Review Quickies: "It Comes at Night" & "Hounds of Love"

IT COMES AT NIGHT

Written & Directed by: Trey Edwards Shults

Starring:  Joel Edgerton 

               Christopher Abbott 

               Carmen Ejogo

               Riley Keough 

               Kelvin Harrison Jr. 

"Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son. But this will soon be put to the test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge."

Is it possible to recognize how well made and well acted a film is and still not like it? That's the question I had when leaving Trey Edwards Shults's sophomore film It Comes at Night. Coming off of his breakout debut, Krisha, Shults has immediately shot up the ranks of "Must Watch" directors for me. When I heard he was doing a horror film next my interest was piqued. Krisha is not a horror film but it's paced and shot like one and Shults ramps the tension up until you almost can't take it anymore. So if he was able to do that in a film that wasn't horror, there was no way he wouldn't be able to do that within the confines of straight up horror, right? Well, yes and no. 

It Comes at Night is exactly what I expected from him in terms of intensity and proficiency. It's an expertly crafted, taut horror film that never give too much away and by the end you're gripping your seat. That's exactly what you want in horror. However, I still left feeling so letdown and it's a little hard to place why. The marketing from A24 presented us with a mystery. What was stalking Joel Edgerton and his family? Was there something out there at all? Is it paranormal? Many questions surrounded the film and there was quite a bit of anticipation surrounding the release. While critical reaction has been pretty positive, I've heard from multiple theater goers (including the audience I attended the film with) that they hated the film. Why? Because that mystery that the trailers and posters built is never really resolved. That's not a spoiler by the way, it just is what it is.

Now, I want to be clear I didn't dislike the film for its lack of resolution. In fact, I love films that offer little explanation or cause you to leave with more questions. I really enjoy having to think about a film after leaving. It Comes at Night doesn't really offer up much to think about.  It's an unremarkable experience with a professionally glossy sheen. There's nothing to sink your teeth into. There's a vague mention that we're witnessing the fallout of a zombie apocalypse as Paul (Edgerton) and his family have left civilization after a disease has spread. The film starts with them having to kill and bury Grandpa who's succumbed to the disease. Their house is broken into one night and they find Will (Christopher Abbott) and well, from there I don't want to give much else away. 

All of this sounds slightly compelling, I'm sure but nothing resonates. You watch the film and sometimes ask yourself "Should I care about these people?" and you never really do. These are some of the least emotionally resonate characters I've seen in awhile. That's not to say the acting is bad, far from it. Edgerton and his family (Carmen Ejogo and Kelvin Harrison Jr.) are all good to great in this. Edgerton has become one of the more interesting actors working today and again, he turns in a stellar performance. There's just nothing to these people. We've seen characters and situations like this countless times before. Shults's script does almost nothing to distinguish them or this setting from "Post Apocalyptic Nightmare Part 492." It's just another zombie-ish film at the end of the day. 

That's not to say that that's a bad thing. We've seen plenty of post-apocalyptic films and at this point most of them don't stand out from one another. So I'm not going to penalize Shults because he's done just that. I just don't think there's anything interesting about the film he's given us or the characters he's written. The lack of emotional payoff can work extremely well if you're invested in the plot and characters but for me, this just didn't do it. There's so many pieces to this film that work though. Aside from the acting, Shults can stage a scene so well. His use of "less is more" gets your heart pumping and he's excellent in building intensity. Drew Daniels's cinematography is gorgeous. You won't see too many horror films shot this well. A lot of the various parts work you over and almost convinced me to like this film. They just never come together to form a cohesive film that works. It's too bad because something made this well shouldn't leave an impact so small. At the end of the day you just find yourself immediately forgetting most of what you just saw. For all of its intensity, it's the lack of interest that'll kill you.

VERDICT

6/10

HOUNDS OF LOVE

Written & Directed by: Ben Young

Starring: Emma Booth

                 Ashleigh Cummings

                 Stephen Curry

"Vicki Maloney is randomly abducted from a suburban street by a disturbed couple. As she observes the dynamic between the captors she quickly realizes she must drive a wedge between them if she is to survive."

