It Comes at Night (2017)

I was interested in checking out "It Comes at Night" since it was in theaters (though not quite long enough in my area for me to make it to a showing, apparently...) - having not given much away in the trailer I'd seen, but looking like something that may be well worth checking out. Hell, anything without James Wan's name on it seems to be more or less worth the price of a movie ticket in today's mainstream horror climate, what with stuff like "The Witch", "Don't Breathe" and the like. It definitely didn't disappoint. This one is a dark, paranoia and character-driven apocalyptic piece, stripped of the usual horror cliches and tropes.

A family of three, seeking safety in their rural home from some kind of deadly contamination that's befallen the earth, take on a further leaven of perturbation when they allow another surviving family to stay with them. As it turns out, moral conscience does NOT supersede self-preservation when you're facing an otherwise cut-throat dystopian world stricken with the threat of infection...

It needs to be said - if you're looking for something along the lines of "28 Days Later" or "The Crazies" you're not going to find it here. The overall focus of "It Comes At Night" is not the catastrophe that is plaguing humanity, nor does it even go about explaining in ANY real detail WHAT the hell this virus is - how it's contracted (airborne, physical contact...) or what it actually does to those who get it (though it's made clear they need to be promptly burned once the first signs of it are detected...). In these respects, the movie roots it's horror elements primarily in the mental distress and desperation of characters doing whatever they feel they have to do to protect their loved ones as opposed to being chased around by ravenous, infected ghouls. I'll say, this movie kept me pretty far on edge for it's entire run-time and hits hard with a exceptionally harrowing conclusion. If you're looking for a tense, moody and really well acting horror movie give this one a go!