A family who are secure within their desolate home as an unnatural disease is threatening the world. Paul does everything possible to ensure his wife and son are safe. When Will turns up and he agrees to take in his family everything is about to change as doubt creeps in if anything they have said is the truth.
It Comes at Night manages to create an unreal amount of tension from the moment it starts to when it ends. You never fully feel comfortable sitting watching it as you’re not really sure what is going to happen next. While most of the time nothing huge really happens but you have the doubt built up in your own mind as it goes on.
We have no idea what the illness is or how it was started but get the impression that he has done a lot to wipe out a lot of people and a battle to survive in the world has started with people taking to the woods and desolate places in an attempt to life. It is not clear how you even catch the illness and if you can actually do anything to prevent it happening.
We see the family of three plodding on after the death of the grandfather to the illness of all things. But when Will turns up trying to get in the house through the night, everything is done to ensure he is not ill. Paul is unsure whether to believe him or not but they agree to do a trade and in turn Will and his family of Kim and a young son Thomas come to live with the others. Neither family can really relax as they don’t really trust the others.
This is what the world we are watching has come to, ensuring that you look after yourself and family members. Trusting no one else, at all even watching as a viewer we have doubts and questions over the motives and if anyone is actually telling the truth or not. Such a difficult thing to really work out.
I will admit that at times I felt very confused to what exactly comes at night as no obvious thing does. We expect something to jump out that is carrying the illness but the film just plays with you throughout. Toying with different ideas and moments, who else wanted more answers? I don’t want to feel alone with that as when it finished I just felt utterly confused in all honesty. But now I have thought about it more it was actually very clever in so many different ways. Getting you to doubt everything as the characters did and wondering so much.
I guess a very powerful thing for a film to do creating tension, doubt and uncertainly from start to finish. Making you wonder why and how everything is going to work out, is it always important to have all of the answers or does that just make it even more powerful? It probably does in all honesty considering the ending of the film as well, was anyone actually telling the truth?
A very interesting film and a very interesting cinema trip!
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