Film #26 — 2/2 Post-Apocalyptic Films
By C. Ramsay
Opening in medias res, with high stakes and no information other than what is directly visible to the audience, It Comes at Night is a drawling, shambling, slow burn of a character study. Surprisingly relevant to the hyper paranoia that has festered since the arrival of COVID-19, the film seeks to escalate by exploiting the uncertainties of the audience and characters alike. We never get much context around what’s happening or why, we only get a vague idea: a disease has ravaged the world, or at least the microcosm accessible to us, and we are introduced to the aftermath through two families and their experiences.
Bruegel the Elder’s The Triumph of Death is featured at the beginning of the film, a painting depicting a browning landscape, charred by fire and littered with bodies and their useless earthly possessions. Legions of undead have come to lay waste to people of all classes and backgrounds, whether they accept their fate or vie against it. As with the families we meet, there are options for how they can respond to the threat of death, but there is ultimately no real chance of escape.
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