If you have heard of a vehicle called the Winona Ryder The cow When it premiered at SXSW earlier this year, cast your thoughts and expectations on the film’s new title: Gone in the night. The film now joins Hulu, where it can blend into the sea of uniformity between tiles, prominently utilizing the mugs of well-known actresses to spark curiosity. Aside from the presence of Ryder and co-star Dermot Mulroney, what else is appealing about this film that walks a fine line between mystery and thriller?
The essentials: Kath (Winona Ryder) and her younger boyfriend Max (John Gallagher Jr.) show up at a remote cabin rental for a romantic getaway and discover they are not alone. But it’s not as easy as a horror movie where the other inmates – a grumpy Al (Owen Teague) and his more revealing partner Greta (Brianne Tju) – want to kill her. Their life together is awkward and tense, culminating in what Al claims Max and Greta run off together. Seeking some semblance of understanding for this development, she turns to cabin owner Barlow (Dermot Mulroney) for information about the couple who have been sabotaging their relationship. While the enigmatic Schlub initially resists contacting them, Barlow soon becomes an eager partner in finding more information about Al and Greta. However, Kath quickly discovers that there is an entire past of her missing sweetheart that she doesn’t know about while she tries to sort out her future.
Which movies will it remind you of?: I mean, if the gist doesn’t immediately make you think barbarian … but in terms of quality, it’s closer to something like Dave Franco’s Forgetful. The rent that came and went during the height of the COVID summer.
Notable performance: Look, it’s always fun to see Winona Ryder at the center of everything. She brings back memories of simpler times when Gen X was at the center of the cultural imagination. One just wishes she had a little more to do and play around here.
Memorable dialogue: “Well, you’re not getting any younger,” a character, unidentified for spoiler reasons, says to Ryder’s Kath near the end of the film. The line eventually hits that sweet spot between sinister and goofy that the film struggles to channel.
gender and skin: As the two couples break the ice by playing a naughty board game that gets a little horny, there’s nothing that moves beyond gentle ripping.
Our opinion: The narrative structure of Gone in the night, while Kath’s search for the truth awkwardly inserts flashbacks, makes the film feel like an absolute mess and a total must. The film’s unmotivated time jumps daunt any hope that director Eli Horowitz could develop a dynamic that could lead to suspense or mystery. The characters are so thinly drawn by Horowitz and co-writer Matthew Derby that Ryder or Mulroney have little psychological weight to carry and enliven a listless, familiar mystery. When the big reveal happens, it’s more likely to elicit stifled groans than gasps.
Our appeal: SKIP IT. This pseudo-genre fare can’t be pinned down to anything and usually ends up being nothing. Gone in the night will disappear from your memory once the credits roll. Only Ryder Ride-or-Dies must apply.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. Besides Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other media. One day everyone will realize how right they are Spring breakers.
