'The Night House' is a horror thriller recounting the experience that Beth has after her husband, Owen, takes his own life and leaves her in the lakeside house he built for her. The story picks up shortly after Owen shoots himself on the lake, in a boat just off his and Beth's home, leaving the woman devastated and at a loss for the reason behind his suicide. Soon after, Beth starts experiencing vivid and haunting dreams, leading her to believe that there is a presence in her house, believing it must be Owen. Explaining the situation to Claire, her friend and colleague, the two discuss the situation and Claire remains sceptical, worrying about Beth's state of mind.
During one of her sleep-walking dream experiences Beth soon discovers that Owen had started construction on an identical house across the lake, and later discovers that he had lead other women there. Digging deeper into what Owen was up to, she discovers a woman, Magdalyne, at a book-store Owen had frequented. Just like the others, Magdalyne strikes a close resemblance to Beth and the two discuss what had transpired between her and Owen, discovering that Magdalyne never slept with Owen, rather that he just brought her to the other house and had attempted to strangle her. In a drunken haze and wanting to provoke the presence to communicate with her, Beth explores the other construction and uncovers that a number of women had perished there by Owens hand.
Back at the house, Beth is confronted by the ghostly apparition and it is revealed to be an evil demonic presence who, after Beth's near death experience years ago is pursuing her to return to him, as she had died for a number of minutes, declaring itself to be 'nothing' and trying to convince Beth to rejoin him and end her own life. It is revealed that Owen had tried to trick 'nothing' into believing that the women he had brought to the other house were Beth, and that by killing them he could fool the evil presence to leave Beth alone. Worried about Beth, Claire drives to her home, only to find Beth in a trance-like state in the middle of the lake, on the boat with the gun in her hand. In the altered state, Beth is sitting across from 'nothing' having taken the shape of Owen, who is trying to coax her into joining him in the afterlife. Seeing this Claire yells out for her, and manages to bring Beth back from the brink of suicide. The film concludes as Beth stares back at the boat from the dock, looking at 'nothing' as it vanishes.
'The Night House' is a fresh and mysterious take on exploring issues of love and loss, as Beth tries to cope with having lost her husband. Illustrating the struggle, Beth is shown drowning her sorrows by drinking, often watching videos of the two of them and finding it difficult to confide in those around her. Once the strange happenings start to occur, Beth loses herself in investigating her husbands past, uncovering his misdoings and ultimately understanding that he had tried to preserve her well-being out of love and desperation of losing her. The film delivers a somewhat muddled message when it comes to the reason behind Owen's decision to take his own life, as it is implied that he could no longer cope with what he had done to the other women and therefore ended his own life. The film further explores the ramifications Owen's actions have had on Beth as she is further devastated by uncovering the murders, now transitioning into confusion and anger towards Owen besides grieving his loss. As the story develops, Beth also questions her sanity, as she does believe there is a presence in her house, yet is thrown by the fact that all of it seems to occur in her nightmares. Ultimately, as she is confronted by the evil presence, Beth has reached a breaking point, confused, angry and sad, 'nothing' tries to persuade her into killing herself. Ultimately the film delivers the message that Beth is saved by Claire's efforts, as her friend calling to her is the reason behind Beth breaking out of 'nothing's' spell and is able to return to our world, having turned away from the idea of suicide.
The film is visually striking, delivering a number of scenes that rely on optical effects that create a mesmeric experience, providing haunting illusions of a presence haunting Beth, often in unexpected and surprising ways. The film successfully creates a tense atmosphere, persuading us that Beth is being watched and never alone. However, the feature seems to suffer from issues in terms of pacing. Even though the tension it builds up to is effective and evocative of impending doom, the film too often seems to slow down and disrupt the flow and build-up it had previously worked so hard to attain.
Rebecca Hall portrays Beth and delivers a tragic character that is driven into the depths of despair as she goes through an unimaginable amount of pain. As the character is presented as a smart and sceptical individual, Beth's ultimate confrontation with 'nothing' is presented as an understandable reaction based on everything that Hall's character has gone through. Without coming off as a damsel in distress or underplaying the emotional plight Beth is going through, Hall successfully delivers a conflicted person, hanging on to her sanity and the conflict she feels surrounding the reasons for carrying on.
The film is directed by David Bruckner, known for creating segments for 'V/H/S' and 'Southbound' and for directing 'The Ritual'. In line with his other work, Bruckner has created a haunting experience, with 'The Night House' presenting a more quiet yet tonally similar horror experience that the artist has delivered before. Diving deeper into exploring the emotional ramifications of losing a loved one, Bruckner has created a tense atmosphere and a mysterious story that leads the viewer down a rabbit hole as Beth explores her husband's past.
'The Night House' delivers an intriguing story and explores an individuals internal turmoil after a tragedy, delivering a visceral experience in large part due to Rebecca Hall's outstanding performance. However, the pacing hinders a truly memorable horror experience and the somewhat mixed message on Owen's actions ultimately harms the film from achieving a truly exceptional undertaking.
Score: 2/4
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