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The Devil Comes at Night Review
Image Credit: Uncork'd Entertainment
Loading...The Devil Comes at Night Review
Ryan Allen– Ben
Adrienne Kress– Amy
Jason Martorino– Mason
Todd Campbell– Ted
Dana Fradkin– Lisa
Elias Zarou– Jack
Shawn Ahmed– Jay
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Scott Leaver
Screenplay by Ryan Allen, Adrienne Kress, and Scott Leaver
Distributed by Uncork’d Entertainment
Unrated
Runtime– 80 minutes
The Devil Comes at Night was released on June 6th, 2023 and is available on all digital formats and DVD.
The Devil Comes at Night, directed by Scott Leaver, is a terrific new horror movie that’s currently available on all major digital platforms and DVD (it was released by the fine folks at Uncork’d Entertainment starting June 6th, 2023). A demon siege horror thriller for the ages, The Devil Comes at Night goes in truly unexpected directions and wisely uses its tight 80 minute running time to tell a story that will scare you, freak you out a bit, and make you cheer during its wild ending. The Devil Comes at Night is amazing.
The Devil Comes at Night stars Ryan Allen (he also co –write the script) as Ben, a down on his luck ex-boxer who finds himself trapped inside his dead father’s country house while being menaced by demonic figures outside. Ben originally came to town to look for a safe inside his father’s house, a safe that is supposed to have his inheritance. Instead, Ben, along with his old friend and trainer Jack (Elias Zarou), finds himself under attack by various locals who are not what they seem. When the movie begins we see Jack drop Ben off at Ben’s father’s house after some sort of altercation in town. Jack tells Ben to stay out of sight and to wait for the heat to die down before leaving. Ben, when he finally gets himself together after the altercation, tries to do what Jack advises him to do, but at the same time Ben needs to find that safe. After fixing his messed up finger with a metal finger stabilizer from a first aid kit, Ben starts his search of his father’s house. The location of the safe isn’t obvious and will require Ben to exert more effort than he hoped for. Before he can search further, Ben is interrupted by Ted and Lisa (Todd Campbell and Dana Franklin), two incredibly nice and friendly neighbors. After talking to them for a few minutes, Ben realizes that something is off about Ted and Lisa and he tells them to go away (they offer him a beer, they want him to go over to their house, and then when he refuses to go with them they get snippy and upset. It’s all very weird). Ben then talks with Jack via phone, finds out what happened in town (not everything but enough to satiate some of his curiosity), and then goes back to searching for the safe.
Someone else shows up outside. Who the hell is it? A guy named Mason (Jason Martorino). What does Mason want? Mason tells Ben that Ben’s father hired him to put a scarecrow in a field. Okay, but why does Mason have to do it now, at night? Mason, another weirdo, doesn’t give up much info beyond saying that that’s what he was hired to do. So Ben eventually allows Mason to go “do his job” (there’s a bit of hostile back and forth between the two, and Ben does bring out a baseball bat at one point, but he eventually just allows Mason to put up the scarecrow). Ben has a safe to find.
It’s at this point in the story that Ben finds out that he isn’t alone in the house. Amy (Adrienne Kress, who also co-write the screenplay), a librarian, has been hiding out in the house after experiencing the town’s sudden weirdness. Just what the heck is going on here?
So then some stuff happens, Ben finds out that Mason didn’t plant the scarecrow in a field, instead putting it up at the front door of the house, Amy tells Ben that Mason is incredibly dangerous, and suddenly Ted and Lisa are in cahoots somehow with Mason, they all have dangerous weapons, and they all want to attack Ben. Jesus Christ, what the hell is going on here?
I don’t want to say any more about the plot as there are some nifty surprises that you should experience as they happen in the movie. I will say, though, that we do find out what is really going on, and it is incredibly weird. We also find out quite a bit about who Ben is, what his relationship with his deceased father was like, and what Mason is all about, too. I didn’t expect any of what happens. I kind of figured that something supernatural was likely happening, but not in the way that you would expect something supernatural to happen. Again, there are surprises aplenty, and the movie revels in its weirdness. It’s a beautiful thing.
Director and co-screenwriter Scott Leaver heaps on the atmosphere and creates a real sense of dread, both when the audience has no idea what’s really going on and then when the audience does know what’s going on. Leaver also knows how to make the most out of what was clearly a modest budget. Leaver also knows how to use time wisely, knows when to slow things down to allow the movie to breathe and ramp up the uneasiness. That’s the kind of stuff you want in a movie like The Devil Comes at Night.
Ryan Allen is fantastic as Ben. You don’t know who Ben is or what he’s done when the movie begins. The only thing you know is he’s been injured and is being left alone in a house out in the middle of nowhere. As the movie progresses and we find out more about who Ben is and what is really going on your sympathy for him grows exponentially. At the same time, you’re not quite sure you can trust Ben, either. I don’t mean that in a sinister way, but more in a “there’s a chance he may not be telling the whole truth because he needs to hide something about himself in order to get out of this situation alive” way. You’re never not with Ben. You want to find out what his deal really is all about, on top of just wanting him to get out of his deceased father’s house alive. Can he do it? I think you’ll dig the little details regarding Ben both in terms of who he is and what he plans on doing to survive.
