IT COMES AT NIGHT : Tuesday 18th July 2017

'IT COMES AT NIGHT' is a post-apocalyptic psychological horror film made by Director, Producer, Writer and Actor Trey Edward Shults and was made for about US$5M and has so far grossed US$17M, was released in the US in early June and has received generally positive Reviews from critics and audiences alike.

The film opens with a death. That of an older gent, Bud (David Pendleton) who has clearly contracted some contagious disease with open seeping black welts on his body, dark sunken eyes, dramatic weight loss and barely alive when we are first introduced to him. His daughter Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), breathing through an oxygen mask, wearing rubber gloves tends to the frail man, with another masked man Paul (Joel Edgerton), Sarah's husband, looking on. He is loaded into a wheelbarrow, wrapped in a blanket and carted outside to a shallow grave, wherein he is placed face up. Paul, places a cushion over the mans head, unloads his pistol into it, and then douses the now dead body with an accelerant and throws in a lighted match. The body catches alight instantly and sends a plume of blackened smoke up through the trees of the forest where they live.

This sets the scene, where there has clearly been some devastating viral outbreak of seemingly global proportions whereby a deadly contagion is transferable from human to human by both airborne means and by touch - hence the gas mask and the gloves. To save themselves from the inevitable, Sarah and Paul, with their teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jnr.) and trusted dog Stanley, have sought refuge deep within a forest lodge dwelling in the middle of nowhere, cut off from the rest of the world and living a solitary life fending for themselves. It's a meagre existence, but they are alive and relatively safe, albeit constantly on edge and on the look out for fear of attack from the now menacingly outside world.

The next night, while sleeping they are awakened by someone attempting to break into their house. They capture a lone man, Will (Christopher Abbott), and determine that he is not infected, but tie him to a tree, hooded, overnight. The next day Paul questions Will while still secured, and Will advises that he thought the house was abandoned and he was just searching for food and water to sustain his family some fifty miles away. Will offers to trade some of his supplies - chickens, goats etc. in exchange for essential foods and clean water.

Sarah suggests that Will should bring back his family to the safety of their home on the basis of safety in numbers. Paul agrees, reluctantly, and the pair head off in a pick-up truck to collect Will's wife Kim (Riley Keough) and young son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner) and their supplies and livestock. En route they are ambushed by two men, which Paul manages to dispense with but accuses Will of setting him up. Will convinces Paul that this was not so, on the basis that he too tried to fend them off. A couple of days later Paul and Will return with Kim, Andrew and a trailer loaded with supplies and belongings, ready to move into their new shared home.

Later that evening over dinner, Paul establishes the ground rules about living in the house, and that no one must go out at night, that they always venture outdoors in pairs, and that the only way in and out of the house is via the red door, to which he has the only key and it is kept locked and bolted every night without question. The red door leads to another room, a sort of plastic sheeted quarantine room, which leads outside. Over time the two families begin to bond, an element of trust is forged and a degree of normalcy sets in. They eat together, play games by candlelight in the evening, and co-exist in relative harmony.

One day, Stanley the dog begins barking uncontrollably at some unseen presence in the woods. Travis follows Stanley deeper into the woods, but looses sight of him but still hears his barking . . . until it stops abruptly. Paul arrives bringing up the rear, and Travis insisted that he heard something in the woods, but saw nothing. Paul derides Travis for being careless, and they decide to return home, saying that Stanley knows the woods and will return home safe by the next morning.





Later that night Travis is awakened by a nightmare he has about his grandfather Bud. He walks through the house to discover Andrew lying asleep on the floor in Bud's old bedroom, apparently also suffering a nightmare. He leads the young lad back into his parents room where Will and Kim are sleeping. Shortly afterwards he hears a sound coming from downstairs. Creeping down to investigate he discovers the red door to be ajar and a sound coming from the room beyond. He quickly wakens Paul and Will who panicked, investigate to find a sick and bloodied Stanley lying on the floor.

