The Night House (2020) is unnerving, but there’s one fly in the ointment
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the horror genre. There are exceptions, of course, such as the Paranormal Activity franchise and the Halloween films. Generally I don’t really find much use for the typical jump scares and gore, especially when I get the sense that the film was just made for a cash grab more than any sort of artistic inspiration. So that’s partly why I am so conflicted about today’s review of The Night House (2020). I was pretty stoked to check this out, since the director, David Bruckner, is helming the reboot of Hellraiser, which I would also list as one of my exceptions since I was a big fan as a teenager in the 80s. There are a few aspects of this one that definitely give me hope that he’s going to do a great job with Hellraiser.
First and foremost, huge kudos to the lead actor, Rebecca Hall. The last time I recall her in a prominent role was the biopic film Christine (2016), which is an excellent film that I highly recommend, and one where Ms. Hall was equally remarkable. It’s not easy pulling off a natural, organic reaction to special effects and CGI, and it’s because she was so effective in that area that the first fifteen minutes in particular really had me feeling unnerved. After that point, things do become a bit more drawn out and more story-focused, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the complexity of this narrative is one of the things I really liked about it, and it’s why I said that I feel Hellraiser is in such good hands. Clearly a lot of effort went into this film, and I appreciate that it requires activation of some neurons to follow things through to the end.
For me, there was one fly in the ointment, and admittedly, it’s kind of trivial, but it was enough to completely disrupt my focus and actually had me laughing at how unintentionally humorous it was. It clearly didn’t bother my ex, who was watching along with me, but it reminded me of the now infamous “nnnnnnnnooooooooooo!” that Darth Vader bellows out in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Okay, okay…maybe not quite on that level, but you get the idea. For those who give The Night House a look, hopefully it won’t be as much of a distraction. In the end, even though I can’t say I was blown away, I have a healthy respect for this film and all that went into it. Let us know what you think if you check it out!
Score: 7.1/10
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Evan Jonigkeit
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