The strongest card that this new left-field indie-flick has to play is the unpredictability of its often baffling narrative. At Night Comes Wolves is anything but a derivative take on the domestic thriller genre, in which the wife uncovers the husband’s disturbing past and secret identity. The plot does lift familiar beats from that playbook, but does something very different with them. Unfortunately, the end result of that inventiveness is more chaotic than it is clever.
Keen to salvage her failing, unsatisfying marriage, Leah’s attempts to rekindle some passion in her relationship with husband Daniel end in disappointment. Her incredulity about her husband’s indifference is met with his signature caustic misogyny. Sick of the psychological and emotional bullying, Leah finds the courage to flee the family home and heads out in her car without preparation or packing. Running out of gas, she finds solace and reassurance at a diner in the company of engaging young drifter Mary. This encounter draws her into the orbit of Davey Stone, a would-be Shaman and DIY chemist who, along with Mary, is one of the last adherents of a collapsed doomsday cult. This unlikely trio discover that they share unexpected personal histories: a revelation that will inspire all three to join a fateful new conspiracy.
Writer-director Tj Marine is keen to do as much as possible to keep the audience off-balance. Marine adds to the already unsettled atmosphere with the use of flashback sequences that punctuate the timeline and fill in some of the blanks. The script is crammed full of different themes and concepts. The focus flips between them in a filmic style that switches between the quietly naturalistic and the more self-consciously staged. When filmmakers embrace that kind of nonlinear style of storytelling, illustrating a collage of different concerns, the risk is that developments in the plot feel arbitrary. It’s a trap that At Night Comes Wolves quickly becomes entangled in, culminating in a ‘shock’ finale that the film simply has not earned. It all adds to the sense that there might be less going on here than meets the eye.
With so much formulaic filmmaking out there, it might seem churlish to criticise a movie so keen to do something unexpected. If you want to sit down to an unusual mystery-thriller, and watch a movie the outcome of which you will not be able to predict, then At Night Comes Wolves more than fits the bill. But prepare to be as frustrated by its randomness as you are entertained by its originality.
Available on digital outlets in the US.