They shoot and burn the dog. Sarah suggests that a sleepwalking Andrew may have opened the door, but given that Paul has the only key, how is that possible? At this point tensions between the two families start to rise, and Paul suggests that the two families should isolate themselves from each other in separate parts of the house to cool off for a few days, and to ensure that they are all free from infection.

The next morning Travis overhears a conversation between Will and Kim, that they should leave and straight away. Travis lets his parents know what he has heard and how Andrew may in fact be infected, and therefore by default, so would he be too. Paul and Sarah confront Will and Kim about their potentially infected son, but they staunchly deny this, but refuse to let the others see Andrew. A power struggle breaks out resulting in Will taking Paul captive and demanding food and water provisions and that they be allowed to leave immediately with their 'healthy' son. Paul and Sarah manage to overwhelm Will and lead the family out of the house, where the two men get into a brutal fight. Sarah shoots and kills Will in the back while he is beating Paul with a rock. Kim tries to flee with her son but stumbles to the ground. Paul shoots and kills Andrew leaving a distraught mother wailing uncontrollably. Paul shoots her dead too. The film ends with Paul, Sarah and Travis's worst nightmare coming true as they learn of their fate bestowed upon them by the family they tried to help, and an unseen force.

Critics have been generally positive in their Reviews of 'It Comes At Night', but for me the film just didn't click. Sure, this is atmospheric, moody and creepy at times, but there are none of the usual horror tropes we have come to expect from end of the world post-apocalyptic virus infected fare, and this is a welcome redeeming feature it must said. But equally there are no jump scares in this film, little by way of suspense and the premise is a little too predictable, if remotely plausible. The horror here does not come from flesh eating rampaging zombies, or from some other outwardly force, but from some unseen viral infection that is never really explained except that it is airborne or transmitted by touch, and takes hold of its victims within a day. I also struggled to determine exactly what comes at night - other than fear, anxiety, distrust and paranoia under the cloak of night-time darkness with the real enemy coming from within! But, I guess that's what the Director intended, thinking that somethings gotta give when you throw two desperate fighting for survival families together unexpectedly under one roof. There are also several plot holes and unanswered questions which just leave you guessing. You can save yourself the price of a cinema ticket and catch this on BluRay, DVD or digital download soon and watch it from the comfort of your own lounge room.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 6th July 2017.

