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★★★★★
Directed by Trey Edward Shults
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr, Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, and Riley Keough
Film Review By Niall Maggs (http://ateenstakeonfilm.com)
It Comes at Night is the latest horror thriller to come to cinemas and yet another masterpiece from the studio A24. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where a mysterious disease contaminates people exposed to it, making them vomit blood and act zombie-like.
It Comes at Night is easily one of the most effective and tense horror films I have ever seen that relies more on music and dread from the audience than forced obvious jump scares like many modern horror films.
The cinematography by Drew Daniels is so smooth and creates so much tension with a variation of shots, ranging from long shots and zooms, to close ups and different lighting techniques that make the audience feel scared, isolated and lonely. Perfect for what the film is trying to do.
The slow build of the story just adds to the tension and builds and builds continuously until the climax. This is due to the expert direction from Trey Edward Shults, and shows great experience with little experience because of his small filmography! but manages to make the audience feel as if he's been in the business for decades, as this guy knows how to direct horror! not many directors can pull it off as well as James Wan, but Trey Shults is definitely one of them!
Like I said earlier, much of the fear and dread from the audience, is due to the music. We can thank Brian McOmber for giving us such a mysterious but terrifying score that's worthy of an Oscar! The heart-pounding effect of the music makes you feel as if there is no hope, really making the audience feel isolated and anxious. It's also extremely reminiscent of Hans Zimmer's groundbreaking music, which is most definitely a good thing! it shows great experience, and you can tell he knows what he's doing!
The script was quite good but there isn't much to it, although that doesn't affect the film in any way when you have such great tension and investing characters that overshadow the simple screenplay.
The performances from the whole cast were excellent and kept the audience invested. They really brought the film to life, which in turn makes the outcome more relevant and intriguing to the audience, if they are interested in the characters and their fate.
There really wasn't anything bad about it, the pace was perfect and the story was interesting, but the film leaves a lot to the audience's imagination and really makes you think, leaving a couple parts unexplained resulting in a few plot holes, but this really doesn't effect the film because it does so much right!
Overall, It Comes at Night is easily the most unique and effective horror film of the year, which makes you care for the characters, and brings out all kinds of emotion from you, like anger, dread, fear and sadness due to the dark nature of the narrative. This horror masterpiece is groundbreaking in every way and aspect of filmmaking, from the excellent cinematography and tense editing that keeps you invested to the scary and creepy storytelling, that uses music and colour to its advantage, to create the best horror film of the year!
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