Harrison Downs

This movie is truly a masterpiece. Amid a widespread apocalypse involving a deadly disease that kills in less than a day, humanity is in shambles. However, instead of taking the role of a typical apocalypse movie with a central focus on zombies, monsters, and boogeymen, this film instead seeks to capture how human emotions of fear, distrust, and paranoia are just as deadly as the physical dangers of the apocalypse itself. It comes at night. When first examining this title, one would assume that it refers to the dangers of the night, perhaps a horde of zombies or a group of bandits. However, this title has a double meaning, in that people's true colors of animosity and villainy emerge when the aforementioned emotions (night) of fear, distrust, and paranoia set in. There is a surprising amount of negative reviews for this movie, most of which have to do with the fact that this film is a bit of a slow-burner that can be viewed as anti-climactic. Lots of people complain about the lack of clarity within the plot, unanswered questions, and lack of action. But that's not what this movie is about. This movie challenges the viewer to question their morals and preconceptions about what it means to be human in the first place. Sure, we don't know why or how this disease came to destroy society. Sure, we don't know how the red door got open or what hurt the dog. Sure, the ending is grim and unsatisfying by typical standards. But that's all by design. So many surface-level answers regarding the plot are left unanswered simply because they would be irrelevant in a film that only exists to examine the dark underbelly of human emotion mixed with fear and danger. It's about looking at the forest, not the trees. I left this movie with a feeling in my gut that no other movie has been able to replicate. It's not often that you come across a move that is as unpredictable, captivating, and thought-provoking as this one. Seeing the nearly invisible, yet continuous build of tension throughout a seemingly thriving relationship between two families ignite in a split second truly left me with chills.