It Comes at Night has been beset by an unexpected disparity in reaction between critics and audiences. It doesn’t appear to be provoked by pseudo politics, like was the case with 2015’s Ghostbusters, nor does it appear to be an instance of unbridled fandom associated with any number of big budget genre properties. Based on a thorough consideration of various review aggregate sites, it seems critics have taken so strongly to Trey Edward Shulz’s second effort for the same reasons general movie goers have spurned it: its subversion of the type of movies its trailer sold it as.
Now while I will say that I air decidedly more toward the views of the critics regarding It Comes at Night as a film, it is of little consequence. What interests me most about the audience thumping of what is objectively a competently made movie regards what that says about the state of the medium as a whole.
I remember watching the trailer for It Comes at Night four months ago and thinking, OK, a post-apocalyptic horror film wherein the aforementioned “ It ” is teasing either the supernatural or more (probably) zombies. I was never at any point disparaging of the film, simply because the combined efforts of Shultz and A24 were sure to be at the very least interesting, but I did not expect to verily enjoy, let alone be moved by this movie.
In this way, my reception of the film after seeing it benefited from my erroneous first impression. I went into the theater expecting a gripping, if not tawdry, zombie flick and got an inspired atmospheric drama fortified by horror elements. For some audiences, this defiance of expectation was perceived as a detrimental shortcoming. The trailer didn’t give them the sufficient amount of information to prepare for what kind of movie they were about to see. That’s undoubtedly true but… wasn’t that its purpose?
One only has to take It Comes at Night’s deliberately vague narrative into account to deduce that the enjoyment of the film in many ways hinges on the subversion of anticipation. The audience, like the family at its center, is on the edge awaiting the reveal of some great calamity only to reach its flat, somber ending to realize the “It” was fear and paranoia itself, a brilliant plot and marketing device. The more you clumsily surmise about It Comes At Night, the more you relate with the trepidatious characters that inhabit it.
Audiences didn't think so.
Not exactly a surprise in the era where a prequel TRILOGY explaining the origin of the goddamned “Alien” from the movie Alien comes out the same year as a movie informing us where and how Jack Sparrow, a character that first featured in a film based on a theme park ride, got his hat and compass. I’ve seen Spiderman Homecoming three months before its release because of the two and half minute long trailer that Sony dropped back in March that insisted on containing every narrative beat of the film. It’s Spider-Man for Christ's sake, that trailer could’ve been 20 seconds long. Here’s the suit, here’s the villain, ‘Oh look Robert Downey Jr,’ fork it over knuckle draggers. Hollywood started this trend of spoon feeding us plot in trailers long ago, and too many mouthbreathers keep buying into it.
The lampooning of It Comes At Night is a prodrome of the shill-conditioning that blockbuster trailers set in motion about a decade ago. Movies cost more to make, therefore less risks can be taken. Studios simply can’t afford not to tell you Iron Man shows up in their movie or chance losing repeat business by releasing a film that makes you think too hard or feel uncomfortable about your unmet expectations.
The “It” in It Comes at Night is never explicitly stated, nor does the origin or exact nature of the illness that plagues the post-apocalyptic world drive its story. You aren’t told the family's last name, or when their birthdays are, or what their favorite season of The Wire is, who they voted for and why, or their thoughts on affirmative action. And don’t waste your time because there’s no post-credit stinger. Bummer, right? WRONG!
Filmmakers like Trey Edward Shulz are going extinct because you dweebs are drinking the AMC kool aid. “Hey, projectionist, the movie I was watching just ended without telling me I was a good boy. It didn’t give me any answers neither. Unless a prequel’s in the works I’d like a refund.”
Shulz is a new director riding the wave of a critical darling. His second film is tanking at the box office due to bad word of mouth. Pirates of The Caribbean 5 made 650 million dollars. That means a 6th installment is on the way. What about passing on any future sequel prequel soft-boot and use your money to see good films? Don’t even watch the trailers first! Just look at the poster and ask yourself: Do I like My Brain? If the answer’s yes, see it, if the answer’s no, then take your pre-faded Ant-Man t-shirt and shove it up your ass.
Transformers is a saga now. Fuck.
