As problems go, few people you or I know could hold a candle to the supernatural shitstorm that Beth is dealing with.
Not only is she suddenly, instantly, alone, and grieving the worst loss of her life, but she thinks her dream house, the one her husband Owen built for them by hand, might be haunted. By Owen’s ghost. And he's pissed.
As taglines go, director David Bruckner couldn’t have come up with a better hook for his latest film, “The Night House,” but wait, it gets better.
“The Night House” isn’t just a ghost story. Oh no.
It’s also the tale of a malevolent entity. And it’s a serial killer thriller to boot.
I’ll wait while you try to wrap your head around all that.
The Night House
4 out of 5 stars
Now Playing
For horror fans, just the knowledge that Bruckner has a new movie is cause for celebration. Since 2007, he has delighted and horrified and thrilled viewers with feature films (“The Signal”) and anthology segments (“V/H/S” and “Southbound”) that delivered on their promise.
But, for me, as both a fan and a critic, it’s equally important that more mainstream audiences discover his unmistakable style and talent.
“The Night House” is not just his crowning achievement to claim.
Dual screenwriters Luke Piotrowski (“Super Dark Times,” “Siren”) and Ben Collins (“Super Dark Times”) have created something so subtle yet special that it takes days for your brain to fully wrap around what you’ve seen, and even then, you’re going to want to go back and rewatch certain moments just to confirm whether or not you actually saw what you think you did.
And Rebecca Hall, an actor equally comfortable in big-budget blockbusters as she is genre chillers, so completely manifests Beth’s grief in ways both relatable and shocking that even the most astute movie watchers will be left wondering if her perspective can or should be trusted.
Here’s what I can share without spoiling any of the film’s magnificent surprises: Beth had a near death experience years before the film opens. That experience created a central through line in her marriage to Owen that continues to resonate after he dies.
When Beth first experiences the faint hallmarks of a classic haunting, she believes Owen is trying to communicate with her from beyond the grave. But what if he is trying to warn her instead? And if that’s the case, what could he know that she needs to know that’s important enough to find a way to pierce the veil? What if the spirit inhabiting their dream house isn’t Owen at all? And what if the dream home is actually a self-made supernatural prison cell?
Yep. That’s right. “The Night House” isn’t playing around. It exists to blow your mind, and it succeeds, over and over.
To his credit, Bruckner isn’t playing around either. Every frame of this film that originates inside the house that Owen built is worthy of being paused and scrutinized.
Much like Jennifer Kent’s “The Babadook,” where her uber-creepy creation could be hiding inside every shadow, Bruckner positions unnerving and unsettling images right out in the open but disguised just enough that our eyes might not immediately pick up on what we’re seeing. And if that wasn’t enough, sometimes Bruckner just slaps us across the face with a camera angle and a visual so chilling that you catch your breath and recoil.
“The Night House” is next level good, and yet another example of cerebral horror that doesn’t need to rely on gore or jump scares to make you feel unsteady and ill.
John W. Allman has spent more than 25 years as a professional journalist and writer, but he’s loved movies his entire life. Good movies, awful movies, movies that are so gloriously bad you can’t help but champion them. Since 2009, he has cultivated a review column and now a website dedicated to the genre films that often get overlooked and interviews with cult cinema favorites like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell and Dee Wallace. Contact him at Blood Violence and Babes.com, on Facebook @BloodViolenceBabes or on Twitter @BVB_reviews.
Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team works tirelessly to bring you news on how coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2021.
