La Proie d'une Ombre

Well-made psychological horror flick with a great performance by Rebecca Hall. It can be considered a slow burn but I was fully invested and never bored. Very atmospheric. Lots of beautiful shots. Some effective scares. Great movie overall and I would definitely watch it again.

(2 viewings, 2/7/2022, 4/21/2024)

THE NIGHT HOUSE (2021) *** Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacy Martin. Compelling supernatural drama about a recently widowed woman (Hall in a remarkable performance) who begins to question her sanity when she begins to make discoveries of her late husband's past as well as their home which seems to house a sinister presence. Well directed by David Bruckner with just the amount of dread and genuine jolts thanks also to a shrewd screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowsk. The pin-pricking score by Ben Lovett & handsomely shot cinematography by Elisha Christian makes all the difference in this modern day ghost story.

Good pace, Brilliantly acted, and above all intense and genuinely creepy......

But,

And this is where it looses me...

Being Vague isn't intelligent.

So many films these days just skip over that little part where it all comes together. Where the plot thickens. They avoid massive plot holes And just look the other way.

There are whole scenes in this movie that have absolutely nothing to do with anything, they are only there to be scary and mysterious, but don't further the plot or are even explained in anyway.

It's A Mystery if the Writer clearly has no idea how to end it?

Would "Seven" have been a better film if we never found out "Whats in The Box"?

Anticlimactic

Leaving the viewer to fill in the voids is lazy storytelling.

Rant over.

First there is Hall who, until now, has been punching below her weight class and finally gets to show she can carry a film. A tight script, nicely directed. And some genuinely scary scenes.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Night House" (2020) was a very solid story solidly told. I liked the overall idea - it kinda reminded of some past movies (no spoilers), but it still was fresh and intriguing. Execution was also very solid - at running time 1 h 45 min this movie never dragged and i was caught in this mysterious spooky story from beginning till the very end. Also this just might be Rebecca Hall's one of the very best performances ever - she carries the whole story.

Overall, "The Night House" isn't a horror fest, but it was spooky and overall mood was pretty haunting. When everything was revealed i did appreciate the story - it was intriguing, kinda fresh and very well told. Very solid movie.