Originally this year’s FrightFest Glasgow was supposed to screen an exciting discovery as it’s unofficial opening night movie. Unfortunately that wasn’t meant to be, but not one to let the FrightFest audience down, rather than skip the opening film, the four uncles of horror quickly found a replacement in the form of Jennifer Reeder’s Night’s End. The film arrives on Shudder at the end of March, meaning that FrightFest audiences will get a sneak peek at the latest offering.
Reeder has a history with FrightFest, her film Knives and Skin was one of the most talked-about films back in 2019 and so the inclusion of Reeder’s newest film makes sense on paper. In reality, Night’s End is a bit of a disappointment. Set within the walls of one building, the story follows Ken Barber (Geno Walker), a recovering out-of-work alcoholic who has recently moved house. In an attempt to bring in some money, Ken spends his days creating self-help guides and uploading them to YouTube. After a spooky experience is picked up on a recording, he realises that his new home might be haunted. Rather than leave, he’s encouraged by his friends to continue recording paranormal events, which places them all in harm’s way.
Clearly filmed during the pandemic, the biggest issue that Night’s End has is that there’s little variation in its shots. As the film is set within the confines of Ken’s place, it means that all the viewer ever sees are the same four walls, and a couple of rooms. The single location would be tolerable were it not for the fact that all of Ken’s interactions are done over a computer. It’s a way of living that many of us got used to during the pandemic, but to see it reflected back on screen just falls flat and the repetition quickly becomes dull. The evolution of found footage, the newly termed ‘screenlife’ format has seen waves of films set around computer screens come out of the woodwork, and whilst Night’s End doesn’t align with the sub-genre, it’s proximity to screens may draw some comparisons. The issue here though is that the static nature and constant repetition appears to have been forced to help production rather than push the story forward. The lack of physical connection between Ken and those around him does an excellent job at communicating his emotional distance, but when buried under the weight of the simple structure, it loses its power.
Making all the other characters appear on-screen only literally makes them two-dimensional and so they don’t feel fully corporeal either. The writing further serves to make the cast and characters even less tangible. The lines are clunky and full of redundant remarks like ‘oh damn’ and ‘Hell no’ with attempts at humour falling completely off of the cliff. Whilst most of the cast are still early in their careers, the inclusion of Michael Shannon is baffling. He plays Isaac, the new husband of Ken’s ex-wife and he wanders around chewing the scenery of every call that he’s a part of. Weirder still, his role doesn’t have any great significance to the story and exactly why Shannnon signed on is a mystery that is more intriguing than that posed in NIght’s End itself.
Night’s End isn’t a complete disaster, however; there’s an interesting look at living with anxiety, Ken forever counting backward from ten and completing different routine-based rituals to keep his metaphysical demons at bay. Not all of the plot ideas are bad either, it just seems that making the film during a pandemic wasn’t the best move for the story. Just one sequence with someone visiting Ken, even if they only got as far as his front door, might help sell the world of the film as one that could exist. Kept confined to computer screens and pretty much the same static set-up means that boredom creeps in early and with no place to go, Night’s End quickly becomes very very tiresome.
Not at all the clever and chilling serial killer thriller that would have set FrightFest off with a mighty bang, Night’s End instead gets the festivities off with a whimper. Many attendees will nonetheless appreciate the sentiment behind the team’s commitment to keeping a movie in the opening night slot. A film that was never meant to debut here, Night’s End makes valiant strides to be different, but in doing so gets repetitive to the point that it gets lost amongst the noise. A sad start to FrightFest, the good news is that the only way from here is up.
Night’s End
Summary
Featuring a computer screen about ten times too many, Night’s End quickly gets itself stuck in a rut of repetition, one from which it can never escape.
Night’s End was reviewed at FrightFest Glasgow 2022. Night’s End will arrive on Shudder from 31st March 2022.
