THE NIGHT Review: Trippy Terror at the Hotel By Chad Collins
Written by Kourosh Ahari and Milad Jarmooz
Directed by Kourosh Ahari
“They hear the truth, morning comes” a malevolent drifter whispers to Neda Naderi (Noousha Noor) midway through
The Night, Kourosh Ahari’s auspicious Iranian-American genre debut. Neda and her husband Babek (Shahab Hosseini) are en route to their home when an auto accident, Babek’s insobriety, and the imbroglio of downtown Los Angeles compel them to pull the car over and rent a room for the night. Things quickly spiral as the Naderis, including their infant daughter, are plagued by specters in the dark, an ever-changing urban landscape, and a morning that defiantly, hauntingly refuses to come. Punctuated by paranoid shades of Kubrick’s
Deriving its visceral scares not from grisly imagery but rather psychological eeriness like a knock on the door in the early morning hours or a disembodied whisper that raises the hairs on the back of your neck director Kourosh Ahari’s consistently terrifying new feature “The Night” follows an Iranian couple wrestling with unresolved marital conflicts in the U.S.
Marking his debut in an American production, actor Shahab Hosseini (“A Separation,” “The Salesman”) plays obstinate husband and father Babak. As he drives home with his wife, Neda (Niousha Jafarian), and their infant daughter following an evening with friends, a pulsating toothache immobilizes him. Inexplicable occurrences soon lead them to check into an empty old hotel where supernatural torment ensues.
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In the eerie Iranian horror film, The Night, Babak (Shahab Hosseini, of The Salesman ), Neda (Niousha Jafarian) and their baby, Shabnam (Leah Oganyan) check into the Hotel Normandie to get some rest. But that soon proves impossible and not just because Babak is suffering from a throbbing toothache. The guests are repeatedly disturbed by knocks at their door, noises from above, and even a voice whispering Mommy. When Babak takes Shabham to get some milk, he experiences an unusual encounter that unsettles him. Is Babak dreaming this nightmare, which gets worse the family is unable to leave the hotel as the night goes on?
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If you’re going to set your movie in a haunted hotel, you may as well set it in a hotel that’s actually haunted. Do a quick Google search and you’ll find that Los Angeles’ Hotel Normandie, a local landmark built in 1926, has plenty of spirits in its past. The eeriness of its history, combined with the persistent and invasive buzz of its huge neon sign, makes it the perfect setting for
The Night,
a Farsi-language horror thriller that’s foremost about the unwelcome memories that arise when sleep is as elusive as the sunrise.
Kourosh Ahari’s debut feature, the first U.S. production approved for theatrical release in Iran since 1979, stars Shahab Hosseini (