplay between two sets of people in desperate circumstances after the devastating effects of some kind of, well, plague links this film to Plague most securely, but unlike the Australian film, there's surprisingly little blood and other
gore on display, and in fact several ostensibly violent scenes are either simply implied or not really detailed fully within the frame. That "power of suggestion" actually works to the film's benefit, letting the viewer's imagination create even more
visceral nightmares than some more traditional horror opuses can conjure.
Performances are top notch throughout this effort, albeit in a near mumblecore, tamped down way that may not appeal to those who like their horror outings hyperbolic 100% of the time. This is, despite some traditional horror trappings, more of a slow
burn, with an emphasis on inner turmoil and shifting power centers rather than a litany of gross out effects. It Comes at Night is kind of relentlessly bleak any way you look at it, though, with a kind of hopeless feeling that becomes almost
suffocating as the film moves to a decidedly barren ending.
While I focused on Plague as a link to this film, there are any number of other similar properties that include at least some of the same elements as It Comes at Night, including Dead Within , The Survivalist and Into the
Forest (among many others), but what's ultimately so distinctive about It Comes at Night is how it resolutely eschews almost every worn out horror trope in favor of an examination of the increasing brutalization of human nature when
circumstances dictate a certain amount of ruthlessness. This is not an "easy" watch, by any means, and is in fact pretty depressing, but it creates a palpable mood and is elevated by some excellent performances. Recommended.
[CSW] -0.5- The title of this movie is deceiving... There is no "it". In fact, there is no plot either, nor is there any explanation for the random events tossed into the film at long intervals, presumably to keep the viewer watching until the
unsatisfying end. Supposedly the intent is to use human nature in bad situations to provide tension, but there are better choices in this genre. The trailer makes this look like a horror film, it is not. It is supposed to be more of a psychological drama.
The Walking Dead series covered all of the important points in this movie (and there were not many), and a lot of missed points (and there were many) that should have been covered but were not. I'll cut to the chase. Don't bother with this one.
[V4.0-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box
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