Night After Night – Movie Review (3/5)

NIGHT AFTER NIGHT is a thriller made with a Neo-noir style vibe and a simple premise. A very paranoia-inducing plot. As this movie evolves, it covers many subgenres, including body horror, conspiracy thriller, and alien invasion. Sounds wild, I know, but it works… for the most part. Read our full Night After Night movie review here!

NIGHT AFTER NIGHT is a paranoid Neo-noir thriller, which is just a simple way of saying this movie covers many subgenres while the vibe stays the same. With a quick look at IMDb, you’ll see this movie has the following official genres and sub-genres attached: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Psychological Horror, Conspiracy Thriller, Body Horror, and Alien Invasion.

And yes, this may sound like way too much, but they obviously overlap. Also, there’s the real story, and then there’s what the characters are experiencing. Those two things can sometimes differ quite a lot. What’s truly horrifying is when the mad and eerie experiences of an overworked and under-rested security guard are actually real!

Continue reading our full Night After Night movie review below. The movie just world-premiered at the Chattanooga Film Festival (CFF).

The horror of not knowing what’s real

Night After Night is an indie genre movie with a title that virtually describes the plot as well. We follow a few people as this plot evolves. Don’t worry, each character’s name will be written when there’s a switch. Every time we follow a new character, we see the same events unfold, but from a different point of view.

And if that sounds repetitive, then don’t worry, it really isn’t. The characters we follow each have their own storylines, so the only repetitiveness is when they intersect, which doesn’t happen too often.

What they all have in common is that they start to question their own sanity. Specifically, they can’t be sure what’s real and what isn’t. They see something that can’t be proven by other witnesses or security footage. And yet, there is something strange in the footage, so maybe the footage is corrupted, and their lived experience is real?!

While each character approached this experience differently, the main character gets increasingly desperate in all aspects of his life. Something that doesn’t help him much, but he’s too far gone.

Slowburn but very atmospheric

While Night After Night is extremely atmospheric, it is also quite slowburn, which won’t be for everyone. Despite not going too heavy on the repetitiveness, there is the desire to move beyond these same events before it actually happens. I acknowledge that this is probably the point (to drive us a little mad), but I would’ve liked it to move a little faster.

Having said that, I loved seeing Scott Poythress (I Trapped the Devil) in the lead role as a security guard who seems very depressed. He appears to be completely lost in this job and his life really, which may be why he doesn’t listen to his partner, Willis (Johnny Sibilly), when he starts sharing his paranoia about their workplace.

Also playing key roles in Night After Night are Alexis Louder (Weathering) as the boss at “The University”, where the security guards work, and AJ Bowen. If you love indie genre movies, you will have seen AJ Bowen in movies like You’re Next, Traumatika, The Old Ways, Satanic Panic, and Night Drive. To name just a few.

Personally, I’m always happy to see him, so while he doesn’t have a huge role in this movie, I was happy with the scenes he did have. Finally, there’s Melissa Macedo and Michelle Macedo (Thinestra), Tracye Lysette (Hustlers), and Horace Gold (MONSTER: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story).

Night After Night premiered at CFF

Josh Lobo is the director of Night After Night and also co-wrote the screenplay with Rowan Russell. This is the second movie directed by Josh Lobo. He also made I Trapped the Devil (2019), which had several of the same cast members. This is the first feature writing credit for Rowan Russell, who has worked on several short films as a writer.

This movie was made to pay homage to the 70s conspiracy cinema and sci-fi. That’s where the paranoid Neo-noir thriller descriptor also comes in. The entire plot and vibe focus on the strange isolation that is felt when you find yourself in public spaces at odd hours. A place usually buzzing with life that is suddenly quiet has its own unique eeriness.

In fact, one could argue it’s that exact familiarity that also made Backrooms work so well. The two movies are not connected, but if you like one of them, I would expect you to enjoy the other as well.

NIGHT AFTER NIGHT had its world premiere at CFF (Chattanooga Film Festival) and will likely be playing film festivals next. We’ll update this review with wider releases when we know more.

Details

Director: Josh Lobo
Writer: Josh Lobo
Cast: Scott Poythress, Johnny Sibilly, Alexis Louder, Horace Gold, AJ Bowen, Tracye Lysette