It Comes At Night

Blame the marketing, but "It Comes at Night" isn't the horror movie that is being advertised. And that does the film a disservice. While there is much to appreciate here by way of direction, acting, atmosphere, and some crackling writing, the plot never fully engages as it should, and it never goes in any direction you might hope. I guess the biggest problem with the film is that there is no "it," and much of the horror that does happen occurs during the day. So the title is sort of a misnomer.

The plot is a familiar one: Some sort of unnatural occurrence has created a disease that appears to be affecting everyone on the planet. Or maybe just America. Or maybe just this one town. Who knows? But one family made up of dad Paul (Joel Edgerton), mom Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and son Travis (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) are shacked up in a large cabin in the woods far from civilization. They keep to themselves and never, never go out at night. They have one red door (actually, two) that is the only way in or out of the house and Paul is the only one with a key. This is to ensure nothing can get in.

However, one night an unidentified man tries to break into the house. Fearing for his family's safety, Paul knocks the guy out, drags him into the woods, and ties him to a tree, all to make sure the guy isn't infected with the phantom disease that could kill his family. After a good twenty-four hours, he determines he's not sick, so he goes to find out his story. The man's name is Will (Christopher Abbott) and he, like Paul, is just trying to get supplies for his family, made up of wife Kim (Riley Keough) and young son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner). After some discussion, Paul and his family decide to let the three come back and live with them because they need food and Will has some chickens and a goat to offer.

The problem is Paul and family aren't sure if they can trust Will and vice versa. Is Will telling the truth about why he was trying to break in? What's up with Travis and his never-ending nightmares? Not to mention his need to go skulking around the house in the middle of the night; especially the red front door? And this is where the problem lies. We don't know what the outside threat could be, except for illness. So when Paul says they never go out at night, we wonder: Why? Occasionally there are fears about what is in the woods that either result from their family dog barking at nothing or Travis having yet another nightmare about the forest. Other than that, there is nothing to fear because we haven't been presented with anything about which to worry.

And maybe that's the point. Maybe the movie is all about the unknown and what that does to our psyche. Most of the film is about the paranoia of the characters and the fear of being lied to or the mystery illness we don't know anything about. That's all well and good, but again, the film is advertised as something much more intense and mysterious. Had it been presented as a simple psychological thriller it might have been more effective.

Shults does a great job of setting up a mood of dread and despair, and efficiently makes us wonder what is up with son Travis. The problem is a lot of what is set up doesn't go anywhere. In this sense, the film feels like the indie-horror darling "The Witch" which was also mostly atmosphere and not a lot of follow-through. (That film had many close-ups of a rabbit for no reason except to imply something horrible might come of the thing, but it's just a red herring.)

Edgerton is terrific as the crazed father who is constantly on edge. Ejogo is fine as the dutiful wife, but aside from one take-charge moment, she takes a back seat to the man of the house. (And after "Wonder Woman," it's now so much more notable when a woman's role is this typical.) Harrison Jr. is interesting as the son; it's just hard to pinpoint what type of person he actually is. At once he's a grieving grandson growing up in a house where he can't express himself and might never be able to experience things most teenagers should. At other times, he seems mentally challenged which is either the director's fault or the way in which he is played.

Which just brings us back to the main problem, which is that there are a lot of curiosities set up in the film that never has any payoff. The end comes abruptly and with no real punch. It certainly gives you something to think about in the psychological sense, but there's very little horror (except in the numerous dream sequences that are prominently used in the film's trailers) and little that we haven't seen in other similar thrillers.

"It Comes at Night" doesn't really arrive. It's just sort of fashionably too late.