Smash Cut

Tag: Rebecca Hall

  • 'The Night House' terrifies — Sundance review

    'The Night House' terrifies — Sundance review

    Rebecca Hall plays a widow haunted by her dead husband in their lakehouse in The Night House

    The scares in The Night House come hard and fast, aided by director David Bruckner’s masterful grasp of a dread-filled atmosphere.

    See all our reviews from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival here.

    What does a house feel like when one of its inhabitants is gone? It feels empty. Incomplete. Cold. That’s the feeling that director David Bruckner’s new film The Night House, which premiered as part of the Midnight section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, gives off at the start as Beth (Rebecca Hall), a high school teacher, copes with the suicide of her husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit). As she strolls through their lakeside home, built and designed by Owen, you can feel the vacant space. It probably doesn’t help that the home is filled with large windows opening into the darkness of the woods and lake. However, eventually, like Bruckner’s last film The Ritual, that feeling eventually gives way to a pervasive dread. 

    Owen’s suicide came as a surprise to many, but no one more than Beth. For her, Owen was her rock helping her through depression. Now that he’s gone she begins to self-destruct by drinking too much and pushing those close to her away including her friend and coworker Claire (Sarah Goldberg) and neighbor Mel (Vondie Curtis Hall). She, like many others who lose a loved one to suicide, feels confused and, more intensely, abandoned.

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    However, she’s not alone. One night she hears a heavy knocking at the door — this is where living in an all-glass house isn’t ideal. Then, the basement lights flip on. The next morning she’s not sure if it was real or a dream. Another night, she’s awoken by the stereo blaring her wedding song, startling the silent house. As the haunt becomes more intense with white-knuckling tension and well-earned effective jump scares, Beth starts to suspect her husband may have had secrets — dark secrets. 

    The screenplay, written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, begins to twist itself into a mystery that sometimes gets overly complicated for its own good — much like their last effort Super Dark Times. As Beth digs deeper she finds that her husband has books on the occult and photos of women that look like her on his computer. The mystery throws Beth into turmoil amidst the haunt. Rebecca Hall’s performance ranks among her best as she balances raw guttural emotions with Beth’s indignance. And while the story threatens to throw the movie off its rails, Bruckner’s strong grip on the mood and atmosphere keeps it on the rails — or keep it from sinking, rather. 

    When the movie finally shows its cards it’s generally satisfying. Without Bruckner’s presentation, I’m not sure how successful it would have been. Still, The Night House is a genuinely terrifying and haunting romp that will have you watching it through your fingers. The scares come so hard and fast and nearly every element is designed to scare you — from the smart production design to the smart, albeit loud, sound design. The entire movie is a maze that you feel trapped in, and that’s why horror fans will love it.

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    Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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  • ‘Resurrection’ goes for the gut | movie review

    ‘Resurrection’ goes for the gut | movie review

    In Resurrection, a mother desperately tries to keep her past life from spilling into her present as an old figure walks back in to her life

    Resurrection premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It is seeking U.S. distribution.

    Halfway through Resurrection, there’s a 10-minute scene where Margaret (Rebecca Hall) recounts a traumatic period of her life to a coworker. It’s done in close-up and in a single-take. The camera doesn’t move, and neither does Margaret. Memories spill out from her as a single tear falls down her face. There aren’t hysterics, it’s like suddenly, a pipe burst. Margaret, usually so controlled, has lost it for the first time.

    Her admission is so outlandish that it’s difficult to stomach at first. Her coworker Gwyn (Angela Wong Carbone) even asks if she’s messing with her. But when you sit with what she said you realize that it’s too detailed to be anything but real, and it justifies Margaret’s response when David (Tim Roth), a man from her past, comes roaring back into her life.

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    Though it has the sheen of a gaslit woman thriller — Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane or Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man — director Andrew Semans keeps much of the movie slight in comparison. There are scenes of a paranoid Margaret running through the streets convinced she’s being followed, and much of the horror is left to the imagination. Though an early image hints that this thriller is unafraid to tread fully into the dark waters of horror.

    Without spoiling the contents, because the plot is already so straightforward, Resurrection is about the psychological impacts of grooming and the accompanying Stockholm Syndrome that lingers well past the fact. Rebecca Hall’s performance will rattle you to the core as she physically reacts to her perfectly curated life beginning to crumble around her. And though this descent becomes repetitive, the movie’s surprisingly gruesome finale more than makes up for it.

    As Semans tries to dredge up some thematic weight around motherhood to tie the story together in a pretty bow, he nearly loses control of the movie. “I am a good mother,” Margaret says when she’s challenged. But Resurrection is at its best when it’s messy and unafraid to leave threads dangling. Ultimately, I’m not sure if it’s more than a well-made psychological thriller, but there are scenes that I know will stick with me. I feel that in the pit of my stomach (that’s a hint).

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    More movies, less problems

    Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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