Demons of the mind come alive in a cavernous Los Angeles hotel in “The Night,” a scary and stylish psychological horror thriller by Iranian American director Kourosh Ahari.
Featuring excellent performances by Shahab Hosseini and Niousha Jafarian (“Here and Now”) as a married couple with a baby daughter and a frayed relationship, this predominantly Farsi-language production sneaks up on viewers and delivers a knockout final act.The first U.S.
production approved for commercial exhibition in Iran since 1979, “The Night” has been acquired by IFC Midnight, which aims to release it in North American cinemas in January 2021.
Comparisons with Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” are inevitable for just about any film about people stuck in a haunted old hotel building.
Ahari and co-writer Milad Jarmooz take this in stride, nodding here and there to Kubrick’s classic while stamping this visit to a hostile hostelry with its own distinct personality.
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