The Horror Show
It Comes At Night
Trey Edward Shults
Set in the wake of a terrifying plague-like outbreak, Trey Edward Shults’ feature is a disturbing thriller that mirrors an era of paranoia and death. The film is crafted in such a skillful way, that from the very first minutes of the story, loss, agony and chaos are heightened to leave viewers emotionally numb and uneasy.
The gloomy narrative follows Paul (Joel Edgerton) and his family, forced to provide shelter to one another during a deeply sinister post-outbreak setting. Isolated from what’s left of the rest of the world and human kind, Paul, along with his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), lead a strict life striving to maximize any chance they have for survival. Within a disease-stricken society, the last survivors have turned into savage hunters for resources and of course, any element of trust is extinct.
Unlike any other post-apocalyptic horror movie, It Comes At Night makes a strong statement of the real evils in life; death, loss, grief, and fear. Even though horror movies usually see evil in the form of flesh-eating creatures or hellish ghouls, Shults goes in another direction. Despite choosing a rather overused setting by placing his characters in a remote, boarded up woodland home, he lays the main focus on the dark side of human emotions, and the horror they yield when twirled with a nerve-racking battle for survival. Message received. Fear comes from within, not from outside.
Captivating visuals empowered by constantly dim and at the same time powerfully eerie, in-scene light sources, strong performances (especially by Harrison Jr.) anchored by emotion and the ominous setting of the woods, make Shults’ work an atmospheric horror that you’d be happy to watch.
Surely, It Comes At Night comes with flaws, and it’s premise is not new to the horror genre, but Shults has crafted it with a remarkable skill and flair.
Maria Kriva, HMS
The Horror Show Menu.