This A24 Horror Movie Works Because It Goes Against Audience Expectations

The Big Picture

• It Comes at Night struggled with audience reception due to its slow pace and misleading marketing, but it is actually a tense and intriguing horror film.
• The film uses horror techniques to scare viewers, but there is no physical threat or monster present. Instead, the film explores paranoia and fear as the real dangers.
• The ending of the film may be disappointing for some, but it is intentionally designed to leave unanswered questions and allow viewers to piece together the story themselves.

It is no secret that the production company A24 has released some of the most popular and memorable horror movies in the last decade. Thanks to films like Hereditary, Talk to Me, The Witch, and many more, expectations have become sky-high for any horror outing from A24. One such film that flew under the radar back in 2017 was It Comes at Night, a psychological horror feature directed by Trey Edward Shults. A mysterious and compelling story with a stacked cast of Riley Keough, Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, and Carmen Ejogo, It Comes at Night had all the makings for success. However, it didn’t get the audience reception it deserved due to it not being the horror film that audiences had in mind (mainly thanks to its misleading marketing). With buzz surrounding an upcoming Shults project with Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan, and The Weeknd, It Comes at Night deserves a second look for its effective, dreadful atmosphere and unique horror storytelling. If you’re thinking of giving it a revisit or checking it out for the first time, the horror movie is available to watch on Max.

‘It Comes at Night’ Struggled in 2017 Due to Its Slow Pace and Misleading Marketing

The post-apocalyptic film, also written by Shults, follows couple Paul (Edgerton) and Sarah (Ejogo) and their son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) as they navigate a deadly, contagious virus that is devastating the world. When Will, (Abbott), Kim (Keough), and their younger son Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner) arrive for shelter, Paul and Sarah allow them to stay in their secure home. Both families get along for a while before isolation and paranoia wreak psychological havoc on everyone in the home. The virus begins to infiltrate the families’ fortress and there is not much they can do to stop it — except turn on each other.

The film, while well-received critically, fell short when it came to audiences. To be fair, initial trailers painted the film as being more thrilling. Between the music used in the official trailer as well as its editing, what was teased beforehand did not necessarily match what It Comes at Night was truly like. Shults’ feature was slower-paced than the average horror film, with the main antagonist being something that cannot be seen. The contents of the trailer and the contents of the film are different when it comes to the atmosphere and tone, ultimately doing a disservice to the final product. This is because It Comes at Night is by no means a boring film. However, the trailer does not do the progressive build-up and tense, quiet horror justice, and instead markets it as something more conventional when it comes to horror movies.

The trailer seemingly builds, loudly and with quick cuts, to an explosion that never really arrives in the film. In fact, official trailers made It Comes at Night seem like a monster film. People are screaming as a door is thrown open, which alludes to a physical threat without any context. In reality, It Comes at Night is better represented by a dog barking, cutting through silence, at something unseen by people. In any other horror film, a dog barking at nothing means either a ghost or a monster. Yet, in this film, there is nothing of the sort. It can be interpreted as a home invasion, but there is no physical invader. That is what makes the film more interesting than people give it credit for.

‘It Comes at Night’ Is a Tense, Slow Burn, and That’s What Makes It Great

Despite its initial reception, It Comes At Night is seen as a retroactive success and further established A24 as an exciting name in horror with its unconventional storytelling. Without much gore and with minimal action, Shults’ film is still one of the most intriguing and disturbing horror films put out by the famous production company. A24 horror movies are known for straying from the traditional characteristics of the genre and often explore heavy topics in innovative ways. Despite fitting this bill, It Comes at Night goes that step further by using horror techniques that would typically hint at the arrival of a physical threat, purposely using the audience’s expectations to scare them rather than an actual monster.

The family’s dog barks into the woods and chases it into the woods. Travis hears sounds around the perimeter of the house. Andrew is found having a nightmare on the floor of Sarah’s father’s old bedroom. The door, which always remains locked, is found wide open in the middle of the night. Therefore, to some, the ending of the film might have been disappointing. While the tension does eventually come to a head in a way arguably more tragic than what the audience is expecting from the film, the build-up appears to not match the outcome. However, this is why It Comes At Night is one of the strongest A24 horror films to date. The film plays on stereotypical “warning signs” used in horror films to inform viewers that something dangerous is coming, but that “something” is paranoia as opposed to a monster in the woods.

Many things can be inferred by viewers after seeing the entire film, but there are a few questions that remain unanswered. Who left the front door unlocked? Why was Andrew crying uncontrollably before Kim and Will decided they needed to leave the home? Was it because they were being accused of bringing the disease into the house, or was there something more? The film allows viewers to put the pieces together themselves. Its story hits so close to home because it is entirely realistic; what “comes at night” is not a monster or a ghost, but rather fear itself, paranoia, and fixation on the worst-case scenarios. Using horror tropes to convey this message allows viewers to realize that this danger is both feasible and a much bigger threat than any imaginary monster. By the end of the film, after killing the other family, Paul and Sarah visibly have the disease. It Comes At Night may not have been the film you were expecting or wanted it to be, but that’s what makes it one of the best A24 horror titles.

It Comes At Night is available to watch on Max in the U.S.

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