Review of It Comes at Night (2017) by Saintdecky — 24 Jun 2017

It Comes at Night is a suspenseful, intense, thrilling movie. It isn't sensational, but it was worth a watch. It may have been marketed incorrectly and trailers and screenshots made it out to be a horror, jump-scare filled adventure, it is completely different; not too cliched, and creepy and unsettling rather than utterly scary.

Acting: The acting is amazing. Though the movie has a very small cast, every actor and actress performed outstandingly well. They really showed how scared and/or paranoid they were at times, making you feel the more submersed in the events taking place.

Characters: Though the actors portray their characters very well, the characters are not developed as well as they could have been. The movie is rather short, and focuses more on the "It" rather than the development of characters. We are not as emotionally attached as we could have been, especially for the ending. Just a few more minutes with the characters and their backstories, for example, would really make the audience feel for them and be attached to them. Instead, the only emotions we have for the main characters are the basic ones in these types of movies (I hope they don't die/I want a happy ending for them, etc.).

Cinematography: The cinematography has got to be one of the highlights of the film. Lighting is used perfectly to set the dark tone. Every corner feels like it may contain a spooky skeleton or other beast. The camera angles and lighting are used to their best effect to make nearly every shot haunting or suspenseful. Many of the shots at night are up-close or are made to feel claustrophobic because it feels like the characters are trapped in the house, and there's nowhere to go. The cinematography creates an eerie and chilling atmosphere that's hard to shake off the entire film, and will even have you thinking about it after the movie is over.

Plot: In terms of plot, it is nothing special. Of course, it is more about how the plot plays out and how it's executed, which many don't seem to see. Many negative reviews say that the plot is boring and cliched, but fail to see deeper into the timing of events, and how they are placed very well. This isn't the best movie I've seen, but it should receive a lot of credit for what it pulls off. Another variable many fans are angry about is the misleading marketing. Trailers and even screenshots go out of their way to find the "scariest" parts of the film, with jump-scares and loud noises. However, these shots make up very little of the movie. The movie is more about paranoia and trustworthiness, and what someone will do to protect their family. The way I see it, that's the "It". Many viewers seem to not give this movie a second chance, purely because it was marketed incorrectly. In this case, blame the marketing team, not the creators of the film. The creators rarely play a part in the editing and forming of the trailers. Other viewers don't seem to see what I see (that the "It" is paranoia, etc.), and just see it as a boring movie that never shows the actual monster. This movie was marketed as more of a typical "monster movie", but this is not the case. The monster is never even shown. Many see this as a plot hole, or that it is not terrifying because it's never shown, but I find it more unsettling. Because I don't know what it is, it makes it more creepy. The film gets so close to showing the "It" at times, but doesn't quite, which adds a hint of mystery, but I can still picture the "It" as something terrifying. It leaves more to the imagination, but some people apparently don't have that. Many say that the ending is disappointing, and I can see why, but again, it's how the ending is executed, not what the ending is. And I feel like it was executed well. Not perfectly, but well. There may be a few things I would change, but I feel like the movie and ending was nearly as good as it could be.

Overall, It Comes at Night is a creepy, atmospheric movie that will have you asking questions, but good, healthy ones that can spark conversations and leave it open for theories. There's a difference between a plot hole and leaving it up to interpretation. It Comes at Night leaves the audience guessing, not just about what happened, but why something caused that what to happen, or at least it should. And I don't mean to generalize, but I feel this movie attracted horror movie fans, who can't quite appreciate a movie with more compelling, thought-provoking situations that are up for interpretation. That doesn't mean it's true, but that's just how I feel reading the amount of negative reviews this movie should not receive due to being different and pulling it off well. It makes you ask questions, but doesn't leave you clueless, just curious. And I feel like if a movie can pull that off, that movie has succeeded in doing what it meant to do. In this case, It Comes at Night pulled this off well, and I believe it deserves plenty of praise, but not too much.