Last week, in the introduction to this regular Preview Blog Post, I ran a feature on the upcoming movies we can look forward to in the latter half of 2017, kick starting with the three months from July through to the end of September. Now this week, I'll complete the year with October through to and including December to give you a taste of what's to come to an Odeon near you.
* 05th October : 'Blade Runner 2049' - Directed by Denis Villeneuve, and starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Jared Leto and Dave Bautista. Set 30 years after the events of the first film, a new Blade Runner uncovers a secret that might just plunge what is left of society into even greater chaos.
* 12th October : 'The Mountain Between Us' - Directed by Hany Abu-Assad, and starring Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Beau Bridges and Dermot Mulroney. Following a tragic plane crash on a remote snow covered mountain two surviving passengers previously unknown to each other must forge a bond to survive extreme elements and find their way off the mountain and to safety when they realise that no help is coming.
* 19th October : 'The Snowman' - Directed by Tomas Alfredson, and starring Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, J.K.Simmons and Chloe Sevigny and based on the Jo Nesbo series of books about Detective Harry Hole, and adapted from the book of the same name.
* 26th October : 'Thor : Ragnarok' - Directed by Taika Waititi, and starring Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Mark Ruffalo, Karl Urban, Sam Neill and Geoff Goldblum and a follow on to the previous two 'Thor' instalments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
* 02nd November : 'Suburbicon' - Directed by George Clooney, and starring Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac, Julianne Moore and Co-Written by Clooney and the Coen Brothers, this is a 1950's set home invasion noir story in the small peaceful community of Suburbicon that has serious repercussions on the outwardly perfect family unit being invaded.
* 09th November : 'Murder on the Orient Express' - Directed by Kenneth Branagh, and starring Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Penelope Cruz and Michelle Pfeiffer and based on Agatha Christie's acclaimed murder mystery novel of 1934 that has been committed to the big and small screens numerous times.
* 16th November : 'Justice League' - Directed by Zack Snyder, and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Mamoa, Ezra Miller, Amber Heard, Amy Adams and Jeremy Irons that sees the DC Extended Universe expanded as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman are joined by Aqua Man, The Flash, and Cyborg to face a new and terrifying enemy.
* 23rd November : 'Goodbye Christopher Robin' - Directed by Simon Curtis, and starring Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie in this bio-pic of A.A.Milne and how the birth of his son, Christopher Robin, would lead to the creation of his Winnie the Pooh stories.
* 30th November : 'The Man Who Invented Christmas' - Directed by Bharat Nalluri and starring Jonathan Pryce, Christopher Plummer and Dan Stevens in this bio-pic of how Charles Dickens revived the spirit of Christmas  with his self published novel, 'A Christmas Carol' which went onto become a much loved classic.
* 07th December : 'The Secret Scripture' - Directed by Jim Sheridan, and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Rooney Mara, Eric Bana, Theo James and Jack Reynor about an elderly woman forced out of her mental institution home, who recounts her life and her loves to her psychiatrist through her bible, her scribblings and her idiosyncratic tics and habits.
* 14th December : 'Star Wars, Episode VIII : The Last Jedi' - Directed by Rian Johnson, and starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Tom Hardy, Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Laura Dern and Lupita Nyong'o, continuing the epic saga where Episode VII left off.
* 21st December : 'Paddington 2' - Directed by Paul King, and starring Hugh Bonneville, Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Ben Whishaw, Peter Capaldi, Julie Walters and Sally Hawkins in this very family friendly Christmas Holiday offering that sees the marmalade sandwich eating cute Paddington Bear getting up to more mischief and adventures.
* 26th December : 'The Greatest Showman' - Directed by Michael Gracey, and starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Rebecca Fergusson in this musical bio-pic inspired by the life and times of the great American showman and circus entertainer P.T. Barnum who founded the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

This week we have four new movie offerings to tempt the Southern Hemisphere dwellers amongst us out on a cool Winter's evening, starting off with the second reboot of an already successful Superhero franchise, that sees this web slinging young hero cross over into a cinematic universe populated by  other like minded, proven and tested Superheroes. We then turn attention to a psychological horror about a small family living a secure and secluded life in the remote woods after the world has turned to shit, only to be hit upon by another outwardly genuine family - but can they be trusted? Next is a romantic teenage drama where this young couple risk everything to be together, but at the same time run the risk of sacrificing everything they have. And then we wrap up with a documentary of the most fowl kind and the people who breed competition feathered friends as though their lives depended on it . . . and maybe it does!

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four new releases as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, be cordially invited to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and meanwhile, enjoy your cinema experience in the coming week.

'SPIDER-MAN : HOMECOMING' (Rated M) - this much hyped, eagerly anticipated second reboot of the 'Spider-Man' franchise is the sixteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first Spider-Man film to cross-over into the world of The Avengers. This reboot comes after three successful films that started the live action series of the current era with 'Spider-Man' in 2002, 'Spider-Man 2' in 2004 and 'Spider-Man 3' in 2007 all Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire. Those first three films cost a combined US$598M to Produce and raked in a collective US$2,50B at the worldwide Box Office. The first reboot came in 2012 with 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and was followed up in 2014 by 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' both Directed by Marc Webb and starring this time Andrew Garfield as the young web slinger. These films costs US$480M to bring to the big screen, and collected a total US$1,47B between the two instalments. And so now in 2017 we have this offering, but of course we caught a glimpse of Spidey things to come in last years hugely successful 'Captain America : Civil War', but here that same Actor, Tom Holland, gets his own standalone feature as the young college going crime fighter under the tutelage of one Tony Stark.    This film cost US$175M to bring to the big screen, is released in the US this week too, and this time around is Directed by Jon Watts. The film has received positive critical acclaim, with a sequel already announced for release in July 2019 with Jon Watts slated to return as Director. In the meantime Tom Holland will reprise his role as Spider-Man in the upcoming 'Avengers : Infinity Wars' due for release in May 2018 and its follow-up in May 2019.

