Movie Review: 'The Night House' Starring Rebecca Hall

The Night House stars Rebecca Hall as Beth, a recently widowed teacher dealing with the aftermath of her husband, Owen’s, suicide. Deeply disillusioned and jaded by her husband’s decision to kill himself, Beth struggles to not be the subject of anyone’s pity. Beth would like little more than to get back to her life and go back to work and put the past behind her but something in her home continues to draw her back toward grief.

Not helping matters are little snippets of information that Beth begins piecing together that may indicate that Owen may have been seeing other women before his death. A photo on Owen's phone appears to be a photo of a woman working at a bookstore. Who is this woman? Why did Owen surreptitiously take her photo? Why does this woman seem to resemble Beth herself? Clues pop up here and there that lead to something potentially even more disturbing than just cheating.

Meanwhile, Beth is being menaced by unseen forces. Late at night someone or something turns on the stereo. Other ghostly occurrences keep Beth awake at night and snapping at anyone who tries to comfort her or talk sense to her. Slowly, Beth is being consumed by a mystery that ties Owen’s suicide to a mysterious house across the lake from their own home and to an experience from Beth’s past, a near death experience, that has haunted her throughout her life.

There are many familiar elements to The Night House. The strange visions, the ghosts turning on electronics, the jump scares, these are all too familiar to fans of the horror genre. What elevates The Night House above these familiar elements is star Rebecca Hall, an actor first and foremost, and horror movie star only by virtue of this being a genre movie. Hall treats the material very seriously and her actorly commitment to the role elevates it above the strictures and typicalities of the genre.

Hall has a cold, calculating and presence, unlike other actors who try hard to be liked, Hall doesn’t mind risking audience sympathies to give her roles depth. Hall can be likable and Beth is a sympathetic figure, but she’s also realistically bitter and intentionally cut off from others, resistant to being comforted and angry at those who might pity her. She has deeply unlikable qualities, she’s very direct, to the point of rudeness, and doesn’t mind causing discomfort in others if she can use it to further her emotional agenda.

So many other actors only strive for sympathy and likability, Hall is risky, she withholds emotion in scenes where you might expect it and delivers vulnerability at just the right moments to make you feel for her and care about her. It’s a prickly and yet deeply sympathetic performance of the kind Hall has become known for. Her characters are complicated, divisive, intelligent to the point of arrogance, and yet, when she wants to, she can reel an audience in and make them care about her.

Hall is aided in The Night House by director David Bruckner who makes smart choices in production design, cinematography, lighting and general atmospherics. He’s directing a genre movie and letting his star craft a dense and complex character amid the necessary touches of the horror genre. Kudos to cinematographer Elisha Christian and Editor David Marks who each make smart choices throughout The Night House that add to the suspense and underline Hall’s tremendous lead performance with their superb craftsmanship.

The Night House is one of the great sleeper movies of 2021. It slipped very quietly into theaters and, sadly, didn’t make much of a mark at the box office. Thankfully, those that saw it have praised it and now that it is making its way to the rental market, just in time for the spooky season, The Night House has a second chance to be a breakout hit. The Night House will be available for on-demand rental on October 19th, 2021. It is currently available to own on Digital formats as of October 10th, 2021.