The Night (Aan Shab)

I have to start by saying that since this is the debut feature film of Kourosh Ahari, he did a fairly good job in re-imagining the Iranian version of Kubrick's The Shining and the whole haunted house archetype (in this case a hotel) in an American setting. However, the very slow pace of the movie, its predictability, its stereotypical build-ups and jump-scares will fail the movie in making any dazzling impact.

The superb performances by Cannes winner Shahab Hosseini and Niousha Noor should not go unnoticed.

Right, when I sat down to watch the 2020 movie titled "The Night" I had no idea what the movie was about.

And now that I just sat through and watched the entire movie, I still have no idea what it was about.

This 2020 horror movie is a very strange one. Now, for a horror movie "The Night" is a more sublime type of horror movie, one that creeps under your skin and lingers at the back of your mind. Yeah, "The Night" is not your archetypical horror movie crammed with jump scares, gore and special effects. This is a brooding psychological horror movie of sorts.

I will say that writers Kourosh Ahari and Milad Jarmooz managed to produce a storyline that fully and wholeheartedly threw me off. I had no clue throughout the entire movie what was actually going on. And I still have no clue. I believe this was about a man coming to face his own guilty conscious, I suppose.

As you sit through "The Night", you must keep in mind that the movie is slow paced and director Kourosh Ahari is actually good at building up suspense and letting bits of dread and thrills slip out occasionally to keep things interesting. Sure, I had no idea what was going on, but director Kourosh Ahari managed to keep me riveted to the chair, wanting to see what happens next.

The atmosphere in the movie was really good, as it was genuinely dark and foreboding. So I will say that director Kourosh Ahari managed to put that together nicely enough. Just a shame that the storyline was such a swing and a miss.

I will also say that the acting performances were good and believable. Sure, the movie had a very small group of actors and actresses, but they managed to do well enough with the script and storyline.

If you enjoy psychological horror, then "The Night" should be something for you, I suppose. However, just keep in mind that you are likely to be left out in the dark throughout the course of the entire movie.

My rating of "The Night", despite it having a great atmosphere, ultimately lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars, as I feel like I wasted 1 hour and 45 minutes on something that made zero sense.

The Night managed to do something that few movies can accomplish: a genuine sense of confusion.

Remember In The Mouth Of Madness, the most absolute psychedelic production, where you could barely tell reality from paranoia? Well The Night is a softer version of that, but with its own merits, direction and story. I loved the fact that it was hard to understand what was happening underneath, and there was nothing for me to do but wait and see where it is all heading to. Sure some things were easy to anticipate but I won't take credit away from the movie, it did what it wanted and if this was the way everything was supposed to develop, so be it.

On the same note, I shall also recommend The Vigil (2019), and to be honest I like the latter one more, because that one left nothing for the imagination, it was straight, raw and so lovely from start to finish.

Anyway, The Night is something that I definitely recommend, for all fans of psychological horror, don't expect scary parts, jump scares or gore, it is for the mind, not eye candy.

Cheers!

For all those negative reviews because "I didn't understand story, it was pointless" etc. I don't even know what to say. You need average IQ and maturity to be able to comprehend what's going on, it really isn't that complicated.

Plot is great. It is somewhat slow at the beginning but those "irrelevant" small details play part in the third act. As movie progresses it gets more and more interesting and the film devours you.

I will say though, it uses a couple of tropes, not just one or two. Most things are predictable, some aren't, and those that aren't make this movie good because it catches you off guard.

Dark and witty, this film demonstrates that everything has a consequence. 7/10.

Although this move doesn't offer something new and the story is not original , the plays of the movie are attractive and the main messege is deep, what we done ,will follow us in futur. The main charactor ,Shahab hosini is a capable actor and he has played alot of movies ,But this one was the first time That I see him in this kind of role. That was amazing and so real. It's not a masterpiece ,But watching this movie would satisfy those who are fan of scary movies.