 Set several months following the events of 'Captain America : Civil War' a young Peter Parker, aka 'Spider-Man' (Tom Holland)  is thrilled and motivated by his experiences with The Avengers. He returns to his home with Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), attends college to complete his studies while at the same time being mentored by Tony Stark, aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr.). Embracing his new identity and his particular set of skills, Parker tries to settle into a routine of normalcy, but finds fighting crime in his local neighbourhood to be more appealing, and his appetite for fighting larger battles as a bona fide Superhero to be even more appealing still. The day soon comes however, when Spider-Man must put his new found abilities to the test when a new Super-Villain emerges in the form of Adrien Toomes, aka Vulture (Michael Keaton) - just a regular guy with criminal tendencies who runs a New York salvaging company and fabricates a suit made from mechanical wings forged from Chitauri technology, and who is intent on bringing down The Avengers, but Spider-Man first. Also starring Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and archival cameo's of Chris Evans and Paul Rudd as Captain American and Ant Man respectively. Watch out for Stan Lee's obligatory cameo appearance too, and then remain seated for the mid-credits and end-credits sequences also.

'IT COMES AT NIGHT' (Rated MA15+) - made by Director, Producer, Writer and Actor Trey Edward Shults this psychological horror film was made for about US$5M and has so far grossed US$14M, was released in the US in early June and has received generally positive Reviews from critics and audiences alike. Here a contagious disease has ripped throughout the world and to save themselves from near certain death, Paul (Joel Edgerton), wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jnr.) have secluded themselves away deep within their home cabin in the remote countryside. One day a family seeking refuge from the perils of the new world order arrive on the family's doorstep seeking fresh water and food. At first distrusting of their motives, the interloping family are in time welcomed into the household as trust and confidence is established. However, this is short-lived as the horrors of the outside world begin to manifest themselves and paranoia and mistrust begin to take over their hitherto peaceful yet secluded lives.

'EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING' (Rated PG) - here we have a romantic drama film Directed by Stella Meghie and is based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Nicola Yoon. Released Stateside in mid-May, the film cost US$10M to make and has so far returned US$42M and garnered mixed Reviews. Here Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) is an eighteen year old suffering from SCID (Severe Combined Immune Deficiency) - a rare genetic disorder that keeps her locked up in her hermetically sealed home environment and unable to venture outside. Next door lives Olly Bright (Nick Robinson) who makes a move on Maddy despite the seemingly impenetrable walls between them. Carrying on a relationship through pane glass windows and via text messages Maddy and Olly forge a deep bond that ultimately leads them into risking everything to be together, even if it means that they may sacrifice everything.

'CHICKEN PEOPLE' (Rated PG) - firstly this is not a film about Superhero's with poultry characteristics, or a fowl horror movie, but it is more akin to the 2000 mockumentary comedy offering 'Best In Show' only instead of centering on the owners of prize competition dogs and their pet pooches, here we concentrate of the owners of prize competition chickens and their pet chooks. This is a documentary that takes a charming and fascinating look at the colourful and hugely competitive world of champion show chicken breeders. Directed by Nicole Lucas Haimes and over the course of a year follows three top breeders through their everyday lives and the peaks and troughs, the highs and the lows, the adversity and the victories of both the humans and their chickens on the road to compete at the Ohio National Poultry Show - the biggest, the best and the most important of them all. This uplifting and enlightening documentary has received widespread acclaim.

Four differing films to choose from then in the coming week, but with a mix of epic web slinging Superhero, psychological horror, romantic drama and chicken doco offerings to tempt you there are plenty of reasons to get out amongst it at your local multiplex or independent theatre. Remember to share your thoughts afterwards with your like minded cinephiles here at Odeon Online, and in the meantime, I'll see you somewhere sometime in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-