what's going on everybody and welcome back to my channel movie files ellie back again with a brand
new movie review and today we'll be discussing the new psychological horror by the name of
the nighthouse which actually premiered back at sundance back in 2020 and will be finally making
its way to the big screen coming this friday on august 20th now i got the opportunity to check it
out in theaters and i'm really excited to let you all know i thought about this horror film and if
it's worth checking out all in this spoiler-free review before we break it all down do me a favor
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the alert for when i drop new content if you all enjoyed this spoiler free review of the nighthouse
make sure to like and share the video it helps out the channel a lot but also appreciate all the
support and in the comments below let's talk about the movie let me know if you were excited for it
but more importantly what did you think about this film let's talk about the narrative the metaphors
the themes the performances the trickery of the cameras what was real what was fake but also
were you disappointed were you misled by the trailer and let's talk a little bit about without
getting to the spoilers in the comments let's talk about that indy let's let me know simply
were you a fan of the ending and if you weren't a fan of the ending and what did you kind of take
away from the ending let's talk about it in the comments below so for me personally when i saw
this trailer i was already attached to it because i'm a big rebecca hall fan i like the director for
what he brings in this genre and when it comes to psychological horrors i'm a fan of horror
number one but also psychological the older i've gotten the more you can mess with my head
it really kind of gives me a special story dealing with ghosts sleeping dreams sleep paralysis things
that nature are something that goes right up my alley so i was really excited for this film
so what did i think about it starting off my positives well first and foremost going back to
what got me intrigued based on that trailer was seeing that david buckner was the director of this
film who i'm not gonna lie when it comes to the filmography the movies i've seen of his whether
it be his small segment of vhs which i thought was was fine and then his big feature debut kind of on
netflix being the ritual i wasn't a fan of the narrative and and kind of how the film wrapped
up but i was blown away by the production of the film and and i can say the same about this film
when it comes to david buckner's movies number one he has he seems to have some type of really deep
kind of a connection to dealing with death and grief and very similar to the ritual and
if you all have seen the trailer with synopsis which i'm gonna put in the description below
the story is pretty straightforward you have rebecca hall beth who recently lost her husband
due to him taking his own life and the film kind of really kind of dives into who this man was and
maybe she didn't know who her husband was so very kind of simple premise but it has a lot of twists
and turns within that premise but going back to the production david buckner does a fantastic job
of creating tension very creepy moments throughout this film it's very atmospheric i mean the way he
used the lights the color palettes and also just in particular his camera work the camera
work in this film is absolutely fantastic when you think of films like most recently came out
a couple years ago now which is crazy to say but i think of a film like the invisible man
the way that it was kind of the way the camera presented position itself is there something
in front of the character is there something in the corner there is there something behind
that character the trick redone in this film is very well done and i really want to applaud
the cinematography but like i said the director of this film david buchner he does a fantastic
job of playing with the trickery of the camera with illusions kind of tricking the audience as
well as our main character beth to know if there's something in the room with her i thought that was
really fantastically done but going back into what i just mentioned rebecca hall's character beth
she was the absolute standout she carried this film emotionally uh as well as just
going throughout her journey again beth just recently lost her husband of 14 years someone that
she thought she knew from top to bottom she's been through ups and downs with and for him to just
take his life like that she wants answers right and as she's kind of discovering looking into
his phone looking through his computer she finds out some stuff about her husband so just going
on that journey with her and as she's discovering things and the emotion she brings to the character
the amount of levity i was not expecting in the comedy realm this isn't a comedy by any means
but there were some moments where best character was kind of on edge so when people would ask her
things or give her their condolences of her loss she's like she's the way she comes back at them
and the way she kind of handles certain reveals i thought was fantastically done again rebecca hall
to me has always been just like circling around just having this big hit you know i've been
following her since 2006 to prestige seeing her in the town seeing her in iron man 3 and just
seeing her career continue to grow even something most recently and godzilla versus kong i'm just a
big fan of her and i thought she was absolutely incredible in this movie and really enjoyed her
journey and then again just taking away some of the psychological themes from this film again
being a big fan of horror i love when films mess with your head is this real is this fake when we
dive into stories and i'm a big freddie cougar fan and an inception comes to mind and you know movies
that deal with what happens when you sleep what happens where do you go when you sleep is it an
out-of-body experience you just sleepwalk things that nature this film kind of tackles those things
and within that psychological genre it really kind of tackles it again i'll be honest with you
i saw this the other night and i had my mind was racing and talking about sleep paralysis i had a
couple of times when i slept last night when i was just kind of like is there something in the
corner over there so the film really does play with your mind in that sense but also
just going into our character's best again what was really real what was a dream
what did she really find out it was it really kind of messes with your head nesting so i really enjoy
how they tackle that idea of really dive into the psychological aspects of this character who has
recently lost someone pretty close to her so those are some things that really stood out to me but
transitioning to my criticisms here i will mention that the film as she's uncovering the mysteries of
who her husband really was there's a couple twists in this movie that i have to say the first twist
i really really hoped and i really wish the film would have kept that narrative because it
was really dark as the film goes on it gets darker and darker as she starts to figure out more about
the situation at hand and learns about the secrets of her husband but that first twist
man i really wish to film and this is just selfishly i really wish the film would have
focused more on that narrative but then and this is where my criticism comes in we get this second
twist and to me that second twist was a little bit less fleshed out and really when it comes to
i'm not a person that has to have everything explained to me but to me this second element
of the twist that kind of ties into something we learned earlier in the film regarding beth when
she was younger i i wish they just would have stuck with that first twist and again when you
see the film you know what i'm talking about but i obviously don't want to give it away here but
i just wish they would have maybe stuck with that narrative versus giving us this kind of
secondary twist that didn't work for me personally something that was kind of small because again
rebecca hall is the lead of this film she carries his film from top to bottom but the secondary
characters i'm a fan of the actors in those roles but to me they were just way too generic within
the horror genre right we have her friend that's you know a close friend i think her name was
claire that just plays a stereotypical friend and wants to be there for her she has a neighbor who's
a really great actor who just plays the concerning neighbor and just kind of pops in and out of the
film i just thought that the supporting cast was just too generic for my personal taste based on
everything else that rebecca hall was given the role i just wish that they would have gave her a
little bit more in regards to bouncing off of something that was a little bit more original
versus the generic what we would expect to see in this type of genre and then lastly when it comes
to my criticisms i'm not gonna lie i'm not that i've only seen it once and i plan on revisiting
the film but based on my first time viewing i wasn't a fan of the ending now the ending
goes back to my first criticism that ties into the second twist this presence that's introduced
into this film that happens the best pretty early on i i wish the film since we went down
a certain path i wish it was just elaborated on a little bit more and it's really it's one of those
endings that i i'm not going to lie it's an open to interpretation and the way i took it i kind of
i have my thoughts on it without spoiling anything but i wish the film would have gave us
some more of a follow-up to that ending so i'm not gonna lie when it comes to that third act which i
thought was beautifully done and you talk about creepy and suspenseful and thrilling that third
act is pretty uh intense but i wish that once we got to the conclusion it would have given us
maybe one more scene to kind of really flesh out how they introduced this kind of secondary twist
without the film so honestly the way i'm feeling right now not the biggest fan of how they stuck
the landing i didn't think the payoff was as good as the setup for me personally so before i give
you all my overall thoughts on my score if you haven't already make sure to like share comment
below and of course subscribe to the channel if you haven't already overall the nighthouse is a
film filled with tension and has incredible set designs that really creates a dark and twisted
atmosphere the use of the cameras the illusion the dreams the characters journey throughout the film
to discover this darkness from within her past as well as her husband was really well done a very
interesting setup with an interesting premise but for me personally taking away some of those
secondary characters and focusing on the narrative once we get to that third act really didn't stick
the landing for me personally but i still can't neglect the performances the cinematography the
use of the camera that was really really thrilling so with all that being said i'm gonna give the
nighthouse a solid three and a half out of five and if you all have the opportunity to check it
out when it comes to theories this friday is something i would recommend you all see
with a crowd of people and seeing how you all and take in this film and again once you've seen it
let's talk about pros and cons let's talk about metaphors and themes and the themes of grief and
things that nature are dreaming but also let me know in the comments were you a fan of the
ending were you not a fan of the ending let's talk about it all in the comments below thank
you all for sticking around to this point in the video if you've done so i appreciate every
single one of you all again just make sure to like share comment subscribe to the channel if
you haven't already hit the notification bell that way you don't miss any of my other future content
hope you all enjoyed this review hope you're staying safe and we'll see you in the next video