Be Excellent To Each Other

...until we find out the true form is a fucking Spider(?!) and all they do is kick fucking shit out of its glowing belly(?!)

Fucking wank out of 10

I get what they were trying to do, there is no actual 'IT' that comes at night, the monster here is man's own fear and mistrust, his propensity for violence. There's no need for an actual monster, because we can all become the monster - collectively or individually.

The whole post-apocalyptic scenario is essentially a sideline, since at no point do we actually see any monsters or zombies, or indeed any sick people apart from the granddad at the start, in dream sequences, and then Travis right at the end. There's also no attempt to explain what has happened to the world, or how, or when - I get that it's not supposed to be important so it doesn't need to be explained.

The problem I have with the film is that it's just a bit all over the place - it sort of has 'an idea' but doesn't really know where to go with it. Plus there are too many cheap jump scares, too many 'Ooooh is it a dream?' sequences, then dreams within dreams and all that cobblers.

And it plays out like a monster film, we're expecting a reveal and feel slightly cheated when we don't get one. If you're going to subvert a genre, you'd better make sure you do it REALLY WELL, and this film doesn't.

Then there are all the threads that aren't explained or explored, like Will's lying about his brother, or the sexual tension between Travis and Kim, or who opened the red door on the night the dog 'returned'.

My reading of it is that perhaps the dog and Travis are infected right from the start (they got it from the granddad?), which would explain all of Travis' nightmares about the illness and his (implied?) sleepwalking? It would also explain how the red door got opened (although not the outer door, which he wouldn't have had access to the key for).

I found it interesting at least, so afterwards did some Googling around only to find out that the director wanted it all to be a bit ambiguous and you can make up what you want it to mean. Erm, no, actually - you wrote and directed the fucking thing, so you should know what the point of it all is and what really happened. Apparently it's a personal film to help him cope with the death of his father which is fine but, y'know, listen to some sad songs and look at some old pictures or something, and then make a coherent film.

I'd latched on well before the end that there was no real monster or baddies as such, and that the real monsters were the humans, Paul in particular but also his wife once they realise Will and family are going to try and leave. I forget the exact scene and lines but it if there were subtitles they'd say 'THESE ARE THE BADDIES RIGHT HERE FOLKS, HERE IS YOUR MONSTER!'

The final few minutes were a bit of a gut punch and well done, although I didn't buy into their ability to murder an entire family in cold blood, including a three year old child.

On top of all that even the premise didn't feel particularly fresh. Thinking of, for example, THE BABADOOK which is notionally a monster film but is actually a film about crippling depression, that film was so well done and so compelling, IT COMES AT NIGHT doesn't hold a candle to it IMO.

Only very slightly better than THE GREEN INFERNO - 505/1000

The main problem is you want it to be a monster movie, but it isn't and never was. There's no reveal because there was never going to be one. You had nothing to "latch onto" because there were no hints that it was ever going to be a monster movie apart from the title (which is terrible, because it sounds like it's going to be a horror film but isn't). There's no similarity with The Babadook because it's nothing like it. That's all you projecting onto it. It's more of a thriller. It has more in common with The Road (also a great film).

In all honesty I thought it was going to be a horror film from the title too and I did expect something horror-like when I was watching it too, but once I'd finished watching it I'd accepted it for what it was.

The only horror trope that's in the film happens when the dog runs off, but looking back at it, the dog could have sensed other people. It doesn't play out like a horror film at all. It's just a dark look at two families hiding from an unknown disease has broken out.

Plus, I don't know what film you were watching but I can't remember any jump scares and there's a total of no more than 3 dream sequences when the creepy imagery happens and they don't last very long at all.

I acknowledge there's loose threads but most films do and the loose threads here leave you something to speculate on after the film comes to its climax. FYI The only sexual chemistry was in Travis' head during his dream. He's a lonely kid locked in a house in the woods while the world presumably dies outside his windows.

Anyway, here's why the film is so great. The characters are fantastic and, unlike say The Walking Dead or other crappy zombie/post-apocalypse movies, they never do anything that isn't entirely believable within the fiction. Even at the end when the families are threatening to shoot one another their actions are in keeping with how they'd act. When Will gets taken outside in the wheelbarrow it was still 60/40 that Paul would actually execute his new friends. If Will hadn't reacted, most viewers would probably believe that they'd have resolved it and Will's family would have walked.

The ending is fabulously done though.

There's only one problem with the film and that's the catalysit that creates the tension is poor. It's never explained how the dog got back in the house and I'm sure the dog couldn't open the door.

Anyway, I think your reading of who gets what, is wrong. It's fairly clear that the little lad touches the dog and get the disease; he passes it Travis when he puts him into bed; Travis' mum kisses him and also gets it (this was great. Check out her face and how she wipes her lips after she kisses him during a brilliant little sequence. It's so natural and subtle). They weren't infected from the start because the disease takes a day or two to show.

So all in all, a great addition to the depressing side of the post-apocalypse genre. You're wrong, but that's because you're sat there waiting for a monster because, well, for your own reasons.