Written by: Trey Edward Shults (screenplay)
Directed by: Trey Edward Shults
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Secure in his own home from the threat of the outside world, a man has established a domestic order with his wife and son, but a desperate young family seeking refuge could upset that order.
Verdict
This isn't really a horror movie though it does have a few elements at times. It starts great, but a big event in the middle that serves as the push to the end remains a baffling mystery that's unanswered and makes no sense. It comes at night? What comes at night? Did something come at night? We never find out, and that's pretty annoying. While you can piece together what happened after the movie ends, it never felt like it really made the point of how horrible people can act when they're scared, assuming that's the point. Maybe the point is they were all doomed and too ignorant to realize it.
It depends.
Review
This jumps out of the gate swinging. A deadly virus has overtaken the world. In the first few scenes Joel Edgerton's character Paul and his son Travis burns his father in law's dead body to fend off the spread of the virus. I wondered at that point, if the father in law was sick and in the house, didn't he potentially infect everyone else?
It's a simple concept that works effortlessly. Everyone is gripped by fear. When a stranger breaks into their house, he's brutally escorted out. I thought they might kill him then and there.
The next morning the stranger, Will, is able to convince Paul to take him and his wife and son in. This is where the movie slows down. Two families live under one roof. We see how that's beneficial and how the strangers wife puts ideas in teenage Travis's head. I wondered where this was going to go. Will it be a family drama as isolation makes them irritable, will someone get infected, or will strife start a fight? Until this point the movie had created a great mood.
One night the outside door is found open, the family dog having returned though mortally wounded. Everyone becomes concerned that someone in the house is infected. Tensions run high as no one admits to opening the door. This is a movie that unfolds slowly. Who killed the dog? Who opened the door? We don't know.
Eventually Paul believes Will's son is infected. That thought is only reinforced when Will and his family refuse to leave their room. Will adamantly states his son isn't sick, but if he wasn't why are they so secretive? The exodus of Will's family is intense, though it is subtle.
The marketing made this seem like a horror movie, and while it has elements of a horror movie, it's more a thriller. It's a sparse survival tale. It started out great, but seemed unsure of what to do after the new family is introduced. This definitely ends on a downer, but the mystery of who killed the dog remains. While is isn't necessarily relevant to the plot, it's a strange detail to leave unanswered. This mystery is what pushes us to the conclusion, but it isn't resolved.
Ultimately I think Travis opened the door. He had some weird dreams, and while it isn't definite, it is likely. Will's son got sick because Paul's father in law was sick in the house. I think everyone would have gotten sick eventually, but Will's son just didn't have a strong enough immune system. The movie ends bleakly. Fear drives people to do crazy things.
This reminded me a lot of 10 Cloverfield Lane (read my review) with John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It's a similarly sparse movie that relies on tension and did it better than It Comes at Night.
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