 |
| Scene from It Comes at Night |
In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.
It Comes At Night
Released: June 9, 2017
Release Number: 51
Directed By: Trey Edward Shults
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo
Plot: Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son. Then a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.
With The Exception, A24 had officially crossed the 50th film mark and by then had established itself as the essential place for great modern indie gems. Considering that it brought forward its second collaboration with Christopher Plummer (after Remember), it only makes sense that their next film would bring back another filmmaker who got his big break with the studio with Krisha. Trey Edward Shults received acclaim for his family drama that was shot on a shoestring budget and using predominant casting of his own family. With a bigger budget and a more prestigious cast, he would make It Comes at Night, which would become one of the studio's more divisive films of 2017, in large part because of its connection to A24's knack for horror films that just don't land with audiences. With that said, those who loved the film still heaped praise upon it and the results speak for themselves. Shults turned another family story into a unique tale of survival, and did so with the oddest influences imaginable.
The story begins with Shults' relationship with his father. Prior to the film's conception, the two hadn't talked to each other in a decade, and soon the elder Shults was on his deathbed, seeking remorse from his son for a life lived improperly. It's a concept that stuck with Shults in the months that followed, and soon he came up with what would become the idea of It Comes at Night. He claims that he just began writing and the story spewed from his mind. It also came from his interpretation of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting The Triumph of Death, which would become prominent in the final film. He also claims that the title came to him early on in the process as well. By the end, he admitted that the post-apocalyptic story didn't take any influence from where most people think, such as The Walking Dead, and instead the film was grafted from the idea that it was The Shining or Night of the Living Dead as done by Paul Thomas Anderson or John Cassavetes.
It could even be noted that The Shining influence inspired the set design, which was never fully established as having a familiar layout in order to convey the uncertainty of the characters' mindset. Given that Shultz borrowed ideas heavily from his father, including his addiction, it informed a lot of the characters throughout the film. He once considered adding jump scares to the film in order to get a bigger budget, but decided that it would be inauthentic. Instead, he found inspiration in the quiet moments, even finding horror by adjusting aspect ratio to smaller and more claustrophobic when characters were having nightmares. By the end, Shults found a lot of inspiration from star Joel Edgerton, who shared advice on how to shoot the movie. It was during this time as well that Shults had the entire cast sign nondisclosure agreements to not reveal what the "It" in It Comes at Night actually was, leaving fans to guess what the title actually referred to.
As if the film's consistent ties to The Shining weren't enough, the premiere for the film was held at the Overlook Hotel, which is a prominent location in that film. The initial buzz was strong. However, things started to shift when it received wide release. There was initial concern that audiences wouldn't like the film because it wasn't conventional horror. The argument has been made that the film's opening (predicted at $12 million, earned $6 million) was bad in large part because of word of mouth. While the film would go on to earn $14 million at the box office, it was considered a failure because audiences disliked that it didn't have any familiar elements in it. It was more psychological and, like The Witch before, was more about the atmosphere and struggle between characters. It didn't help that the ads for the film emphasized an intensity often associated with conventional horror. While the score of the film could be argued as making it more conventional, it wasn't enough to make it connect with audiences.
With all of this said, the reviews for the film were generally positive. In the case of critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film earned a 87%, which was above average for A24 at the time. Leading the pack of positive reviews was David Sims of The Atlantic, who suggested that "A fairly straightforward post-apocalyptic story, tightly focused on human torment, but suffused with surprising, undeniably atmospheric sights and sounds." Nguyen Le of The Critical Movie Critics also noted that "A realistic apocalypse where the deadlier things are what one can touch and be exposed to everyday. In the case of It Comes at Night, it is the reflection of oneself."Adam Graham of Detroit News was more critical of the film's lack of familiar plot beats when mentioning "Midway through It Comes at Night you might wonder where it's headed, and it seems Shults may have asked himself the same question. It's a breathless thriller that will leave you gasping until it finally runs out of air itself." The film still had a following and is considered one of the studio's scarier movies, though continues the track record of their horror selections not quite connecting with audiences.
The second film between Shults and A24 was in some ways a vast improvement over the first. While Krisha had the benefit of being a discovery, It Comes at Night showed that the director could apply atmosphere to any film and make it work within his confines. While the film maintains a divisive reputation, it definitely helped to establish A24's brand of horror that could be scary without relying on jump scares. Instead, it's reliant on pathos and character development. It may not seem like much, but it helped to make the film something special for one grieving son. With that said, A24 would slide over to a different form of grieving with their next film, which would also fare a bit better with audiences thanks to its ambitious approach to a story far more interesting than its title. It also played with aspect ratios and made for one of the most provocative looks into death imaginable.
