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marioBonifacio
Reviews
Take Back the Night (2021)
What's even scarier than being attacked by a monster?
Gia Elliot's monster movie, "Take back the night," brings the genre to new heights - and deeply unsettling depths.
Because the key encounter with the monster happened so early and because the protagonist remained mired in an ominous cloud, I stayed on edge wondering what even worse encounter could follow such a gruesome attack 10 minutes in? In other words, what's even scarier than being attacked by a monster?
As Jane (Whose increasing frustrations are portrayed well by Emma Fitzpatrick) struggles to find relief with the police, media, family, and social media conspire to slowly pick apart her story to the point that I honestly started to doubt the thing I had literally seen a half-hour prior.
When she's dragged the furthest away from her answers is when our answer starts to take shape: What's even scarier than being attacked by a monster? Being attacked and then being forced to re-live that attack while everyone treats you like the criminal, tells you it didn't happen, and even if it did, you deserved it.
A few other details: The monster sequences manage to be terrifying and yet, disturbingly beautiful in their choreography. At a svelte 90 minutes, the movie is exactly as long as it needs to be.