Copious amounts of scary movie makers are recruited by the largest media corporations in Hollywood to carry the torch for their money-making franchises. Their success should be celebrated because it’s a validation of the effective — and profitable — essence of their effort and production. Many of the new-wave auteurs responsible for the found-footage anthology leviathan V/H/S are finally receiving their opportunity for advancements, like Adam Wingard with Godzilla vs Kong or Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet bringing Scream back to screens in 2022, but writer/director/producer David Bruckner continues developing chilling, inventive, dramatic, and original horror movies. David Bruckner contributed the first segment on V/H/S, as well as a segment on the awesome cinematic anthology picture Southbound before he developed the psychological horror/monster movie hybrid The Ritual for Netflix in 2017. He’s back with a new trippy ghost story that debuted to acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2020 called The Night House.
The Night House is a movie about a skeptical woman who believes her recently deceased husband is reaching out to her from beyond the grave. Starring Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs Kong) and written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (Super Dark Times), early reviews of The Night House paint it as a picture that subverts the typical jump-scare formula of paranormal horror with a superb performance by Hall. The Night House’s exploration of grief and pain in the wake of loss is hard to watch, and Hall’s contribution cannot be overstated, as emphasized by her executive producer’s credit. It’s heralded as an intelligent and engaging film currently sitting at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. The atmospheric tension and paranormal tone lend the film a comparison to another Rebecca Hall-fronted picture, The Awakening. While visually disparate, they share the cerebral, almost gothic interpretation of hauntings and ghosts tied to a central mystery driving the film. Searchlight Pictures, previously Fox Searchlight, acquired distribution rights to The Night House for around $12 million as one of the first acquisitions during the Sundance Film Festival in February 2020. The release date for The Night House sat in limbo before it was scheduled for a July 2021 release that got delayed to August 20th. For fans finally ready for their viewing, here’s how to watch The Night House.
Is ‘The Night House’ in Theaters?
The Night House opens for visitors on Friday, August 20 in select theaters. The unique ghost story opens alongside Neil Blomkamp’s (District 9) Demonic, Lisa Joy’s (Westworld) Reminiscence, and the much less related PAW Patrol: The Movie.
With the COVID Delta variant spiking nationwide, please be sure to check in with the current CDC guidelines and your local safety mandates before booking your tickets.
Is ‘The Night House’ Streaming or Available on VOD?
No, The Night House is not going to be released for at-home rental or streaming alongside its theatrical release.
As a Searchlight Pictures release, we don't have much precedent for how their theatrical releases are being handled during the pandemic era. Searchlight's last film, Summer of Soul, went straight to streaming on Hulu, while their previous titles Nomadland and The Personal History of David Copperfield both had very distinct journeys to home video. Amidst its awards campaign, Nomadland arrived on Hulu rather quickly, while The Personal History of David Copperfield only just arrived on HBO Max in May, seven months after it hit theaters.
Both films took several months to arrive on Digital and Blu-ray as well, so it looks like folks who would prefer to watch The Night House at home will have to wait for the time being.
Other David Bruckner Movies Streaming
For more Bruckner brilliance, binge Creepshow on Shudder, where he directed the episodes titled, “The Companion,” and “The Man in the Suitcase,” or check out his directorial features including a segment in the anthology horror picture The Signal (2007), a segment in V/H/S titled, “Amateur Night,” and a segment in Southbound titled, “The Accident.” Absolutely don’t miss his full-length feature The Ritual on Netflix. He’s currently filming a reboot of Clive Barker’s classic Hellraiser with Clive Barker himself, and frequent writing partners Collins, Piotrowski, the prodigious David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) — all of whom worked on The Night House together.