Director: David Bruckner
Other notable films of his: VHS, Unfinished Business, The Ritual
Original Screenplay by: Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski.
Official Synopsis: Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep together-but then the dreams come. Disturbing visions of a presence in the house call to her, beckoning with a ghostly allure. But the harsh light of day washes away any proof of a haunting. Against the advice of her friends, she begins digging into his belongings, yearning for answers.
Review
I initially came upon the trailer for Night House in the theatre during a viewing of the new Candyman movie. Usually, I have no interest in films regarding ghost, specters, or possessions due to the sole fact that I cannot see the “threat” for a majority of the film. (The Exorcist is an exception!) In my opinion, I believe these types of movies are cheap scares and lack imagination. Children talking in their sleep, a cat staring into the dark, a cacophony of jump scares – none of that seems scary to me and its all based solely on passive-aggressive visual/auditory stimulation and rarely a solid, thought provoking plot. If I wanted to experience a barrage of sudden loud noises that make my heart jump I’d walk through a construction site without hearing protection.
That said, the trailer for Night House piqued my interest, mainly because of the plot. (The contrast of vivid colors used was pretty unique too and sold me.) A husband commits suicide unexpectedly leaving his wife (Beth) without answers as to why. He leaves behind a cryptic note which forces Beth into a deep depression. After some days she decides to investigate his belongings for answers and strange things begin to happen around the house: faint voices speaking, bizarre dreams, footsteps moving upstairs, and the discovery of a replica house across the lake with what appears to be another version of herself living inside. The movie centers around Beth’s grief and her terrifying journey to discover what connection the mimic house across the lake has to do with her beloved husband’s suicide.
Even though this was clearly a ghost movie at first glance, I love a great mystery even more and decided that day to watch this film when released. I must say, by the time I was finished with Night House I was left impressed. Let me explain.
The Good:
First, I must give credit to the filming location which is in Onondaga County, New York. I’ve never been to New York but watching this film has made me reconsider, seeing the abundance of trees and lakefronts this movie centers around At certain points of the film I even found myself distracted due to the abundance of greenery and forest in the background.
The cinematography is one of my favorite things about Night House. It’s shot in a darker tone which, in my opinion, synchronizes excellently with Beth’s constant depressed state. The scenes are composed quite well too: Long running shots of the lake. Distance/angle manipulation with certain objects she encounters. For instance, there is a scene where Beth is searching the house for the source of a bizarre sound she heard. The camera goes first person to her view which shows the audience that she’s observing a weird angle in her home. One that combines the edge of a wall with the edge of a statue, creating a false outline of a shadow man figure. The shadow suddenly turns its head and begins walking towards her quickly which was very disturbing and to me the most creative thing in the film. Another great example of the cinematography takes place at the end of the movie, a pretty unique scene (wont spoil) where the coloring of the moon shifts into a vivid tone, creating a dismal landscape of total isolation and void that left me speechless to look at. Kudos to the lighting team, they did an excellent job throughout the entire film. (Pic above is an example.)
The acting from the main character Beth, by actress Rebecca Hall, was excellent and kept me invested when the movie’s pace got a little stale. She perfectly depicted a woman struggling to cope with severe loss.. Her subtle facial ticks and portrayal of near manic mood swings really sold the performance to the point where she totally upstaged all other acting in the film. Maybe that was intended. Oddly enough actress Rebecca Hall was also in the movie “The Prestige”(one of my all time favorite movies) where she played a similar role as a wife driven crazy by her magician husband. If there’s no other reason to see this film, go to watch Rebecca’s performance.
Now the best part of this film to me is within the plot and the ending. Without spoiling too much I’ll try and explain why. Things are definitely not as they seem even by the time you make it most of the way through the film. After watching the trailer I thought I had a good grasps on what most likely will take place in the film. I was pleasantly wrong. There are really deep concepts in Night House regarding death, ghosts, and “other” entities that I have not seen used in other movies of this type. Especially the mystery surrounding the husbands suicide and the suicide note itself. The suicide note, when I first read what it said, baffled me greatly to the point I had to double take. It’s….erie.
The ending: The scene is deep and unnervingly dark and is the core of the film. For many, it may go over their heads. But if you do watch this movie, take your time to absorb the atmosphere and setting of that scene. It’s hauntingly beautiful and forces you to think about your own mortality and what comes after this life.
The Bad:
All unique things aside about the film, it’s not perfect. The run time is nearly 2 hours which typically isn’t too long, but for this movie I felt it was. That likely is due to my same reason for liking the film – the plot. As good as it is, it’s drawn out. Once you find out what is going on you realize there is a lot of filler/time wasting. Maybe the director wanted to have more “scares” for the audience, but I found those odd scenes kind of confusing. And looking back, they were not as helpful to the plot as he probably thought. If anything it confused me more.
The flow of the movie varies greatly, from Beth discovering key information and quickly acting upon it to her discovering something then the scene transitioning to a slow paced dream sequence or a house haunting moment that is not overly satisfying by its conclusion. It’s annoying because I think the director underestimated certain points of his plot/script and likely assumed it needed more action when in reality all it needed was more answers. I found that these moment stole my interest from the movie and I got bored many times. Also, there’s many confusing aspects to the information/clues you receive as an audience. Even now after seeing it some of the stuff presented I still do not understand fully and yet it doesn’t make the slightest difference on the plot as a whole. (That means it was not necessary!)
Things also take a repetitive turn by the middle of the movie. The spectral house scares start to get old, especially when you don’t have answers to questions yet and things seem really jumbled. There’s also a repetition with the scares. The lack of scare variety was really off putting at times. Maybe this can be blamed on what went on in the editing room. I know run time is something that has to be considered when releasing a move. It’s possible they didn’t have enough content so they dragged it out with some scenes that would have been better left in recycling bin of the editing bay. Either way, it could have used some work in this area and I would have liked to have a little more variance on scares and less variance on pace.
Lastly, the ending. Not the ending sequence, but the moment right before credits. Without spoiling, I will say you as a viewer may be disappointed. It is an ending that requires afterthought and probably some research online (which should rarely ever be) for actors and directors explanations. Sometime I enjoy these endings when I feel its deserved, especially with a hyper complicated plot, but this movie didn’t deserve that. Reason being, for this plot, the movie can end only one of two ways. Ending the movie like they did was not necessary and may have been done, like I said before, due to the directors missing some foresight on how his story would be perceived by the audience.
Rating and Final thoughts
★★★ – 3/5
Overall, I thought the movie was pretty good for a ghost thriller. I’ve said it before, all the graphics in the world cannot makeup for a good plot but the Night House, fortunately, contains a uniquely good plot that wont be forgotten. The acting from Rebecca really makes it worthwhile and there are plenty of tense moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat, alongside some slow moments that will have you sitting back in your seat and possibly on your phone. But by the end of the movie the resolution is well worth seeing to the end. The film is thought provoking and by the end of it you will be pondering that when we die will become ghost possibly something else in the darkness of eternal sleep.
Blackmagination 