Adrienne Kress does a great job as Amy, the librarian hiding out in Ben’s house. I really thought the movie was going to go one specific way with Amy considering what the movie is really about. I was expecting some sort of big twist when it comes to who Amy really is, but the movie doesn’t do it. Instead, Amy is a fellow potential victim of the demonic forces outside of Ben’s house and she just wants to survive, too. She isn’t all that interested in the safe that Ben is looking for, but she does become interested when she realizes that if she can help Ben find it they will try to get out of the house together. I’m also a big fan of how foul mouthed Amy is, as you just don’t expect to hear multiple cuss words from a librarian.
Jason Martorino is absolutely diabolical as Mason. You know that something is up with Mason when he shows up in the middle of the night to put up a scarecrow. I mean, who does that? Even if planting scarecrows is your job and you’re running behind on that day, planting a scarecrow at night doesn’t seem like something anyone is going to do (even if there’s a full moon and Mason has a big flashlight it’s still way too dark to be doing something like planting a scarecrow at night). And when it’s revealed what Mason is really all about it will creep you out. And then Martorino will somehow make things even creepier. Easily one of the best horror movie villain performances of the decade.
Todd Campbell and Dana Fradkin are hilariously weird as Ted and Lisa, the oddly friendly neighbors. As soon as you first see them you know that something is seriously off about them. It isn’t so much that they’re introducing themselves to the “new neighbor” in Ben, it’s that they’re way too eager to do it. They’re way too friendly. And when they both become upset when Ben keeps spurning their advances you know that your first impression about them was right, but what are they going to do now that they’ve “revealed” their true selves? Does one of them have a gun? A grenade? Do they have hostages in their own home and they want Ben to become the latest one? You will laugh at Campbell and Fradkin, and then you will get the willies from them. Amazing performances.
The Devil Comes at Night is a great horror flick. Filled with creepy atmosphere, great performances, and surprises galore, it’s a horror movie well worth your time. And, heck, it’s a lean and mean 80 minutes so it’s not like you can’t fit it into your life. The Devil Comes at Night is definitely something that should be in your life.
See The Devil Comes at Night. See it, see it, see it! The Devil Comes at Night is available on all digital platforms as well as DVD.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: At least 8.
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: None.
Doobage: An off screen altercation of some sort, a messed up finger, hand washing, first aid kit hooey, a note, attempted phone charging, two weird neighbors, beer drinking, multiple weird questions, hostility, a phone call, scarecrow hooey, a baseball bat threat, a fridge with three beers in it, flashlight stealing, bathroom hooey, sudden weird noises, a scarecrow surprise, machete attack, a messed up wrist and hand, wrist wrapping, attempted aspirin, talk about cancer, harpoon attack, a scuffle, puking, safe to the head, a police report, knife hooey, hoods and machetes, decapitation via fishing wire and car driving away, harpoon through the neck, car keys stealing, a story about boxing gloves, an old tape recorder, a messed up audio tape, unholy hooey, harpoon to the back, serious face punching, harpoon to the head, plaster of Paris boxing glove hooey, harpoon to the back, neck biting, some serious goddamn strangulation and neck breaking, and a funny ending.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: Messed up finger stabilization, saying something wrong, two weird neighbors, bug zapper on the porch, a guy yelling in the dark for some reason, scarecrow hooey, potential racism (or is it?), a man telling a woman his life story, an old church pulpit, old photocopies, harpoon attack, decapitation via fishing wire and a car driving away, a story about loaded boxing gloves, exorcism hooey, insults, spitting on a cross, some serious goddamn strangulation and neck breaking, and a funny ending.
Best lines: “Sober up! Lock everything! I don’t think we were followed!,” “What the fuck, Jack?,” “I promise, we’re not total hicks!,” “Shit! You got a big one!,” “What? Our house isn’t good enough for you?,” “Don’t be a dick, Ben?,” “Did you find it?,” “Fuck this town!,” “Come on, Mr. Safe. Where are you?,” “Oh, hell no! Hey! What the fuck you doing?,” “Well, Mason, I’m gonna need you to take that scarecrow and fuck off,” “You’re like twice Arthur’s size!,” “That motherfucker!,” “Mason’s here? Shit. I hate that fucking guy,” “You dropped your phone,” “All of this over a bar fight?,” “Amy, I promise you haven’t seen anything yet,” “Fuck, Ben, I don’t want to die. We better make it,” “Where’s the knife? I must have dropped it. Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me!,” “Well, I guess I found your fucking safe,” “Did that motherfucker say he wanted to eat me?,” “Christ, everyone in this town has gone nuts!,” “I told you, I like disappointing you, Mason,” “What is fucking wrong with you?,” “I’m gonna fucking kill Mason,” “An exorcism? You’re no Catholic priest!,” “Fuck. Fuck,” “Go fuck yourself you fucking… fuck!,” “You ready? No, but whatever. You think we can do this? No. Fuck,” “You swear a lot for a librarian, right? My career is not a personality trait,” “I desecrate this land!,” “You really thought you could avoid this?,” “It’s okay. I was never going to let her go,” and “So, what is your name, anyway?”
