Thursday 1 March 2018

Aaron’s Spoiler-free Review of IT COMES AT NIGHT

Visceral Horror has made somewhat of a big splash in recent years, probably due to the rise in popularity with films like It Follows and the like, and with Joel Edgerton already proving his creepy acting chops in The Gift, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat excited at the prospect of another dark tale under his belt. So, with that said and done, let’s hop to it.

It Comes at Night is the post-apocalyptic tale about a family that has barricaded itself in their home when a virus is set upon the world. Paul (Joel Edgerton) is the father in a family of three who runs a very strict household (who hates to play the bad guy) for the sake of his family’s safety and well-being, when a stranger appears trying to break into their home. After a deal is then made, he agrees to allow this man’s family to stay with them, but is the trust really there?

This film manages to thrive in some places – camera and simple editing tricks that can really keep the viewer on edge by bringing a sense of claustrophobia in at just the right places, a score that leaves a taste of foreboding at the back of the throat, fine writing with dialog that doesn’t seem melodramatic or overdone, and the acting is brilliant.

The flaws however, are in its ambiguity. This film really tries its hardest to leave certain things to the viewer’s imagination, which I can applaud them for, seeing as this film’s main theme seems to be paranoia, but it seems to do it to excess, making the film somewhat misleading, a little pretentious, and overall – a little hollow.

Aaron's Spoiler-Free Verdict: I thought It Comes at Night was a fine film that may have almost achieved what it set out to be, but was also a little lacklustre when it was only a stone’s throw away from being more gratifying. – 6.5/10


Aaron James Waters is a best-selling Pulp Fiction writer who has written more books than he's actually read.

He's also the rotten apple of the group who thinks this whole Star Wars thing needs to hurry up and die already.

You can find Aaron's debut novel on Amazon!





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