Blu-ray Review: The Night

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

Hotels are the perfect location for horror films because we’ve all experienced nightmarish hotels. Sure you’re promised a great night’s sleep. But when you turn out the light, everything keeps you awake. Whether it be a strange bump in the mattress, odd clinks from the plumbing pipes, the rattle of the air conditioning unit, the footsteps of other guests getting ice in the middle of the night or those unwanted moans from the couple on the other side of the wall. We won’t even get into room service surprises. Even worse is not hearing anything and thinking something is coming. <I>The Night</i> perfectly captures the horror of checking into a hotel in the middle of the night just wanting to get a few hours of shuteye before you hit the road again.

Babak Naderi (A Separation‘s Shahab Hosseini) has been drinking at his brother’s place during a family gathering. As the party ends, his brother offers to let Babak, his wife Neda (Here and Now‘s Niousha Noor) and their baby to sleepover. But Babak doesn’t think he’s that drunk and it’s not that far of a drive to get back to his house. Even with his wife pleading, he insists on driving and he won’t let her take the wheel. Things get messy when the GPS goes screwy and they end up lost in downtown Los Angeles (which is a very easy thing to do). Neda finally gets him to stop at a hotel for the night so they can get home in the daylight. They book the last room at the nearby Hotel Normandie and get ready for a few hours of shuteye. Except things start going wrong that set Babak into a paranoid state. There’s odd noises including sink drips, a boy pleading for his mother and banging on their door. The staff isn’t much of a help since the only person working is the Night Manager (George Maguire) and he goes on a weird tangent with Babak about death that doesn’t inspire a peaceful night’s sleep. They really should have checked into a Holiday Inn Express.

The hotel is a bit haunted, but there’s a devious purpose to the supernatural attacks on Babak and Neda. It’s not just a normal Motel Hell experience where they just give all unfortunate customers the same scares. This Hotel California is playing on the deepest fears the couple have buried from each other. This is a slow burner that turns up the heat at just the right moments to not burn itself out. One of the biggest scares in the film isn’t an out of control gory shocker so much as a moment that sets you up so masterfully that you feel an emotional jerk in your heart and not merely your eyes. I’m doing my best to not give it away. There are plenty of times when you think this is all just Babak’s nightmare, but the filmmakers yank us around to let us know he’s not in control of anything nightmarish. Like Babak, the viewers can’t trust what they’re experiencing inside the Hotel Normandie. Writer-director Kourosh Ahari and co-screenwriter Milad Jarmooz have constructed the story that builds and pays off to the point where you will never book a hotel room after dark again. The Night will keep you up all night in your own bed.

The video is 2.40:1 anamorphic. The Blu-ray transfers pays off since so much of this film takes place in dimly lit hotel corridors and rooms. The 1080p gives you a bit more details in the spooky shadows. The audio is 5.1 DTS-HD MA and DTS-HD MA Stereo. You’ll want the surround mix so you can hear odd noises around your room to get maximum paranoid scares. Babak and Neda speak Farsi to each other so their words are subtitled. It’s a bit of an art house nightmare. The movie is subtitled for the English speaking characters. There’s also an audio description track for the sight impaired.

Trailer (1:59) sets up the nightmarish night at the Hotel Normandie.

Scream Factory & IFC Midnight present The Night. Directed by Kourosh Ahari. Screenplay by Kourosh Ahari & Milad Jarmooz. Starring: Shahab Hosseini, Niousha Noor, George Maguire, Michael Graham and Elester Latham. Rating: Unrated. Running Time: 105 minutes. Release Date: July 13, 2021.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.