Mikes Film Talk

2021’s The Night House shows that evil returns when the prize is worth it. Starring Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg and Vondie Curtis-Hall, the film deals with death and dying.

It also deals with repercussions of both.

The Story

Beth (Hall) has suffered a recent bereavement. Her husband Owen shot himself in the mouth. He was in their boat in the middle of the lake. She is having…issues.

She begins the grieving process but is interrupted by disturbing visions and noises. Unsettling yes. Frightening as well. The “haunting” has just begun.

What’s it all about

Hall is at turns upsetting and saddening. Her world has been turned upside down and this is not her closest brush with death. As a youngster, she was in a vehicle accident and died for four minutes.

This becomes important later on.

This is a touchy one to talk about. There is a splendidly wicked twist that sort of comes right out of left field. There are suspects galore:

Claire, her best friend, (played with brilliant creepiness by Barry’s Sarah Goldberg.) seems like an outside shot. However, the more you watch the film, she fits the suspect spot nicely.

*Sidenote: Goldberg was so good in Barry as the unstable girlfriend that it was nice to see she could step outside that character and just be slightly disturbing. Kudos.*

Vondie Curtis-Hall was, for me, the odds on favourite. This man, Curtis-Hall, is good. His turn as Sweetie in the recent Justified sequel/series was spot on.

Evan Jonigkeit as Owen is truly an onion. Just when we think know what he was up to, things shoot (no pun intended) off to the left.

One shadow trick too many

The Night House (referring to an abode only seen, initially, at night) has a good many tricks to help crank up the creep factor. Some of them, however, are used that bit too often.

The shadow trick, I really cannot say anymore than that, it will lose its power before you see it, is done to death. The long time it took for one of the suspects to “fess up,” was also annoying.

Despite the “shadow trick” The Night House gives us a nicely paced build up. The ending may be unexpected but it nothing too spectacular. *It has to be said. I only watched this last night and right now I cannot tell you the ending. That says a lot doesn’t it?*

Some girls do

The introduction of, what? A Demon? Death? It is not entirely clear. It is a great touch and explains all those apparitions of dead girls who do appear to leap to their death. This is, initially, a truly frightening moment.

Later on, when we find out why there were so many, it adds another level to the story.

The Verdict

The Night House scores a solid 3.5. It has, to me, a very satisfactory twist but an unmemorable ending. You can watch it on FXNOW and/or rent it/purchase it on Prime.

The Trailer