It Comes at Night

Paranoia, fear, isolation, despair. It Comes at Night is a dark psychological drama with elements of horror, perhaps from the forests that Viggo Mortensen and his son walked through in The Road, or perhaps just from someone’s bad dream. Not bad for a film made on such a small budget, which was mostly spent on quality actors. (2017-09-14)

The high expectations remain unfortunately unfulfilled. I get what it wanted to be: a tense and paranoid journey towards the realisation that, pushed by extreme circumstances and the fight for survival, even good people are capable of doing horrible things… but, sorry, that is such a banal point that this time it won’t be enough (and I was positively inclined towards Shult’s film, I wasn’t expecting anything extra-gratifying for the viewer). The journey itself is utterly uninteresting. Everything is so slow that nothing manages to happen properly, there is no development in most of the characters. I also was sincerely surprised at how commonplace It Comes at Night is in terms of style. And when I remember how interestingly Shults managed to deliver his début! What a pity! The film looks like an episode of the series often referred to here The Walking Dead, but the dilemmas that the characters there have to face are a lot more interesting than in this film. (2017-08-31)

The "scented fart that hypes Indiewire" genre. An episode of The Walking Dead deprived of adrenaline and dynamics. The visuals are worth it, the actors act relatively moderately. Shults's attempt to help himself with the intentional vagueness of evil and cheap references to classical art does not make terror or brainy stuff out of it. The only terror is thus aroused by the dragging runtime. (2017-05-27)

Excellent mystery thriller with elements of horror. It Comes at Night is set in a world ravaged by a deadly infection and centres on a family isolated from their surroundings in the middle of a dense forest ruled by the utterly fantastic Joel Edgerton, whose convincing performance sends shivers down the spine and whose rules are strict enough. But the family idyll is shattered when one desperate family arrives. There's no major violence, and I think there's only one scare, but the atmosphere of both the dense forest and the huge wooden house is absolutely sphincter-tightening. The soundtrack digs under your skin, the acting is top-notch, and visually the film is also top-notch, intense finale with goosebumps included. I had fun, a nice cinema experience. 80%. (2017-07-11)

Mixed feelings. In its stylistic signature and finale, the film doesn't stray too far from the average of what intimate mystery fans are accustomed to, but by conceiving a story that is constructed in a non-classical manner, satisfyingly tackling the psychology of the characters and avoiding even the slightest complexity, Shults scores big and holds the audience's attention like a crafty filmmaker. I have to admit I was constantly tense and wondering what might happen in the next minute, and that doesn't happen every day with American productions. I'm keeping the fourth star for myself, because the second time around I probably won't have anything new to discover and the effect will wear off. (2017-09-24)

It Comes at Night is the kind of film that oozes uncertainty. Uncertainty is the main theme because the characters live in uncertainty, they don't know if everything will be okay the next day, but it's also a play on the viewer because they're not sure what will happen and almost anything can happen. It is this uncertainty that is also a supporting element of the entire film and probably keeps the viewer attached to the film. (2018-02-26)