The Night House is a 2020 American horror film about a widow who begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets.
Directed by David Bruckner (The Ritual; Southbound; V/H/S; The Signal) from a screenplay written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, the Anton-Phantom Four Films production was produced by David S. Goyer and Keith Levine and stars Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Stacy Martin and Evan Jonigkeit.
Plot:
Reeling from the unexpected suicide of her husband, Beth (Rebecca Hall) is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep together—but then the dreams come. Disturbing visions of a presence in the house call to her, beckoning with a ghostly allure.
However, the harsh light of day washes away any proof of a haunting. Against the advice of her friends, she begins digging into his belongings, yearning for answers. What she finds are secrets both strange and terrible and a mystery she’s determined to resolve…
Reviews:
” …this is a film that asks whether the existence of ghosts might be more comforting than frightening. Unfortunately, the script by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski is clunky—in the convoluted nature of its reveals and also in the sometimes-baffling behavior on display.” AV Club
“It’s moody and atmospheric, but above all, it’s scary as hell. Though the ending may be a significant sticking point for some, for many, it’ll be a minor blip in an otherwise stellar and frightening piece of filmmaking. Bruckner continues to demonstrate an insanely powerful grasp of delivering potent chills.” Bloody Disgusting
“Hall is incredible as Beth, the camera rarely leaving her face, fascinated with her mask of pain and shock. This performance is backed up by a nerve-shredding sound design that takes the jump scare into a different dimension, and clever use of a house that performs unsettling tricks of the eye to increasingly creepy effect. Director David Bruckner knows exactly what he’s doing, how to keep the audience on edge, and when to pull the rug out from under them.” Bloody Flicks
” …a unique film within the current horror landscape, because despite its occult/supernatural/satanic trappings, it’s ultimately a riff on the gothic romance. It’s implied early on that Owen may literally be haunting Beth at their old house, and the house itself is a sort of conduit for not just his spirit but their relationship.” Crooked Marquee
“While I absolutely loved The Night House, and found it to be equal parts heartbreaking and genuinely nerve-shredding during certain sequences, I will say that at times, the film really does feel like it’s a bit too busy for its own good, losing focus on the poignant aspects of Beth’s journey here and trading them in to build up a mythology that doesn’t totally come together 100 per cent in the end…” Daily Dead
“Hall’s work makes this horror-thriller worth seeing, but I don’t think it’s going to become the staple that folks were hoping for when the trailer arrived […] It’s a fun flick and some may still be drawn into The Night House’s mystery, but the film—and everyone at the heart of its conception—have Hall to thank for that.” Paste magazine
“It’s the kind of movie that would make for a fun challenge in how to explain what it all means in as few sentences as possible, in part because it doesn’t make sense by the end. I haven’t even mentioned Stacy Martin’s brief role as another woman in Owen’s life, or the second house across the lake, just a couple of bizarre plot threads that fail to mix under Bruckner’s care.” RogerEbert.com
“The Night House benefits from Bruckner’s finely calibrated direction, Elisha Christian’s moody cinematography, and Rebecca Hall’s utterly committed central performance as a schoolteacher profoundly mourning the seemingly inexplicable, unimaginable loss of her architect husband to suicide.” Screen Anarchy
“Though this tale of a new widow’s apparent haunting gets progressively lost in a narrative maze that’s complicated without being particularly rewarding, director David Bruckner suffuses the action with enough dread and unpleasant goosings to make this an above-average genre exercise.” Variety
Release:
Disney’s Searchlight reportedly picked up the rights for The Night House for a whopping $11 million at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival after it was shown on January 24, 2020.
In the USA, the film was released theatrically on July 16, 2021.
Cast and characters:
Rebecca Hall … Beth
Sarah Goldberg … Claire
Stacy Martin
Evan Jonigkeit … Owen
Vondie Curtis-Hall … Mel
Allie McCulloch … Actress
Samantha Buck … Becky
Amy Zubieta … Woman #1
David Abeles … Gary
Patrick Klein … Bob
James W. Meagher … Teacher
Derek M. Puma … Bar Patron / Wedding guest
Amber Anne … Bridesmaid / Bar Patron
Laura Austin … Relative
Michael Flores … Stand-in
Technical details:
110 minutes
Themes:
depression | grief | haunting | psychological
UK trailer:
US trailers:
Ending explained:
