Filmmaker Shults writes of own fears
Deeply personal ‘It Comes at Night’ is anti-horror film of summer
Ever since It Comes at Night made its film festival debut, it’s been breathlessly dubbed the “scariest movie of 2017.”
But that was the furthest adjective from Trey Edward Shults’ mind as he wrote and directed the low-key psychological thriller (in theaters nationwide Friday), which follows two families steeling themselves against a mysterious virus that infects people with zombie-like symptoms.
“I didn’t make it with the mind-set of, ‘I’m going to make the scariest horror movie Shults ever,’ ” says Shults, 28, over coffee at Brooklyn Diner in Midtown. “I remember editing the movie and someone asked, ‘Is it scary?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even think about that. Should it be?’
“It’s about my fears: the unknown and mortality. Those are the scariest things to me.”
Night stars Joel Edgerton as protective patriarch Paul, who warily accepts a young couple (Christopher Abbott and Riley Keough) and their little boy (Griffin Robert Faulkner) into his family’s forest stronghold at the behest of his wife, Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and teenage son, Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). But tensions between the relative strangers come to a head when the disease threatens to infiltrate their home.
“I cried when I was done reading it, which is a rare thing for me,” Keough says. “It’s obviously really scary and wild and chilling, but I also found it to be very emotional. It’s a very interesting exploration into fear and human behavior under pressure, and exploring people as monsters.”
Night is Shults’ second feature film. Like last year’s low-budget
Krisha, which was inspired by a cousin’s fatal overdose, Night is an unsettling and personal family drama. He started writing it in 2014 after the death of his estranged father, who struggled with substance abuse.
Reconnecting at his dad’s deathbed after a decade of not speaking “was a very traumatic experience,” Shults says. “He had so much regret about his life and everything he loved, and I was just trying to help him find peace.”
The central relationship in the post-apocalyptic Night is be- tween father and son. Paul repeatedly reminds Travis that “you can’t trust anyone but family” (advice the director’s stepdad gave him growing up). The character also equips his family with gas masks and shotguns (a nod to one of Shults’ relatives who’s a doomsday prepper).
Edgerton was drawn to Paul because “I’ve always been interested in fathers who are full of tough love,” he says. “They expect (their children) to grow up a little sooner than they should, but they’re doing it from what they think is the right place.” He relishes that so much of Night is left open to question, with no big monster reveal or third-act twist.
“I loved that it didn’t start with a five-minute (introduction) telling you exactly what had happened to the world through a mashup of news reports,” the actor says. “You get what you need to feel out the story, but also enough to decide for yourself.”