Film Review: "The Night House" (2020).

"The truth will surface" in The Night House. This psychological horror film directed by David Bruckner and written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. Reeling from the unexpected death of her husband, Beth is left alone in the lakeside home he built for her. She tries as best she can to keep it together – but then nightmares come. Disturbing visions of a presence in the house calling to her, beckoning her with a ghostly allure. Against the advice of her friends, she begins digging into her husband’s belongings, yearning for answers. What she finds are secrets both strange and disturbing – a mystery she’s determined to unravel.

In February 2019 it was announced that Rebecca Hall would star in a psychological horror film penned by Collins and Piotrowski and with Bruckner as director. By May, Sarah Goldberg, Stacy Martin, Evan Jonigkeit and Vondie Curtis-Hall rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place in Syracuse, New York.

The film stars Hall, Goldberg, Martin, Jonigkeit and Curtis-Hall. The performances are fantastic, especially Hall who is perfectly cast. The cast is anchored by Hall, whose talent elevates this psychological horror film. Hall captures Beth's flinty intelligence and the vulnerability that emerges as she slowly discovers her late husband's dark secrets.

The film has crafted an elegant haunted-house chiller that turns the screw of mystery and suspense with some cunningly judged surprises and scares. It is beautifully shot and the scenery and the ambience of a large haunted house is wonderfully captured, but can this film be the upstart for the modern ghost story? The raison d'être is ludicrous and sewn up in minutes, but the cast is very good, as is the cinematography and symbolism. If you're in the mood for some serious spooks with solid acting, the film is worth checking out; but I wouldn't go out of my way if you're looking for anything more than that. The film is a ghost story that wants to be more than just a ghost story, but in the process of trying to be a movie that transcends a genre, it at least subverts the genre. The film is a handsome, well-acted thriller with a script that's never cringe-inducing. So why did it sneak its way onto home video with no fanfare? Though the story spirals a little out of control in the film's final scenes, the film offers the low-key pleasures of an old-fashioned thriller and a lovely central performance. Bruckner exhibits a deft touch for a relatively new filmmaker and can feel satisfied that his film honours the tradition of such spooky works as Hellraiser and Black Swan. Murphy shows tremendous skill with genre elements, helping the film to overcome its formulaic origins, keeping attention on panic and skepticism, not just on cheap thrills. The film takes pains to ensure that the story feel like laborious toil rather than a trip through the dark side of the ethereal.

Simon says The Night House receives:

Also, see my review for The Ritual.