*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Two families are forced to share a home in an uneasy alliance to keep the outside evil at bay only to discover that the true horror comes from within.
Director Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night is a taught effective horror drama, its strength lay in the audience using their imagination proving again that what's left unseen can be just as horrifying as anything on the screen. Reminiscent in tone of Into the Forest (2015), The Thing (1982) (echoing its paranoia) it's ambiguity, natural setting and Brian McOmber's subtle score all add up to something quite engaging.
The cast are effective, the child actor is natural, also Kelvin Harrison Jr. playing Travis, a 17 year old suffering from gory nightmares feels believable but it's edgy Joel Edgerton's Paul and convincing Christopher Abbott's Will that are the glue and shine here. Both roles have an intensity and both men ooze tension. Shults offers a well shot horror, drama that's brilliantly paced, with an eerie atmosphere aided by Drew Daniels immaculate cinematography.
Shults never plays his cards and as a viewer you're fed little bits of information, not really knowing the scale of what's going on. With characters with welts, checking teeth, nails and burning bodies, the interesting thing is that you also don't know if what they're afraid of changes you into a monster or rabid zombie or something else. Refreshingly the viewer doesn't see what they fear, and you shouldn't need to either. There are a few shoot outs and stand offs but it works more on a psychological level, less is more here and with rife paranoia this offering excels. Recommended.
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