For the young promising director Trey Edward Schulz, the second author's work - the full-length horror âIt Comes at Nightâ - is a unique experience that secured the status of a gifted director for a twenty-eight-year-old filmmaker.
Genre delights
âIt Comes at Nightâ is a film that, at first glance, seems to be a typical American horror, which in fact turned out to be an original symbiosis of a gloomy thriller and a desperate family drama. A burning problem of the relationship between fathers and children, spouses was a refrain in the "Krish", the debut work of Schultz. Now the accents are deliberately shifted by the creator in a different direction.
The release date of the film "It Comes at Night" in the world box office is April 29, the premiere in the Russian box office took place on August 24, 2017. The project has gathered a lot of positive reviews from film critics and successfully marches through genre festivals.
Storyline feeds
âIt Comes at Nightâ is a 2017 film, the title of which frankly hints at something terrible, inexplicable, hiding in the forests surrounding the scene. Schultzâs creation, like âThe Witchâ, is a representative of the modern subgenre called âneochororâ, the features of which are a leisurely narration and a dreary sense of expectation. Among other things, one can feel the influence on the authorâs handwriting of the director of cult samples of the classic genre âSomethingâ and âRadianceâ.
According to the expert, the film on cinematic canons is similar to the work of D. Nichols, who created the Shelter. The plot of the film âIt Comes at Nightâ (2017) as a whole has a social interpretation. The preservation by an individual of one cell of society and the protection by another layman of the interests of another family inevitably leads to a conflict of both sides. Peter Bruegelâs famous painting âThe Triumph of Deathâ, demonstrated by the director with special zeal, is a metaphor for the film itself.
Cause
The plot of the film âIt Comes at Nightâ begins with an episode in which, after the last breath on the deathbed of an elderly man, his relatives load him on a wheelbarrow and drive him far into the forest to give the remains of fire. The deceased was the grandfather of seventeen-year-old Travis (Calvin Harrison), the father of his mother Sarah (Carmen Ejogo). The family, hiding emotions under protective masks, says goodbye to the deceased, saluting with weapons.
Meanwhile, in the vast expanses of America, a new virus is rampant, the symptoms of which are ulcers that spread throughout the body and blood from the mouth. The infected person dies within a few days. Civilization ceases to exist, survivors in fear of infection and prosperous looting are aloof. From the first minutes of timing, the creators of the horror âIt Comes at Nightâ immerse the viewer in such a gloomy atmosphere. The plot of the tape, as it develops, focuses on the family of Paul, who once taught history (Joel Edgerton), who lives with his family in a country house hidden in the forest.
Main intrigue
Heroes are supplied with water, food, weapons and protective suits. Paul has established for himself, his wife and his teenage son, a set of stringent rules to ensure their survival. In the patriarchal unit of society, everyone is steadily fulfilling them, but the son, forcing to doubt the established order, is constantly tormented by eschatological nightmares.
One day, the Will family (Christopher Abbott) leaves with their wife Kim (Riley Kio) and their son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner). Paul does not trust outsiders, but as a result of long vacillations, he agrees to shelter uninvited guests, especially since they promise several pets in exchange for shelter. Living together at times reinforces Paulâs paranoia, from which he does not cease to suffer from the time the virus spread. This is the intrigue of the project âIt Comes at Nightâ. The plot can not be retold further without spoiling.
The most controversial character
The creators of the film âIt Comes at Nightâ saturate the plot with events, escalating the atmosphere with a variety of cinematic techniques. Not only is there a real external threat looming over the heroes, and each of their attacks on the street day or night is extremely dangerous, they still fear each other, and no less than being infected. Due to the limited resources necessary for survival, everyone is perceived as an âextra mouthâ. Especially when the lives of your loved ones are at stake. Are you a good person or not, but your family is definitely more expensive than strangers. And even cohabitation is not able to change this.
The director carefully distinguishes among the characters Travis - the most controversial hero of the film, grown in unquestioning obedience to relatives. The family of strangers that came to their territory is a completely different communication, saturated with emotional intimacy and warmth. Therefore, for a boy, a collision with them is extremely painful. The admissibility of another model of behavior, the chance to live life is otherwise broken up by the impenetrable confidence of his father, convinced that "the whole world is against them."
For simplicity
Schultz's work is positioned by film experts as the author's first-exposure horror. The low-budget project ($ 5,000,000) is talentedly shot and atmospheric. Moderate timing (91 minutes) is beneficial for him: the dialogues are spelled out qualitatively and sharp, the action does not sag, skillfully built suspense. At the same time, the story has nothing superfluous; itâs not without reason that individual reviewers, analyzing âIt Comes at Night,â call the plot rather unpretentious.
However, the outward simplicity conceals textbook reflections on good and evil, freedom of choice, responsibility and duty. The horrors occurring around are just a backdrop for generating a tense, balancing on the brink of conflict situation in which the essence of the heroes is fully revealed. Characters feverishly rushing between life and death run the risk of prostrating themselves before the impending darkness if they do not find the light within themselves. But finding glimmers of light, surrounded by impenetrable darkness, is not an easy task. To preserve courage, not to lose hope, and not to lose confidence in people in painful and painful conditions is practically impossible.
Paranoid guesses grow like a snowball, and human emotions and passions at any moment can destroy the strong, at first glance, the foundation of ordinary happiness. In âIt Comes at Night,â the plot focuses primarily on this.
Opposite opinion
In fairness, it is worth noting that among the mass of enthusiastic reviews and reviews, a small percentage are skeptical assessments of the storyline of the picture and the whole project. According to skeptical authors, the plot of the film is oversaturated with everyday details of the characters' lives, night visions and prolonged dialogs. From this, at some point, the atmosphere ceases to work to the fullest; acting skills are not impressive.
Such an opinion has a right to exist, because the brainchild of Schultz, although it has reimbursed its budget, has not become a rolling sensation. However, in terms of genre, this is a stylish and powerful work, therefore it is recommended to watch the movie in cinemas in order to fully experience the enveloping atmosphere of a hopeless nightmare.