It Comes at Night
A24 | Release Date: June 9, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
39
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 8, 2017
It Comes at Night is pretty terrifying to sit through, but it may be even scarier after it’s over, when you sift through what you’ve seen and try to piece together what it may have meant. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenMay 31, 2017
With his fine cast and his gracefully restrained screenplay, Shults makes horror recognizable. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfApr 30, 2017
It Comes at Night is a film of tense gradations, a chamber piece set at the twilight of humanity. Read full review
91
The PlaylistWill AshtonJun 8, 2017
Never afraid to show off its bloody fangs, yet careful to cut beyond the skin before its savage, stirring final strike, It Comes At Night is a remarkable, terror-filled invasion. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnApr 30, 2017
Once again, Shults has delivered a top-notch psychological thriller, but It Comes at Night builds an unnerving atmosphere around unspecified sci-fi circumstances. Read full review
90
SlateDana StevensJun 8, 2017
Though its themes are so dark they seem to call for the invention of a new color, It Comes at Night does offer a few glimpses of levity and affection amid the unremitting bleakness. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 8, 2017
It Comes at Night is soaked in uncertainty. It makes us uncomfortable because we want answers and can’t have them. And if there’s anyone who knows how to make an audience uncomfortable, it’s writer and director Trey Edward Shults. Read full review
90
VoxAja RomanoJun 8, 2017
Harrowing, visually striking, and almost too on the nose for the current sociopolitical moment, It Comes at Night is one of the best films of the year. Read full review
90
ScreenCrushBritt HayesJun 7, 2017
It may unfortunately ring hollow for some, but for those who acutely empathize with the ravages of grief, Shults has delivered a film more horrific than any boogeyman or ghoul in recent memory. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerJun 8, 2017
Scored intensely and photographed vividly, the electric film imagines a small slice of doomsday with horrific believability. Read full review
88
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 8, 2017
For much of its brisk running time, It Comes at Night teeters between delicious atmosphere and almost unbearable tension. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 8, 2017
Horror isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s not a child’s genre. It isn’t meant to be comfortable. In fact, I’m hard-pressed to think of a recent movie that’s as uncomfortable and disturbing as It Comes at Night. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 7, 2017
You want horror that screws with your head? This is your ticket. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJun 7, 2017
There are no zombies in the streets, boogeymen in the basement or witches in the woods—and yet it is one of the most terrifying films in years. Read full review
85
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaJun 12, 2017
Shults’s film is many things—heart-wrenching, paced to perfection, a masterclass in visual storytelling and genuinely terrifying. Read full review
85
IGNAlex WelchJun 8, 2017
It Comes at Night is emotional, haunting dystopian horror that will leave you shaken. Read full review
83
ConsequenceRandall ColburnJun 5, 2017
It Comes at Night isn’t scary so much as it’s horrific, though Shults is extremely gifted at cultivating the kind of slow, droning dread that inflates in your chest like a black balloon. Read full review
80
Total FilmJordan FarleyAug 11, 2017
An uncompromisingly bleak slow burn, it leaves the pulse frantic and nerves frayed. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanJul 10, 2017
Full of character-based suspense, it’s dramatic and ramped-up with tension. Existing between a Sundance and a FrightFest film, this is a challenging, horribly plausible future vision. Read full review
80
The VergeBryan BishopJun 12, 2017
It’s a meticulous piece of filmmaking, so honed and refined in execution that it becomes nearly unbearable at times. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 12, 2017
The cast functions brilliantly as individuals and as a unit, each in his or her own world but linked near-telepathically to the movements of the others. Like, come to think of it, a family. Read full review
80
TheWrapDave WhiteJun 9, 2017
It Comes at Night is not a horror film, though it is horrifying, mining the depths of paranoia and fear when unknown forces intrude on domesticity and create desperate rats out of otherwise reasonable human beings. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 8, 2017
The final moments of It Comes at Night go beyond the usual standards of horror-movie bleakness to achieve an almost unwatchable cruelty — a powerful accomplishment that also feels, in this context, like a limitation. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 8, 2017
Taut, smart, intense and genuinely scary, Trey Edward Shults’s It Comes at Night fulfills the promise, and then some, of the filmmaker’s 2015 debut feature, “Krisha.” Read full review
80
Village VoiceApril WolfeJun 7, 2017
A soul-crushingly dark examination of human nature amid an invisible and unnatural threat. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 30, 2017
Shults has once again made a movie about the terror of family, but It Comes At Night’s confident, ruthless craftsmanship suggests a filmmaker only starting to reach his potential. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleStaff (Not credited)Jun 7, 2017
It’s a lean, mean, effective thriller that offers no explanation as to the means or method of humanity’s endgame while simultaneously focusing on the trip-wire frailty of a nuclear family trapped in the hungry, thirsty days of the dead – or is it, indeed, the dead? And if not, what are they? Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 8, 2017
That’s when It Comes at Night is most effective — when we’re trying to figure out these characters and what exactly is creating those weird noises and jolting thumps beyond the locked doors. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 8, 2017
A well-crafted, albeit entirely bleak exploration of paranoia and fear. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 8, 2017
With his follow-up, It Comes at Night, Shults has conjured another master class in anxiety, claustrophobia, and dread. He’s a natural-born filmmaker. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 8, 2017
While the film's patient, moody progression into personal nightmare territory won't be for everyone, it's a genuinely evocative creation. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeJun 7, 2017
Maybe there’s something out there, or maybe there’s nothing at all. Most horror films presuppose that the former is the scarier of the two options, but It Comes At Night is more concerned with the seemingly bottomless depths of the unknown. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 7, 2017
The final scenes are both ambiguous and terrifying, and they left a preview audience as shaken as any I’ve seen. I had the distinct feeling, though, that a lot of them wouldn’t be recommending the movie to their friends. It gets very far under the skin. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartJun 7, 2017
Director Trey Edward Shults made his debut last year with the indie drama “Krisha,” and this one’s a very different take on family dynamics — not at all your typical horror film. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJun 7, 2017
If you believe horror shines blackest when hardest to decipher, 2017’s horror crop may never best this effort. For me, it’s a Mortal Kombat finisher that punches through your ribcage with heart-in-hand – but the fight itself is a bit too talkative. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasJun 6, 2017
You're also likely to be left wondering to what the "It" in the title actually refers. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanMay 15, 2017
It Comes at Night is a good, tight, impressive little exercise. I was held by it, but the movie, while tense and absorbing, is ultimately a tad forgettable, because it thinks it’s up to more than it is. Read full review
67
The Film StageJordan RaupJun 6, 2017
The details in this post-apocalyptic chamber drama — flat-out horror this is not — are spare, an initially refreshing decision that ultimately results in a rather empty, half-formed narrative. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 5, 2017
Shults has concocted a nightmare within a nightmare, a test of nerves and a wary mystery. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 12, 2017
It Comes at Night lays down a heavy layer of dreadful promise and doesn't follow through. Edgerton's fine performance is overshadowed by a title and ad campaign springing a bait-and-switch scam on horror fans. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJun 8, 2017
With all of Shults’ dark-night-of-the-soul mood manipulations, the film promises more than it delivers. Its buildups are impressive, but in the end its frights are mild. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayJun 4, 2017
The film’s minimalism is rigorous, but its every moment of barebones craftsmanship is accompanied by plodding drama and an unsustainable heap of unanswered questions. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 8, 2017
There’s just one big problem here: It Comes at Night is about as enjoyable for the audience as it is for the people in the movie. On both sides of the screen, misery reigns. Read full review
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