The Night
IFC Midnight | Release Date: January 29, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJan 29, 2021
Kourosh Ahari's The Night, about a couple confronting their personal demons in a haunted hotel, is a knockout debut feature—so assured that it stands on its own as a filmmaking achievement apart from its historical significance, which is considerable. Read full review
83
ConsequenceJenn AdamsJan 26, 2021
Told mostly in shadows, this is a story of broken trust and haunting guilt. Ahari uses one of the genre’s oldest tropes to remind us that it’s in confronting our demons that we gain the power to overcome them. Read full review
80
VarietyRichard KuipersOct 29, 2020
Featuring excellent performances by Shahab Hosseini (“A Separation,” “The Salesman”) and Niousha Jafarian (“Here and Now”) as a married couple with a baby daughter and a frayed relationship, this predominantly Farsi-language production sneaks up on viewers and delivers a knockout final act. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckJan 29, 2021
The expert cinematic stylization on display proves ample reason to forgive The Night for any narrative shortcomings. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarJan 29, 2021
A goosebumps-inducing affair, The Night is at its most effectively unsettling when the focus is to evoke fear as opposed to when it physically shows what’s haunting the characters trapped in their respective secret tragedies. Their unseen demons spook harder. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerJan 28, 2021
It's a slow build to collapse, escaping the traditional trap of such supernatural suspense films in that both of them have secrets, and it's not the acts themselves but the deceits that have led them to this place. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakJan 28, 2021
As a journey inward into the roiling waves of memory and regret, Ahari fulfills his promise with an unapologetic air of penance and disgrace. That its success happens despite his exploitation of Neda as a character and woman doesn’t, however, negate that egregious misstep. And the latter being highly triggering unfortunately renders any blind recommendation of the former a reckless proposition. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubRandall ColburnJan 28, 2021
Ahari’s script is perhaps too focused on the secrets of its central couple, which are compelling but foreshadowed in a belabored way. By the end, the emotional catharsis is dulled somewhat by the sheer obviousness of it all, not to mention the convoluted route Ahari takes to get there. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineWilliam RepassJan 25, 2021
It’s at the juncture between horror and philosophical surrealism that Kourosh Ahari’s film is at its most provocative. Read full review
50
The New York TimesTeo BugbeeJan 28, 2021
The repetition of the visions and the film’s deliberate pace gives the audience too much time to guess which betrayals haunt Babak and Neda, and this lack of emotional suspense hampers the horror. Read full review
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