The Night House

 


Name: The Night House

Directed By: David Bruckner 

Subgenre: Surreal, Psychological, Supernatural

Series: Spooktober 2021 entry #1; review #93

Review: Welcome to Spooktober 2021! We're kicking off this year's season by cheating a bit. Hey, it's been another rough year: can you blame me? My Spooktober series was meant for me to watch and review horror movies or series that are new to me--stuff that I've not seen before, be they new releases, classics I've never gotten around to catching up on, hidden gems, or anything in between. I try to keep my entries for the month available to stream in some capacity, but I'm breaking my self-imposed rule (one that I haven't completely followed in the past) just because of just how much I enjoyed The Night House. You see, it's not available to stream just yet; I watched it in theaters about a month ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Your best bet is to go into this movie blind--don't even watch the trailer, as tempting as it might be. Why? There are so many elements working together, layering in one over the other, that being prescient of even one of those could ruin the experience of seeing the tapestry come together. As always, I do my best to give a high overview of the plot in order to avoid spoilers, but just in case: you've been warned. The Night House follows our main dame (please reset your Main Dame counters for the 2021 season) as she bereaves the recent suicide of her husband. The first arc of the film follows Beth as she trudges through her work as a teacher (and points for making the teaching experience incredibly relatable) and toward maintaining her social life in the midst of that loss. From there, the film transitions into a mystery: Beth starts to feel like her deceased husband is trying to reach out to her; are those experiences real, or are they the hallucinations of a grieving mind? The Night House isn't the first to dance between psychological thriller and supernatural horror, but it does so incredibly well by respecting trauma for its own sake rather than using it as hollow plot-point, and it weaves in layers of philosophical and esoteric intrigue into the mix to keep things fresh. You might start to feel thrashed by all the twisting and turning plot winds through, but its masterful pacing helps to alleviate some of those pains. And when the wool finally gets removed and we see the plot for what it truly is...wow! A bit of advice: pay close attention to the scenery in the house; the husband was an architect by trade, and his apparition/hallucination often manifests via negative space--the space between objects. It's such an incredible use of background, both in terms of plot and framing, and I wish more directors would dip into that space. I'm biased: The Night House has so many elements that resonate with me without even branching into gore or body horror territory. The Night House is one part ghost story, one part psychological thriller, with a dash of occult mystery, and then topped off with a splash cosmic horror. It won't be everybody's cup of tea--especially those who aren't paying attention--but it's a damn near perfect horror movie for folks like myself. But hey, not everybody is a Chad. Also, bonus points for including quite possibly the best friend ever. Seriously, we all need a Claire in our lives.




Overall Score: 4.5 out of 5 Chads staring at nothing. Did The Night House scare you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

IMDB: Here

How to Watch: The Night House is available on these platforms.


Official Trailer



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