Disney may have set a box-office record, but no studio had a better 2016 than A24. Moonlight and The Lobster are up for Oscars (with the former in the running for Best Picture), The Witch and Green Room are two of the finest horror movies in years, and when it comes to films about farting corpses, you can’t do much better than Swiss Army Man. But don’t overlook family horror-drama Krisha, which made under $200,000 during its brief theatrical run but left an impression on everyone who saw it. For me, that impression was: I hate families now. Our Keith Phipps called it a “remarkable accomplishment,” especially because it was from a first-time director, Trey Edward Shults, whose follow-up film also looks terrifying, but in a more visceral way.
It Comes at Night stars Golden Globe nominee Joel Edgerton as a father and husband who “learns that the evil stalking his family home may be only a prelude to horrors that come from within,” according to A24. “Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, the tenuous domestic order he has established with his wife and son is put to the ultimate test with the arrival of a desperate young family seeking refuge. Despite the best intentions of both families, paranoia boil over as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within him as he learns that the protection of his family comes at the cost of his soul.”
Also, there’s A Good Dog on the poster. Move over, John Wick 2.
Based on the trailer, It Comes at Night relies on atmosphere more than jump scares, a welcome change of pace from most mainstream horror. Between Shults’ confident direction, the talented cast (including The Girlfriend Experience‘s Riley Keough and Girls‘ Christopher Abbott), the stressful score, and the mysterious “It” in the title, this looks like a can’t-miss.
It Comes at Night is out on August 25.