The second film in my double feature of the "less is more" approach is easily one of the best I've seen all year. Ben Young's debut film is a disturbing, beautiful and downright frightening thriller. Set against the backdrop of an Australian suburb circa 1987, Hounds of Love centers on serial killing couple Evelyn and John (Emma Booth and Stephen Curry). They're "thing" is kidnapping high school girls, chaining them to a bed and raping and murdering them. If that sounds awful, well it is. It's terrible. But here's the thing, Young doesn't show it. He never once subjects you to any of the horrors that the women in this film are subjected to. When done right, disturbing imagery can work really well. It forces you to confront things that you never thought you would and can reveal many facets about your humanity to you. Conversely, the sign of a great filmmaker is being able to show you awful acts of violence without ever showing them to you at all. The imagery you build in your head is sometimes far more disturbing than anything film can do. 

The woman at the center of their latest crime is Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings). Unfortunately for John and Evelyn, Vicki isn't like their other victims. In her terror and confusion, Vicki is able work out that the couple isn't exactly what they seem. They're sadists and murderers, sure, but John seems to be the one pulling the strings. She's able to work Evelyn over and it becomes apparent that Evelyn might not be 100% down with what's going on here. At least not on the level that John is. Vicki is able to discern that and that's the key to whether she can survive. Throwing this little wrench into what could have been standard serial killing fare, Young crafts a story filled with unique characters and twists that instantly hook you. Cummings plays Vicki's horror so believably but it's in the quiet moments that she excels. Eyes always darting around, looking for something, anything that she can use to facilitate her escape.  

Emma Booth's performance as Evelyn is particularly noteworthy and in a world where this gets a wider release, I think she'd get a nomination. She plays her half of the killing couple with more humanity than you typically see given to killers. At first it appears that she and John are on the same page but as the film creeps by you get the impression that she's only ok with certain things and that there might be a bit of Stockholm Syndrome at work here. Young accentuates this by showing a typical morning routine for them and then showing it again later, but the second time is when things unravel. She prepares John's food the exact same way, placing it on the plate just so. She wears the same clothes every day. Just little character ticks that pull you into this world and give you a glimpse of her life. She's committing atrocities but there's an equal amount of horror and turmoil in her own life. Young's direction and Booth's acting prowess give us one of the most interesting characters of 2017.

Adding to the unease is Michael McDermott's jaw dropping cinematography and Daniel Luscombe's brilliant score. This is easily one of the most beautifully shot film's I've seen all year, topped only by Larry Fong's work on Kong: Skull Island. The horror that's being shown and suggested to you shouldn't look like this and that's what makes even scarier. There are these vibrant, washed out shots that call to mind the opening of David Lynch's Fire Walk With Me. The camera moves slowly and quietly giving you an up close account of the horrific proceedings. It's been awhile since I've seen a thriller shot this well. Luscombe's score is a deliciously synth-y mix that drives the intensity further. It often builds itself into an overwhelming crescendo leaving you white-knuckled and breathless. Young picks a great selection of well known songs to round it out, including a beautiful use of Joy Divsion's "Atmosphere." Many of the people working on this film's crew made their feature film debuts and after seeing something so polished, I'm excited to see where they each branch off to.

Like It Comes at Night, Hounds of Love is a film that we've seen before and also uses less to give us more. However, where the latter succeeds and the former fails is in its characterization and life. Hounds gives us one of the most compelling killers we've seen on film and in turn you find yourself feeling upset for a psychopath. It forces you to feel conflicting emotions whether you want to or not. That's the sign of good filmmaking to me. A film can look as clean and beautiful as Night but if you don't leave feeling something, anything then to me it's failed. Hounds makes you feel almost every emotion possible and does so with technical proficiency that's almost unmatched this year. The only possible negatives I can find is that it's not wholly original and Stephen Curry's John is utterly unremarkable. Especially when he's next to his partner, Emma or victim, Vicki. It's a shame because having two compelling killers instead of one could have made this a perfect film. 

This is available to rent on iTunes and Amazon, see it immediately.

VERDICT

8.75/10