It Comes at Night |
  • USA • 2017 • 91m •    • Directed by: Trey Edward Shults. • Starring: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Griffin Robert Faulkner, David Pendleton, Mikey, Chase Joliet, Mick O'Rourke. • Music by: Brian McOmber.      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.
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Earlier this year I was pleasantly surprised by the sequel to Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane. Rather than expanding the story to global catastrophe, we entered a very intimate setting with only 3 characters. In that film we knew what waited outside the bunker, making it an emotional game of duality, prison or sanctuary? Somehow, It Comes at Night accomplishes something very similar, without a prequel to add any suggestion as to where the terror is derived. In a remote woodland, in a boarded-up two-story cabin, we again have three characters that have secluded themselves from an unnamed horror. Paul, Travis, and Sarah don't go out at night; they wear gas masks at the slightest foreign element; and seem prepared for anything. Paul (Joel Edgerton) is a hardened man, shouldering the desperation so that his wife and son can live rather than just survive. His son, Travis, is in his late teens and has just buried his grandfather. The grandfather's death, from an unspecific disease, is both a red herring and catalyst for what we begin to understand is an isolated life amidst an apocalypse.
The nature of the threat, beyond a sickness, is maddeningly hinted at. Can we expect zombies? Might there be mutant animals in the hills? The ambiguity of the threat could easily become a cheap plot device, if indeed the movie were about the threat. The real story begins when a second family ends up on Paul's doorstep. They are a mirror to Paul's family; a husband, Will; wife, Kim; and child, Andrew. Will's family is younger, and in greater need. Paul sees it as a duty to save those who can be, but makes it clear that his obligations go no farther than that.
Social graces work juxtaposed to desperate measures so that politeness is relegated to curt respect. Nothing is free in this environment so harsh rules are accepted without question, and hard work is an expectation. Andrew is only 4 years old and Travis becomes the bridge between this young family and his stern father, breaking protocol for the sake of harmony. The protocol of safety is broken down on the first day. Gas masks are to be worn under strict conditions; the only entrance to the home is under Paul's control, and trust is a privilege that will ride on a razor's edge.
The performance that carries this movie is from Travis, Kelvin Harrison Jr. He is the "us" in the movie and expresses every human emotion the setting deprives from others. Travis is a teenager almost non- existent in horror films. He loves, fears, but never shows that he is trying to prove himself. His character in almost any other suspense thriller would be gunning to live up to his father's expectations, and add to the divide between the two families. We find from his mourning over his grandfather, and horrible nightmares of suffering the same fate, that he is a child appropriately acting his age. He lusts after Kim, but doesn't create untoward drama. He dotes on the young Andrew, and respects Will. We feel his misery as he watches the humanity in his home unravel.
Always in the margins of each scene is the implied horror. I found my speculation for what it might be waning steadily to the film's conclusion. Some might find the ending cheap, or anti-climactic. I can't imagine it ending any other way. The final moments are a subtle reveal that make the earlier climax all the more heart wrenching. If you feel that you missed something when the credits start rolling, you were looking for the wrong monster.
Review by Icedooitle from the Internet Movie Database.
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