Up Next: A Ghost Story (2017)
With The Exception, A24 had officially crossed the 50th film mark and by then had established itself as the essential place for great modern indie gems. Considering that it brought forward its second collaboration with Christopher Plummer (after Remember), it only makes sense that their next film would bring back another filmmaker who got his big break with the studio with Krisha. Trey Edward Shults received acclaim for his family drama that was shot on a shoestring budget and using predominant casting of his own family. With a bigger budget and a more prestigious cast, he would make It Comes at Night, which would become one of the studio's more divisive films of 2017, in large part because of its connection to A24's knack for horror films that just don't land with audiences. With that said, those who loved the film still heaped praise upon it and the results speak for themselves. Shults turned another family story into a unique tale of survival, and did so with the oddest influences imaginable.
The story begins with Shults' relationship with his father. Prior to the film's conception, the two hadn't talked to each other in a decade, and soon the elder Shults was on his deathbed, seeking remorse from his son for a life lived improperly. It's a concept that stuck with Shults in the months that followed, and soon he came up with what would become the idea of It Comes at Night. He claims that he just began writing and the story spewed from his mind. It also came from his interpretation of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting The Triumph of Death, which would become prominent in the final film. He also claims that the title came to him early on in the process as well. By the end, he admitted that the post-apocalyptic story didn't take any influence from where most people think, such as The Walking Dead, and instead the film was grafted from the idea that it was The Shining or Night of the Living Dead as done by Paul Thomas Anderson or John Cassavetes.
It could even be noted that The Shining influence inspired the set design, which was never fully established as having a familiar layout in order to convey the uncertainty of the characters' mindset. Given that Shultz borrowed ideas heavily from his father, including his addiction, it informed a lot of the characters throughout the film. He once considered adding jump scares to the film in order to get a bigger budget, but decided that it would be inauthentic. Instead, he found inspiration in the quiet moments, even finding horror by adjusting aspect ratio to smaller and more claustrophobic when characters were having nightmares. By the end, Shults found a lot of inspiration from star Joel Edgerton, who shared advice on how to shoot the movie. It was during this time as well that Shults had the entire cast sign nondisclosure agreements to not reveal what the "It" in It Comes at Night actually was, leaving fans to guess what the title actually referred to.
As if the film's consistent ties to The Shining weren't enough, the premiere for the film was held at the Overlook Hotel, which is a prominent location in that film. The initial buzz was strong. However, things started to shift when it received wide release. There was initial concern that audiences wouldn't like the film because it wasn't conventional horror. The argument has been made that the film's opening (predicted at $12 million, earned $6 million) was bad in large part because of word of mouth. While the film would go on to earn $14 million at the box office, it was considered a failure because audiences disliked that it didn't have any familiar elements in it. It was more psychological and, like The Witch before, was more about the atmosphere and struggle between characters. It didn't help that the ads for the film emphasized an intensity often associated with conventional horror. While the score of the film could be argued as making it more conventional, it wasn't enough to make it connect with audiences.
With all of this said, the reviews for the film were generally positive. In the case of critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film earned a 87%, which was above average for A24 at the time. Leading the pack of positive reviews was David Sims of The Atlantic, who suggested that "A fairly straightforward post-apocalyptic story, tightly focused on human torment, but suffused with surprising, undeniably atmospheric sights and sounds." Nguyen Le of The Critical Movie Critics also noted that "A realistic apocalypse where the deadlier things are what one can touch and be exposed to everyday. In the case of It Comes at Night, it is the reflection of oneself."Adam Graham of Detroit News was more critical of the film's lack of familiar plot beats when mentioning "Midway through It Comes at Night you might wonder where it's headed, and it seems Shults may have asked himself the same question. It's a breathless thriller that will leave you gasping until it finally runs out of air itself." The film still had a following and is considered one of the studio's scarier movies, though continues the track record of their horror selections not quite connecting with audiences.
The second film between Shults and A24 was in some ways a vast improvement over the first. While Krisha had the benefit of being a discovery, It Comes at Night showed that the director could apply atmosphere to any film and make it work within his confines. While the film maintains a divisive reputation, it definitely helped to establish A24's brand of horror that could be scary without relying on jump scares. Instead, it's reliant on pathos and character development. It may not seem like much, but it helped to make the film something special for one grieving son. With that said, A24 would slide over to a different form of grieving with their next film, which would also fare a bit better with audiences thanks to its ambitious approach to a story far more interesting than its title. It also played with aspect ratios and made for one of the most provocative looks into death imaginable.
Up Next: A Ghost Story (2017)
No comments:
Post a Comment