Night’s End is a creepy exorcism-gone-wrong horror flick that twists the haunted house story and mixes with it supernatural storytelling, claustrophobic atmosphere, haunting score, and a remarkable lead performance from Geno Walker, who plays Ken Barber, an anxious shut-in living alone in a small and dark apartment. With all his windows covered by newspaper, Barber lives his life in a repeated routine, with everything in his apartment organised and neatly labelled. Whilst in isolation Ken starts to make Youtube videos focusing on management and divorce tips as we discover that his relationships are not so put together.

Director Jennifer Reeder (V/H/S ’94’, Knives and Skin) brings spooky fun but ensures an eerie, suspenseful, anxiety, and panic-inducing experience as direction and cinematography are frightful in a good way as the camera is utilised perfectly as it lingers on subjects repeatedly found in Ken’s apartment such as his tomato soup, taxidermy birds, and the Pepto-Bismol he continuously puts in his coffee. The unsettling camera movements left me in suspense. The use of light specifically the neon-coloured LED grow lights, and the soft yellow/orange is phenomenal.

During one of ken’s videos, a taxidermy bird mysteriously falls off a shelf behind him, leading Ken to speculate that maybe his apartment is haunted. As ken discusses how to handle his haunting with his friend Terry (Felonious Munk) who provides some comic relief and ex-wife Kelsey (Kate Arrington) it plays out like a dark comedy but with mismatched symbols on the spirit jar, well, I’m afraid, he’s brought something unspeakable back. With a talk about Ken’s mental health, the film doesn’t linger on those topics too much and brings in occult specialist Colin Albertson (Lawerence Grimm) which offsets the tone as these moments are campy fun but hold ulterior motives.

Ken becomes tormented from behind, ghostly interactions happening when a figure appears in the hallway or walks towards him. You also see glitches and jump cuts when he’s on a video call which is to suggest that there is a disturbance. Walker does an outstanding performance when portraying Ken’s inner demons whilst confronting literal ones.

What I loved about this film is that it explores comically and curiously how real people would react to the idea they might be living in a haunted home by themselves, this elevates isolation but also its suspense and jump-scares. Night’s End presents a piece that showcases a dynamic between predator and prey and tells both sides of the story when it comes to being kept apart and quarantined. It’s a character study about a man in peril and Reeder reveals this character with her style and lens.

Verdict

Night’s end is a dark and isolating experience, especially for Ken who is desperately trying to figure out what is happening to him. This leads to the Dark Corners livestream which is wholly entertaining. We ultimately go from Ken’s dull repeated life in this bleak world we’re living in to a scene that is unbelievable. It’s an interesting twist for sure. Writer Brett Neveu has imagined a new haunted house genre of original films with compelling visuals.