6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Riley Keough, Carmen Ejogo, Christopher Abbott, Kelvin Harrison Jr.Horror | 100% |
Psychological thriller | 36% |
Mystery | 26% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Chances are you’ve never even heard of, let alone seen, a micro budgeted indie Australian feature from 2015 called Plague, but if you have seen it, you may have a definite sense of déjà vu as you watch It Comes at Night, since both films share more than a few similar if not absolutely identical plot points. Both films offer a post-apocalyptic landscape altered by some sort of hideous disease which has taken out large swaths of the population, with one family trying to survive in an isolated outpost, only to ultimately be joined by another group, with simmering internecine tensions threatening to erupt at any moment. Plague came and went without much of a theatrical life (that I’ve been able to document, anyway), matriculating to streaming services to Netflix (which is where I saw it, if memory serves), while It Comes at Night has become something of a critical darling, and if not a box office blockbuster, enough of a success that its own micro budget was easily recouped during its theatrical exhibition. Much like Plague, It Comes at Night tends to suggest horror more than depict it outright, and in fact It Comes at Night is probably even more discreet than Plague is in that regard. It Comes at Night is a bit discursive about what exactly is going on, though it begins with a riveting sequence showing an elderly man with some kind of disease being coached to relax by his daughter — who is wearing a hazmat getup replete with a gas mask. The woman’s husband and son transport the old guy outside (in a wheelbarrow) where the husband summarily shoots his father-in-law and then burns the corpse as the victim’s grandson looks on, obviously agonized. It’s a completely visceral opening to a film that otherwise tends to keep its horror proclivities played pretty close to its vest, tending to deal more in interior psychological issues than things that go bump in the night (though, as the title of the film may suggest, that tendency also shows up).
It Comes at Night is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists Arri Alexa XT cameras as having digitally captured the imagery, which was finished at a 2K DI. While there's nothing really inherently problematic with the transfer, other than some very minor passing issues with noise in some dark scenes, the fact that there are so many dark scenes means that expectations must be tempered appropriately in terms of just how much detail, fine or otherwise, is readily visible at any given moment. Huge swaths of the film play out either in near total darkness, or by the illumination of a solitary camp lantern, and as such shadows often predominate, to the point that at several moments it's actually hard to see what's going on, something that probably only (subliminally at least) elevates angst levels. When the film ventures out of doors in relatively bright lighting, while the palette has been graded to a slightly cool gray green and desaturated look, detail levels pop much more impressively.
It Comes at Night features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that has bursts of showy surround activity in a couple of the higher octane action sequences, but which otherwise tends to be a good deal more nuanced, creating immersion from discretely placed ambient environmental sounds (especially when the film ventures outside), along with washes of underscore. There's some very good directionality even in quieter dialogue moments, and dialogue is always rendered clearly, despite some conversations taking placed in hushed tones. Fidelity is excellent on this problem free track.
While I focused on Plague as a link to this film, there are any number of other similar properties that include at least some of the same elements as It Comes at Night, including Dead Within , The Survivalist and Into the Forest (among many others), but what's ultimately so distinctive about It Comes at Night is how it resolutely eschews almost every worn out horror trope in favor of an examination of the increasing brutalization of human nature when circumstances dictate a certain amount of ruthlessness. This is not an "easy" watch, by any means, and is in fact pretty depressing, but it creates a palpable mood and is elevated by some excellent performances. Recommended.
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