From House on Haunted Hill, The Innocents, The Haunting, The Shining, to Beetlejuice, The Conjuring saga, Stir of Echoes, Crimson Peak or Things Heard & Seen, to name only a few, plenty are the films set on a house in which the central characters find themselves haunted by a mysterious figure, or a mysterious force has possessed the house with an evil intention -obviously-. To say that the competition in this subgenre is tough and ample might be and understatement. Nevertheless, some films -with a varying degree of success- have tried to bring something new to the table in order to differenciate themselves from a plethora of others that existed before, and The Night House, directed by David Bruckner and produced by David S. Goyer, aims to be one of those.

Hitting the ground running, we immediately meet Rebecca Hall’s character as a woman numbed by the aftermath of her husband’s unexpected suicide. We see how she tries to do her best to return to normality and go on with her life. However, she feels as if there is something dragging her down, something that keeps making her feel trapped and haunted inside of the recently renovated house her husband designed for them. But there is nothing. Had this been a more conventional film, for the rest of the story we would have been witnesses of a series of supposedly scary scenes in which a mysterious figure would have haunted Hall’s character. There might have been some gory deaths. She, obviously would have been blamed for them, and finally, the mysterious presence would have been unmasked, vanished and she would have returned to her life once again. But there is nothing of that here.

Instead, David Bruckner -who directed segments in films like VHS and Southbound as well as the underseen The Ritual- follows the usual horror tropes yet avoids relying too much on them. Bruckner and Elisha Christian – who is responsible of the great cinematography- make the most of the importance of reflections, lightning and space, thus resulting in a film that does not shy away from the being scary or tense, yet is clear that everybody’s intentions go beyond the point of cheap thrills. What distinguishes The Night House from other films with a similar premise is that it combines -in a way that is difficult to understand one without the other- an irrational fear with the dread of death. In other words, this film strikes a perfect balance between a more conventional horror film and a reflection on the aftermath of a loss, like the one the main character is going through.

Nothing is what it seems to be in Ben Collins’ script, and, although it is not perfect -more jumbled than it should have been, and yet it leaves a few elements unresolved at the end-, it represents the perfect material for Hall to use and command the scene, making us feel for her grief-stricken character as she unveils the truth of what is going on in her house, her life, and the reasons behind her husband’s suicide. Fully aware of her potential -and of the fact that the film rests on her shoulders-, Hall does not hold back and holds everything together with a magnetic performance that is convincingly believable, natural and, by far, the best thing of the film. It is a shame -an understandable one, but a shame nonetheless- that Sarah Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacey Martin and Vondie Curtis-Hall are not given bigger roles, as, they still give decent performances despite being mere pawns for the development of the story.

In addition to Hall’s performance, what makes The Night House worth watching is the fact that the horror of the story takes a back seat to the drama of the central character, a woman clinging to life whilst trying to cope with the claws of death. Do not go to see this film expecting to be at the edge of your seat jittering with fear. Go to see The Night House if what you want to see is a story that uses a somewhat conventional premise -seen countless times in inferior films- to its fullest potential, whilst twisting it just enough to make you feel that what you are watching is the intersection of a horror film with one focused on exploring life, death, fear of letting go, loss and love.