It Comes At Night-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: When a mysterious infection grips the world, Paul will do whatever it takes to save his family when he invites a young couple to take shelter in his house. 

Faced with a COVID-19 pandemic, I’m sure we are all faced with a rising concern of being infected or any of our loved ones being infected.

While staying home seems like a protective and preventive measure, a small part of us still eyes everyone else we see when we go out for groceries or medicines, as possibly infected. That fear quickly turns into distrust.

Yes, everyone is wearing masks and gloves, but what if they are hiding a disease?

Fortunately, we also do live in a civilized society wherein people are careful and maintain a distance everywhere you go.

If you are avoiding them, guess what? They don’t want to be close to you either.

It comes at night really resonates with the current situation in the world. While we still believe in making connections and helping people, we also want to protect our loved ones exactly like Paul.

IT COMES AT NIGHT Movie Plot 

The opening scene is rather disturbing if you’re following the news and have heard about mass burials.

We see an old man with purple blisters on his skin. A boy in a gas mask tells him he loves him. It’s his grandfather. Another man comes over, also in a gas mask and gloves, and puts the old man in a wheelbarrow with a pillow.

The old man is taken deep into the woods, placed on the ground. A pillow is placed over his head, and he’s shot. Then he is wrapped in a cloth and dumped into a freshly dug grave. Then lit on fire.

The duo walks back home and we learn they are father and son, Paul and Travis. The old man was Paul’s wife’s (Sarah) father.

The three sit down to have a meal but only Paul can eat. There’s no explanation as to what the disease is and how contagious it is or how it has ravaged the world to the point everyone is living in isolation.

One night, they hear a noise outside their door and wear their masks and arm themselves with guns. It’s a man breaking in who pleads with them to not hurt him.

Paul knocks him unconscious. The man awakens and finds himself tied to a tree. He says his name is Will and he was only looking for water for his wife and son.

He tells Paul that he thought the house was abandoned. Paul unites him and tells him to take him to his wife. He will give them water in exchange for whatever food Will has.

On the way, Paul and Will are attacked by two men but they manage to get rid of them. Paul assumes it’s a setup but Will explains he didn’t want to kill them to find out if there were more people on the road and if they had any provisions.

They return to Paul’s home with Kim and Andrew.

At first, the two families seem to be getting along. Travis even develops a weird fascination with Kim. Andrew is a cute little boy.

But that’s when Travis’ nightmares begin. He dreams of vomiting black blood. His dog Stanley disappears one night and Paul is confused. The only door of the house was supposed to be closed. No one was supposed to venture out at night. In fact, they were supposed to hold in their bathroom needs until morning.

Travis has more nightmares and one night finds Andrew in his grandfather’s room. Convinced he’s sleepwalking, Travis goes to complain but finds the door open again. This time Stanley has returned but with an infection.

He’s killed immediately and the blame game begins- who has been leaving the door open.

The blame falls on the little boy who has been sleepwalking. The family decide to stay apart for a little while. Mistrust has captured all of them.

IT COMES AT NIGHT Ending Explained with Spoilers! 

Travis knows Andrew is infected and wonders if he is as well. His grandfather meets him in a dream and confirms it.

Paul, Travis and Sarah wear gas masks and confront Will. He refuses to come out of the room and tells him to take off his mask as no one is infected.

Paul angrily calls him out. When Will exits his bedroom he is attacked. He fights back but is killed by Sarah. Kim decides to run with her son into the woods but Paul is a good shot and takes down the kid first before his sobbing mother.

Travis is infected and is on his bed, purple blisters all over his skin.

In the next scene, Paul and Sarah are at the table, purple blisters all over them too.

They are going to die for helping a family who lied about being infected.

The movie was scary because of its theme that mirrors the current world situation. Apart from that, it doesn’t contain any horror sequences that will spook you.

All it does I invoke fear in you about your loved ones being infected.

Scare scale: 3/5