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It's been a great year for horror – from the boundary-breaking satire of Get Out to the visionary gore of Raw, 2017 has consistently delivered on increasingly effective, and more importantly, inventive frights. The latest film to fit under this stunning horror umbrella is Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night, a paranoiac epic that delivers bone-chilling horror of the deeply personal kind. Our own Perri Nemiroff called it "an all-consuming and deeply disturbing film" that's both "unforgettable and haunting".

Starring Joel Edgerton, Carmen Ejogo, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Riley Keough and Christopher Abbott, Shults expertly weaves a family drama couched in an apocalyptic psuedo-zombie shell as two sets of families fight to survive in the midst of the greatest mental and physical challenge of their life. It's a draining, powerhouse of a thriller with fantastic performances from all parties, and another fantastic calling card for Shults.

Image via A24
Image via A24

This week, I had a chance to sit down with two stars of the stand-out horror film, Riley Keough and Christopher Abbott, who play one of the two young couples under seige in the new apocalypse, and whose uneasy relationship with the other family fuels much of the film's roiling tension. During the conversation, we discussed their decision to join the project, their behind-the-scenes attempts at building chemistry and their experience working with Shults in the confined home inside of which much of the action takes place. (See the full list of topics below).

Riley Keough and Christopher Abbott:

  • Keough and Abbott on they chose the project.
  • Keough on how Shults proposed the pair bond to establish a family dynamic.
  • Keough and Abbott on playing parents for the first time.
  • Keough on how much improvisation was needed to give the the film its naturalistic feel.
  • Keough and Abbott on whether or not they had questions about the mythology of the film.
  • Keough on filming in such a confined space for the entire shooting schedule.
it-comes-at-night-movie-image
Image via A24 Films
it-comes-at-night-movie-image
Image via A24 Films
it-comes-at-night-movie-image
Image via A24 Films
it-comes-at-night-movie-image
Image via A24 Films
it-comes-at-night-movie-image
Image via A24 Films
it-comes-at-night-movie-image
Image via A24 Films

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