She Came at Night

She Came at Night is a black comedy that transposes family and relationship experiences into an almost horror film based on the simple anecdotal premise of your mother-in-law coming for a visit, and the joke and the surprise work perfectly. Most likely the most interesting and entertaining Czech film of the year. [KVIFF 2023] (31/08/2023)

A Czech unconventional black-humor home invasion. The film is strange in that the genre classification of horror is a misnomer, but what the main characters experience could be called horror, because it’s something you just wouldn’t like to go through. The star is Simona Pekova, she does a very good job. There is a kind of light psychological terror that carries through the whole film and to my surprise I quite enjoyed it. Fucking squaters! The finale could have been handled better, unfortunately no satisfaction comes in the end. (20/02/2024)

The best Czech comedy of recent years, She Came at Night elevates the theme of warped family relations to a world-class level by associating itself with elements of more disturbing genres such as horror and the home-invasion thriller – a genre built on the oppressive premise that the intimacy of the main protagonists’ home will be disrupted by an intruder from the outside. In this case, that intruder is the inconsiderate, manipulative, touchy, self-pitying and emotionally extortionate, though also tragically lonely mother, who forces her way into the apartment that her son shares with his girlfriend. The filmmakers made the absolute most of a simple idea, modest resources and an intimate setting. The film is based on familiar and precisely observed dialogue and situations arising from familial cohabitation, whose unpleasantness rises to absurd levels. The narrative is systematically conceived so that every scene offers comedy and anxiety at the same time and can be interpreted metaphorically as a probe into the issue of failing intergenerational communication. The intertwining of these two tonally different moods, when eruptions of loud laughter frequently and regularly alternate with intense chills down the spine, works seamlessly and harmonically in She Came at Night. (05/01/2024)

Someone from the creators must have experienced this because it can't be invented. I say this as someone who has had a similar experience as the pair of protagonists. It's a perfect synthesis of meticulous screenwriting, confident direction, and precise casting. The trailers and media coverage during the premiere (and after the Czech Lion awards) actually hint at a horror parody, but when Valérie appears on the scene, I felt physically ill after ten minutes because Jan Vejnar and Tomáš Pavlíček embarked on a character study that is chillingly accurate. It's a pity about the dragged-out ending and the finale that fizzled out. (13/06/2024)

She came at night, entertained a little, stirred up trouble, and prepared the ground in the form of a great atmosphere. She left for a moment and stopped at the lobotomy, and it wasn't enough for her, so she took a stone and hit herself in the head several times, and the creators nicely messed with the audience. That's how it could be summarized, or how to go from a brilliant black comedy that gives you chills to absolutely unbelievable, bizarre, and stupid art in the form of the final act. I had to hold myself back a lot not to give it one star less because I hadn't been so angry leaving the movie theater for a long time. A truly wasted opportunity to focus on an unexpected and entertaining subject. (23/01/2024)