Raindrops on Roses (Part Thirteen) -- It Comes At Night

(trailer)

Perhaps one of the odder observations to come out of distribution company A24’s choice in horror movies is how closely they match slang terms for a penis. The VVitch is perhaps the furthest away but in this particular take gets by as a pet nickname one might give their own, Hereditary is pretty self-explanatory, and then, of course, It Comes At Night. I don’t bring this up because any of these movies are about penises themselves, it’s just something that I found amusing because secretly I’m twelve.

It Comes At Night is a deceptive little film. I almost considered not providing a trailer link because of how misleading the trailer can be (another problem some people have with A24-distributed horror movies). But even past the marketing more focused on getting people into seats than knowing what they’re in for, the movie is still deceptive. I would almost call it a zombie movie without the zombies.

The best thing a piece of zombie-related media can do, and I’ve talked about this before when I was writing about The Walking Dead, is focus as little as possible on the zombies. Oh, they can be there, sure, and all the awards for best makeup or effect can certainly help sell a show, but a zombie story is still a human story, generally about mistrust in a post-apocalyptic setting, and the disasters a mistake as simple as waking up at the wrong moment can cause.

The fact that there are no monsters in the traditional sense is almost a spoiler. Like I said, this movie is deceptive. Even the house that is the setting for most of the film doesn’t have a specific architecture, almost as if changing based on the subconscious whims of its occupants (an idea I’ve touched on before and definitely will again by the end of this month). This makes the movie dreadful to watch (and I say that in the best possible way). Everything seems to be designed to lie to the viewer, and it can be difficult to find out what’s actually going on and why. You see things happening, and you know what’s probably going to happen next, but no, that wouldn’t happen, right?

There is no titular “It” in It Comes At Night. It’s not that type of story. What it is a story of is two families trying their hardest to survive in a world that has already ended. It’s a sort of nihilistic way to look at the world, actually. The world does not care about the characters in this film. In fact, it actively tries to kill them. The characters know this too. It’s all they can do to simply survive in the vain hope that things might get better.

-F

Next time: What happens to a house when it is left alone?