Home is where the heart is, i.e. where you’re supposed to feel safest and the place you can always go back to. But what if home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Or even worse, what if there’s another version of home that seems to threaten your very existence? The Night House plays around with these ideas, and Godzilla vs. Kong star Rebecca Hall is the subject of such horrors. It looks like even staying home isn’t safe these days, folks.
Director David Bruckner’s horror film hits even closer to the bone when you come to realize that in the case of The Night House’s protagonist Beth (Rebecca Hall), this house was built just for her. Crafted by her late husband, she’s been grieving over his sudden death, puzzling what the last note he left her truly means. The contents of that note are simple, but chilling:
You were right. There is nothing. Nothing is after you. You’re safe now.
Sometimes, it’s the little things that make home frightening. The fact that The Night House takes place in a home specifically built for Rebecca Hall and her on-screen husband is one of those details, especially when the further she digs, it seems that not everything about that house is on the level. In an Alice in Wonderland-style twist, there seems to be another copy of this house, with another Beth living right in it.
Sometimes, it’s the little things that make home frightening. The fact that The Night House takes place in a home specifically built for Rebecca Hall and her on-screen husband is one of those details, especially when the further she digs, it seems that not everything about that house is on the level. In a multiverse twist straight out of the MCU, there seems to be another copy of this house, with another Beth living right in it.
A rabbit hole’s worth of questions start to unravel from that point, and as The Night House’s trailer reveals, the answers don’t look to be all that cozy. Bloody footprints, inverted realities and some rather painful looking contortion all play a part with whatever it is that lies at the center of Beth’s supposed twin realities. Oh, and there’s an invisible presence that’s stalking Rebecca Hall’s central character as well. As if there weren’t enough horrible things going on in this fantasy world.
The Night House’s cautionary tale of staying a little too close to home feels like it’s hitting theaters at just the right time too. With studios and exhibitors looking forward to a summer with more activity than last year’s pandemic-fueled lockdowns, a horror movie about the dangers inside your own walls kind of sounds like a good night out. Of course, that leads to the obvious question of the evening: when, if ever, is it safe to go home again?
You’ll have plenty of time to answer that question, as The Night House premieres, only in theaters, on July 16. And if you’ve been craving horror on the big screen, then you’re in luck, as there’s plenty more to come before this offering hits your local multiplex. Though if you’d rather navigate away from the fright, there’s always the general 2021 release schedule, ready to help you out in this time of need.
