{"id":4361,"date":"2017-06-09T05:48:32","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T12:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4361"},"modified":"2017-06-09T12:51:21","modified_gmt":"2017-06-09T19:51:21","slug":"review-it-comes-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4361","title":{"rendered":"Review: IT COMES AT NIGHT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"itcomesatnight1\"\"fixbutton\"After just two features writer\/director Trey Edward Shults has established himself as a master of capturing drama in tight spaces.\u00a0 Like his previous movie, the indie darling \u201cKrisha,\u201d \u201cIt Comes at Night\u201d takes place largely in one residence.\u00a0 And regardless of the setting or the genre, it is a strained family dynamic that ultimately proves to be most terrifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cNight\u201d begins with the death of a grandfather.\u00a0 Stricken with a fast moving disease that has ravaged the nation, the old man has been exiled to a shed outfitted with plastic sheeting.\u00a0 His daughter, son-in-law, and grandson visit him wearing masks and gloves.\u00a0 Duct tape is a part of their every day routine.\u00a0 Making his last days as comfortable as ever, they understand that the old man\u2019s fate may soon be their own.<\/p>\n

Holed up in a spacious cabin in a mountainous and isolated area, the remaining family members consist of patriarch Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and their teen-aged son Travis (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.).\u00a0 Their world was up-ended when the nation was reduced to something approaching the apocalyptic by some mysterious virus or disease.\u00a0 Details are kept very mysterious.\u00a0 Our point of view is narrow throughout, as we\u2019ve been dumped into this narrative at the point when the family has stopped trying to investigate the outside world.\u00a0 Hope is dwindling.<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s household has simple rules\u2014keep the doors locked, arm yourself, wear protective clothing whenever possible, and never go outside at night.\u00a0 The last rule, which is occasionally broken out of necessity, is the key to their survival, because, as we all know, bad things happen at night. And when they are visited by a desperate man in darkness, their fragile existence is threatened.<\/p>\n

Performances are uniformly good.\u00a0 Edgerton, who is becoming very well known to audiences, is excellent with this kind of material.\u00a0 He plays a moral man committed to protecting his family.\u00a0 This role is not unlike the state trooper he played in \u201cMidnight Special,\u201d and Edgerton\u2019s rugged everyman quality perfectly fits the bill.\u00a0\u00a0 But the young Kelvin Harrison, Jr., is clearly the breakout here. This kid\u2019s filmography is already replete with fine work, but Shults has given him a developed character that shows the actor\u2019s range.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt Comes at Night\u201d is compelling and tense throughout.\u00a0 However, the depressing pall that hangs over everything will be daunting on the viewer.\u00a0 And the mystery will frustrate many as little context is provided to explain things.<\/p>\n

But even though the setting and circumstances may be off-putting to some viewers, Shults captures the drama well building credible elements that never seem forced.\u00a0 This is a film that, at times, literally crackles with claustrophobic tension.\u00a0 Just what is out there in the dark? That question is particularly haunting.\u00a0 But what is inside the boarded up cabin might be even more dangerous.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the early tension and provocative questions raised fail to sustain \u201cIt Comes at Night\u201d to a completely satisfying conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Haunting questions provoke viewer in Shults second feature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4361"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4365,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions\/4365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}