Movie Breakdown: It Comes At Night

Pre-Screening Stance:

It’s pretty hard to not be all aboard the It Comes At Night hype train.  That poster up above is just about perfect and the teasers/trailers have been great.  Oh, and early word has been really positive.  I’m ready.

Post-Screening Ramble:

Writer/director Trey Edward Shults really hit it out of the park with It Comes At Night, but I don’t believe it’s the film that most are expecting.  There’s been some trickery at play in the marketing, and if you’ve managed to stay away from lengthy plot descriptions and/or spoilers, then you’re probably heading into it under the impression that you’ll be receiving a nice slice of horror.  Well, there is some of that present, but for the most part It Comes At Night is a slow-paced psychological thriller.  The only monsters in it are the families trying to survive some type of world-ending disease (it’s never fully explained), and the movie details how their dire situation seeds paranoia and fear.  These feelings aren’t just for the characters though, they’re for you, too, and that’s where this film really shines.  There are a lot of quiet moments, and every single one of them will also leave you feeling unsure about what’s true and whose side you’re on.  Personally, I flip flopped the whole damn time, and by the end of it I couldn’t definitively say I wouldn’t have acted the same way each party does in the film.  Now that’s good stuff.

Do yourself a favor and run out and see It Comes At Night.  Just don’t go in expecting some kind of big scary movie.  It’s not that.  At all.

One Last Thought:

The more movies I watch that involve people trying to survive in a world without order (or whatever we have now), the more sure I become that I’ll never make it in such a scenario.  I just like talking and typing and stuff, not setting up bunkers or scavenging or shooting people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