If you heard about a picture starring Winona Ryder titled The Cow when it debuted at SXSW earlier this year, please change your ideas and expectations to Gone in the Night. The film is currently available on Hulu, where it can blend in with the sea of similarity among tiles that prominently feature the faces of well-known actresses to pique attention. Beyond the presence of Ryder and co-star Dermot Mulroney, what else about this picture, which walks a fine line between mystery and thriller, is captivating?
Kath (Winona Ryder) and her younger lover Max (John Gallagher Jr.), on a romantic holiday in a rural cabin, discover they are not alone. However, it is not as straightforward as a horror picture in which the other residents, a morose Al (Owen Teague) and his more carefree partner Greta (Brianne Tju), are out to murder them. Their uneasy and tense cohabitation culminates in what Al claims is Max and Greta fleeing together. She reaches out to Barlow (Dermot Mulroney), the cabin owner, seeking information on the couple that ruined her romance, in an attempt to get some explanation of this turn of events. While the intriguing schlub initially resists her overtures, Barlow quickly becomes a willing collaborator in her investigation into Al and Greta. While attempting to clear up her future, Kath swiftly discovers that she is unaware of her lost sweetheart’s full background.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I mean, if the gist does not automatically make you think about Barbarian … In terms of quality, though, it is more comparable to Dave Franco’s lackluster The Rental, which was released during the height of COVID summer.
Worth Observing: It’s always enjoyable to watch Winona Ryder in the lead role of anything. She recalls simpler days when Generation X was at the center of cultural imagination. However, one wishes she had a bit more to do and play here.
Vertical Entertainment /Everett Collection Courtesy
Near the conclusion of the film, an unnamed figure informs Ryder’s Kath, for spoiler reasons, “Well, you’re not getting any younger.” The phrase ultimately achieves the balance between menacing and humorous that the film strives to achieve throughout.
Sex and Skin: While the two couples break the ice by playing a naughty board game that gets a touch risqué, there is nothing more than light teasing.
Gone in the Night’s narrative structure, which haphazardly inserts flashbacks throughout Kath’s hunt for the truth, makes the film feel like a complete mess and a nuisance. Any chance that filmmaker Eli Horowitz could create tension or mystery is thwarted by the film’s unjustified time leaps. Horowitz and co-writer Matthew Derby have rendered the characters so flimsily that Ryder and Mulroney have little psychological weight with which to enliven a drab, conventional story. The big reveal is more likely to provoke a dejected grunt than a gasp by the time it occurs.
Our Advice: AVOID IT. This pseudo-genre entertainment is unable to commit to much of anything and, as a result, is largely inconsequential. The film Gone in the Night will be forgotten as soon as the credits roll. Only die-hard Ryders need apply.
Marshall Shaffer is a freelance cinema journalist living in New York. His work has featured on Decider, Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies, and several more websites. Soon, everyone will discover that he is correct about Spring Breakers.
»Stream or skip? “Gone in the Night” on Hulu Is About a Couple’s Cabin Getaway«