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It Comes at Night
2017 91 min United States of America R 18+
★6.6
Drama, Horror, Mystery
Director: Trey Edward Shults
Trailers
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EN
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Teaser
Teaser
Teaser
Description
Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.
Budget:
$5M
US Gross:
$13.99M
Worldwide:
$19.28M
Starring
Joel Edgerton
Actor
Christopher Abbott
Actor
Carmen Ejogo
Actor
Awards
1 win & 13 nominations total
Key opinion
It Comes at Night is a divisive film that functions more as a claustrophobic psychological drama than the creature-feature horror promised by its marketing. While supporters praise its atmospheric tension and exploration of human distrust, critics frequently fault its slow pacing, lack of explicit resolution, and divergence from genre expectations.
| Cinematography | Cinematography and production design effectively utilize tight, claustrophobic interior framing and atmospheric lighting to build a sense of suffocating isolation. | |
| Acting | Joel Edgerton delivers a strong and credible performance as a protective, pragmatic, and anxious father. | |
| Originality | The film deliberately avoids traditional genre tropes, choosing to focus on existential dread and human paranoia rather than supernatural threats or monster encounters. | |
| Pacing | The pacing is highly divisive; fans appreciate the slow-burn, meditative build-up, while detractors find the film boring, uneventful, and lacking in narrative momentum. | |
| Screenplay | The screenplay is viewed by some as an underdeveloped or illogical study of human behavior, while others praise its grounded approach to trust and survival. | |
| Accessibility | The audience is deeply polarized by the marketing campaign, which promised a conventional horror film but delivered a character-driven drama, leading to widespread viewer disappointment. |