It Comes At Night: An A24 Gem

So, before you go into "It Comes At Night," I should warn you that you should get rid of any preconceived notions or assumptions you have about the movie, no matter how seemingly given they may be. This movie is not going to go the way you think it will, and my going into it more or less blind and with zero assumptions turned out to be a huge blessing because I ended up loving this movie, whereas a lot of other people came away disappointed by misleading advertising and/or having seen a movie they didn't expect to. Anyway, all of that said, It Comes At Night is an excellent, low-budget, post-apocalyptic horror film that is really good at sparking paranoia and mistrust, and it is easily one of my favorite projects that A24 has picked up and distributed to date. I would highly recommend that you ignore the audience reviews for this movie altogether. A cursory glance through them was enough to tell me that they were obviously heavily influenced by the expectations that audiences put on the movie, and I believe that they are a very poor representation of the actual quality of the film, which is itself very well-made, well-plotted, and executed. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if the artist doesn't paint the picture you expected or wanted him to, that doesn't automatically make his painting bad. If you're willing to let your expectations go and enjoy the film for what it is, I think you're going to end up loving It Comes At Night. You know what? A24's headquarters should just put up a sign outside: "Please leave your shoes and your expectations at the door when you view our client's films. Thank you!"

It Comes At Night, written and directed by Trey Edward Shults, follows Paul, Sarah, and their son Travis. The three of them live in a house in the woods following the collapse of human society due to a mysterious disease, and when a stranger named Will stumbles upon the house, Paul agrees to let him and his family stay. However, as mistrust and tensions begin to mount between the two parties, it quickly becomes apparent that the house, which is supposed to be a place of safety in an apocalyptic world, might have just become the most dangerous place in the forest.

I've heard this movie referred to as "reverse horror," and I think that's the perfect label for It Comes At Night. In most horror movies, some monster or demon or psycho killer is out to get our protagonists, and we've come to expect this trope to play out the same way over and over again. However, in A24's take on the horror genre, we ourselves are a far worse monster than anything that could ever come out of the forest. It Comes At Night thrives on our fears of the unknown and our suspicions, and I'd go so far as to say that it's a film that's just as much felt as it is watched. Mistrust is pretty much what this entire movie is built on, and I'm surprised that a lot of people didn't find it to be as effective as I did. Throughout the entirety of It Comes At Night, I was second-guessing my assumptions about every character involved and their respective goals. This movie is designed to make you paranoid, and I think it did that very well. The worst thing that comes at night is us, our suspicions, our fears, and how we act as a result of them. In essence, this movie builds on your negative emotions and, in the end, shames you for feeling them in the first place, which is effective as all get out. Assisting this sense of paranoia is the movie's commitment to staying as firmly grounded in human reality as possible. Everything in the movie feels very real because the movie wants it that way. It wants you to feel as if the things happening on-screen could happen to you, and it wants to point the finger at those of us who would say, "I would never act like that," when a character does something awful. The overall atmosphere of It Comes At Night is deliriously and spectacularly dark and ominous, and is aided by the film's commitment to staying grounded firmly within the confines of reality.

Another thing I appreciate about this film is its less-is-more approach to its story. It Comes At Night was made on a shoestring budget of $5 million, and while budgetary restraints can make a movie look tacky and underdone if the director tries to imitate films with a much larger budget, they can also force directors to think outside the box. There's a reason a lot of cinephile darlings flock to low-budget and/or independent movies, and that's because low-budget and independent movies tend to be far more creative than big Hollywood ventures, due to the fact that they are unencumbered by studio demands. But I digress. Back to It Comes At Night. This film stays at ground level, observing our characters as they develop and change with time. This approach was an incredibly sleek one and didn't leave much margin for narrative fat. On top of everything I've praised the movie for, it contains a solid cast of characters that weren't anything crazy to write home about but effectively conveyed the mood this movie is trying to capture. As far as my complaints about the movie go, it leaves too many questions unanswered. I'm not the kind of guy who needs every little thing explained to him by a movie to enjoy it, but far too many narrative guns were left unfired, if you will, too many questions raised and too few answers given. Also, I do want to make my fuzzy-cozy-type readers aware that It Comes At Night is about the furthest thing from a feel-good movie I've ever watched. I might go so far as to label it a feel-bad movie. But it's a really good feel-bad movie, and if you're fine with feeling bad, I give It Comes At Night an emphatic thumbs-up.

For more discerning minds than my own out there, I do want to make you aware that this movie is grounded in a pretty thick darkness, so do expect darker and harder themes appropriate for older teens and up. It Comes At Night also contains a relatively mild spattering of strong language, some violence, and some pretty mild and mostly suggested sexual content. In all honesty, a lot of the draw surrounding this movie's R-rating is far less about what's seen and far more about what's felt. The overall tone of It Comes At Night is what makes it a challenging watch. But if you're up to the challenge, it's a film I really like, and I hope you really like it as well.

Oh, and in case you forgot, lose whatever assumptions you may have about the movie. You'll thank me later.

It Comes At Night - 8/10

Proverbs 3:5-6