Shudder Saturday: The Night (2020)

I used to have a theory, one that I would bring up in many conversations about film, that most films could be shown, overtly or otherwise, to have a female villain/instigator at the heart of the plot. This didn't stem from any anti-female sentiment on my part, rather it was an attempt to show the misogyny that has permeated cinema for over a century. Now that I have written the idea down here, I guarantee that you can think of lots of movie titles that disprove my theory, but it's still surprising to realise how many films fall in line with it. I was moved to mention this now because The Night is, arguably, one such film.

Babak Naderi (Shahab Hosseini) is travelling home with his wife, Neda (Niousha Noor), and young child, after an evening of good conversation and a drink or two with friends. Needing to pull over and rest up for the night, they check into a hotel, where the only staff available seems to be a lone receptionist (George Maguire). And so begins a night of paranoia, strangeness, and fear. All culminating in, well, a disappointing flourish of nothing just before the end credits roll.

Directed by Kourosh Ahari, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Milad Jarmooz, this feels like a film made by people who were making things up as they went along. There are good moments here and there, a particular highlight being a scene involving a police officer (played by Michael Graham), but the meandering and unfocused narrative makes the 105-minute runtime feel much longer, which wouldn't have been so bad if it had all been leading to a worthwhile climax.

Both Hosseini and Noor do well in their roles, allowed to go through an enjoyable range of different feelings as they become increasingly distressed by the "twilight zone" they find themselves in. Graham is the other main cast member worth praising. Maguire, on the other hand, is a poor addition to the whole thing. That's not necessarily his fault, but he's required to deliver clunky dialogue in a way that does nothing more than highlight his role as "harbinger", rather than allowing him to keep up even the most minimal pretence of being a completely normal hotel receptionist.

There may be a bit more to this for anyone who identifies with some of the particular worries of the main characters (they are an Iranian family living in the USA), but the basic horror movie elements don't knit together, and I could easily namecheck a dozen better movies for every derivative scene bobbing around like some kind of genre flotsam and jetsam in a turbulent sea of toxic waste.

Am I being too harsh? Maybe. I still encourage others to give this a watch and make up your own mind about it. It's just a bit more frustrating because of the positive technical aspects, and some of the undeveloped and unexplored extra tension, that make me think Ahari could have delivered something much better. I think he has the potential to helm something impressive, despite this film being such a dull and plodding affair.

3/10

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