It Comes at Night movie review (2017) | Roger Ebert

The performances are uniformly stellar throughout “It Comes at Night” (particularly Christopher Abbott, doing his best work since “James White”), but the film surprisingly belongs to engaging newcomer Harrison, who becomes the eyes through which we see this story. We rarely know anything he doesn’t, and it’s his 17-year-old emotions that we come to equate with our own. In a sense, the adults are almost archetypal—the strict father, the supportive mother, the engaging male stranger & the sexy female one—further defining how much “It Comes at Night” works on emotional undercurrents as much as it does traditional horror tropes. It is about that day you think your father might be wrong; the day you realize your loved ones can die; the day you flirt with a pretty girl. It just also happens to be about what could be your last day.

Shults the screenwriter can sometimes push the refusal to answer questions about this universe to a point that will break for some viewers who need a few more rules and resolutions. I get that. My fear is that too many people will go into “It Comes at Night” expecting a traditional horror movie reveal in the final act or, worse, a Shyamalan twist. I would never spoil where a film goes but would only advise that you not try to get ahead of this one. Just take it scene by scene, beat by beat, and let the characters’ emotions work on you more than trying to solve the unanswered questions of this tale.

Most of all, “It Comes at Night” is a film in which the true elements of fear come from within, not from outside. Sure, it’s not exactly a new concept—George A. Romero, John Carpenter and Stanley Kubrick have created the cinematic templates for such a thing from which Shults openly cribs without ever feeling like he’s self-consciously paying homage—but it’s remarkable to consider how much horror mileage that Shults gets out of a film with no traditional villains. In a sense, it’s a reverse horror film, one that tells us, “Sure, the outside world is scary, but it’s distrust and paranoia that will truly be your undoing. The real enemy is already inside. Now try and get some sleep.” Good luck with that last part.