NFT: It Comes at Night (probably some spoilers)

Saw this film yesterday.

Among reactions throughout and after:

1. Halfway through: OK, so ... something HAS to actually occur soon, right?

2. Two-thirds through: Well, here we are two-thirds through. That's a long time for a monotonous build-up to something actually occurring. But we're in it this far, so ...

3. Three-quarters through: So, the dog runs off barking his ass off. The son chases. Suddenly the dog stops barking. They decide not to check out why.

4. 90 percent through: So something is finally happening. Well, kinda?

5. Roll the credits. Stare at screen. Look to the left where the rest of my family is staring at the screen. Then at one another. Then back at the screen. Then we all laugh and agree: WTF did we just watch?

The film is getting good numbers on Rotten Tomatoes but just around a half of viewers are rating it above a 2.5 out of 5. I give it a 1.5.

I think it tried hard to be something, but just never got there. While a typical story arc in a good film sees a rise to some sort of climax, this one was so flat-line the entire time that even when we reach the climactic scene, we knew we were going there all along, and it was just a matter of when, and disappointingly, the HOW we got there was simply empty.

I read one brief review that said essentially this: There is sometimes more value and terror in what we DON'T see than in what we see.

Well, true. But this film didn't do that well, imo.

My son said, on the way to the theater, that he liked the fact that the trailers didn't seem to give away too much. We agreed after watching it ... the reason or that was because there wasn't much to give away!

PS - What the hell happened to the dog!!!???