The creator of KRISHA creates a study in sublime horror.
Editor’s Note: It Comes At Night producer Wilson Smith is an active member of the Cinapse writing team, so that association should be duly noted here.
It Comes at Night begins with a most measured, controlled introduction to a world that is seething with chaos and menace. While this eerie calm doesn’t last, it sets the stage for film that never caters to puerile interests but always pushes past the horror genre’s oft-imposed limitations.
Director Trey Edward Shults went from having a celebrated short film and feature wow audiences at the SXSW Film Festival (both of them the story Krisha) to having a proper wide-release in just a few short years. That his newest work was commissioned and distributed by maybe the hottest Hollywood house in A24 adds fuel to the fire of this young career.
That this work is a horror film sets expectations that are toyed with throughout. The opening visual is of a sick man, one destined for euthanasia amid tearful goodbyes and a dutiful execution. The stage is set for a post-apocalyptic scenario in which all norms are set aside for the sake of survival.
Even so, Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) make a go as a normal household, complete with routines and pleasant conversation around the dinner table. But something is off. The precautions tell of an outside world that needs to stay there. The lighting work in It Comes at Night is brilliantly done, all lanterns, flashlights, and all things portable, never gaining the overhead illumination that comes from a working electrical grid.
The story gets more interesting, and a little heart-pounding, when an intruder is found behind The Red Door. It turns out to be a man with a family of his own (Christopher Abbott as Will) who convinces Paul that his brood is not sick and is worthy of help. Once Kim (Riley Keough) and little Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner) come aboard, a new normal is found in the house.
From there the careful exposition of accidents and errors, whether innocuous or not, leads down a grimy path that never resolves into good feelings or a shining light leading to a brighter future. Human frailty is on display, and horrific acts done in the name of staying alive mar the psyches of both the characters and the audience.
We are clay in the hands of Trey Edward Shults. His command of visuals, pacing, and disarmingly normal dialogue make any story he tells worthy of attention. With It Comes at Night, he has crafted a narrative that leaves us alternately holding our breath and gasping, seemingly on command.
