Gone in the Night

This is a fun little movie. It's not the most clever mystery, but it's interesting enough that it didn't overstay its welcome (and I say that as someone who mostly figured it out fairly early). The flashback structure is hit or miss, sometimes giving you enough to make you more intrigued, and sometimes dispelling the tension it's already built. I knew absolutely nothing about the movie before I saw it, and I left happy to have seen it. It's nothing you'll be talking about weeks later, but it's an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.

I somewhat invariably hold the opinion that feature-length films should be released in cinemas. With that being said, I have no problem with a movie so poorly conceived going straight to VOD, as I have to imagine the typical viewer would have left the theater feeling as if their time and money had been wasted. The performances range from average to below average, and although the writer's ending was anything but safe, the last act was so outrageously overwrought that I found myself audibly laughing at the surprise "a-ha" moment. All of the suspense and intrigue that had been building up to that point evaporated in an instant. When mystery films are done right, they feel plausible, but occupy a space slightly outside of reality; when they're done wrong, you get a movie like Gone in the Night.

Ryder may not have signed up for an award-winner in this one, but if you can hang on to the plot line long enough - it's a good kind of crazy turny. When her and her boyfriend show up at an Airbnb and find a couple already there, the backstory starts to play.

'Gone in the Night' is one of those films that I know is riddled with problems, but I don't care - I loved almost every minute of it. The cast was just strong enough that I decided I needed to see it, based on the IMDb rating I could easily have skipped over this one otherwise. What I got was everything I love in a mystery/thriller film.

If you're in a dusty mood or this isn't your favourite genre you could easily find a lot to hate about the film. Nobody is going to take that away from you. The plot has some holes, logic goes out the window at certain points and the flower shop negotiation scene was one of the worst things I've ever seen put to screen. Even I'll happily bag that. How that made it into the final cut I'll never know.

However, if you're in a great mood or this is just the type of movie you absolutely love, then I would suggest you're going to have a great time. The cast has some fun names in it and they give it their all. The plot, for all its flaws, is never boring and has a lot of fun and dark twists along the way. The film is also edited in a very clever way so that the reveals come later in the story. I had a blast with this film and have no shame in giving it a perhaps generous 8/10.

NOTE: The barrel gave me 'Megan is Missing' PTSD.

It begins with a decent build up, buy slowly decends into absurdity. At the end, there is no end...no real dramatic resolution...it just ends and you wonder why you watched this. Just plain bad.