I love scary movies. Problem is, when you watch as many scary movies as I do, you tend to not be scared by the movies any more. The last time I was genuinely, could not sleep at night, scared was all the way back in 2014 when I watched It Follows. But thank goodness that streak is finally over! Last night I watched The Night House and, although I could sleep last night, there were multiple times that I wanted to cover my eyes and hide during the movie. In fact, there were multiple times where my wife actually jumped out of her seat. A guy in the row in front of us curled up into a defensive position and watched the movie through a small crack between his thighs. It was wonderful… Which was a major surprise because I knew nothing about this movie going in. I have not seen anybody talking about this movie and only ever saw one quick trailer that was somewhat forgettable. I fear that The Night House might just slip by everyone and flop. Which would be an absolute shame considering it is for sure my favorite scary movie of the year, and it very well could be my movie of the year. No kidding. Let’s take a look at The Night House.

First off, this review is going to try and leave the movie spoiler free. I urge you to go watch this movie and see just how twisty turvy it gets. But, I will tell you the general set up. A woman’s husband kills himself one night in a little boat out on a lake. The woman struggles (obviously) with her husband’s death. Because, she has always struggled with suicidal thoughts herself. Her husband leaves an ominous suicide note that only makes these emotions worse. As she goes to bed alone in the house her husband built, she gets a phone call. From her husband. She starts to dig through her husband’s past and finds that maybe everything was not as happy and perfect as he made it out to be. He carries with him a heavy past that she cannot help but wonder about. She chases down her husband’s secret life. Including an occult bookstore, late night walks, and a house built on the other side of the lake that is an exact mirror of the house they live in. What was happening with her husband?

Please please please give this movie the attention it deserves. I feel that GOOD scary movies are few and far between, and The Night House is a great movie period. Not just a great scary movie. If you want to be scared and have the feeling of having no idea what is happening, please go see The Night House. It is wonderfully acted, wonderfully paced, and just wonderful overall. The movie explores some deep topics and handles them exceptionally well. Half way through the movie, I leaned over to my wife and said, “This has been great so far, there is no way they can have a solid ending.” She agreed with me. But, they somehow did it. The ending is a thinker and really plays with these heavy narratives. I loved it and think that it did a perfect job. Not to mention the movie is beautifully shot and does some incredible things with forced perspective shots. Multiple times the camera pans across a shot and everything lines up to create a silhouette. Only for the silhouette to move. These shots are wonderfully done and creepy as all hell.

I give The Night House a 3.5 out of 4. It really is that good. I’m so happy that I just randomly picked this movie to go see. It utterly and completely blew me away.