Review: By Night's End (2020)

 

A struggling couple are awoken during the night by an intruder. After killing him in self defence, they decide to take an hour to try and find what he was looking for, rather than call the police...

By Night's End is the feature debut from Walker Whited who also writes the film, based on a story from Sean McCane. It's a well worn story, a couple faced with a home invasion threat. However, what elevates the film, is the way the story is told.

Heather (Michelle Rose) and Mark (Kurt Yue) are a married couple, struggling to make ends meet. Bills are stacking up and although they are on the whole a happily married there is tension there. The film spends the opening minutes building the relationship and stress up very well indeed and both actors are great.

After Heather kills the intruder, it's Mark who pushes for them to look for whatever it was the intruder was after. Heather is more reluctant, but goes along with it. But that delay results in the intruder's associates to turn up and the tension rises between the couple inside and those outside.

The leader of the group outside, Moody (Michael Aaron Milligan) is willing to negotiate to get what he is after, but he's also willing to come in and simply kill them and take what it is.

What follows, is a stand-off with bursts of action. The action is well done, if more low key than you might expect. Whited uses the single location, the house, very well indeed, using every part of it that he can. He also stages and impressive long take, both inside and out at one point as the intruders get inside.

The writing too is good, not only with the opening, but also on the interaction between Heather and Mar and also Moody during quieter moments in the film. A lot of films of this type often sacrifice character for action, but here they filmmakers don't.

There are some minor issues. There is a moment when the film stages an action scene in slow motion, which just felt odd. It's also a little convenient story-wise regarding Heather's own past, which gives the couple a fighting chance. 

Even so, it's a tense film, that by keeping itself small in scale doesn't make the mistake of going over the top, action wise, that some films do in the final act.

I was quite taken with the film.

Films where ordinary people get caught up in violent events are nothing new and By Night's End doesn't reinvent the wheel in this regard. But that said, what this home invasion thriller has is a cast and crew dedicated to making a gripping thriller.

And on that level it more than succeeds.

Well worth a watch.

Rating: 4/5