T w e n t y S i d e d

Horror is an expansive genre of media that has many branches underneath it. When the average person pictures horror, they typically think of a slasher or ghost story thriller. It’s typically a fun watch where bad people get what’s coming to them or the protags come out victorious with a newfound appreciation of their lives or family. On the opposite end of that spectrum is where I lay in wait. Mouth, eyes, and ears agape waiting to consume all. Misery porn.

The Babadook is the first major title to hit the mainstream that I would consider to be well within the parameters of misery porn. It started off the newest era of horror that is sometimes called “arthouse” or “prestige” horror. I personally think those genre titles sound like they were made by someone who’s average diet contains a healthy amount of their own farts, but it’s really not descriptive anyway. I prefer calling movies what they are. And the horror I’m talking about wants you to feel what the protagonists of the films feel. Suffering. Agony. Regret. Guilt. Grief.

A typical misery porn horror looks like:

• Character(s) suffering a great loss either prior or during the events of the film
• A further trauma that the protagonist(s) must deal with
• An antagonist that functions as a metaphor for a greater evil or force
• Most importantly a dark and brooding tone with little to no relief.
• Ending on a dark or bleak edge

Some of my favorites include: The Babadook, Hereditary, Midsommar, the VVitch, The Ritual, Talk To Me, and Bring Her Back. Now these are relatively popular films in the sphere of horror fandom I’m in, but they’re also routinely disliked by a fair portion of said horror sphere. They can be seen as pretentious or plodding and honestly sometimes they are. But I get it. There’s only so many hours in a day and if you don’t immediately resonate with a story it feels a lot like a waste of time. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Regardless, I think they explore depression, remorse, and grief better than any genre and are well worth appreciating. Which brings us to the topic of today: The Night House.

I think the Night House is one of the best examples of misery porn done right. It’s far from perfect, but I would say it’s a lot more audience pleasing than the other misery porn titles I have mentioned. The pace is a bit quicker. The story telling is less opaque. The cinematography and scene constructions are beautiful and engaging. And it does all this while leaving you with a feeling of deep discomfort and concern.

The movie starts you off by showing you a woman named Beth in mourning. Her husband has died and even though his funeral is over, she still hasn’t even started the grieving process, really. She is doing her best at keeping things together but it’s obvious to people around her that she can’t keep a handle on her life’s normal responsibilities right now. Beth spends her time drinking, packing up her husband’s things, and wallowing in her pain while revisiting memories via music, home videos, drawings, and various other mementos that her husband, Owen, has left in his absence. It’s very visceral and extraordinarily grounded. Trauma and grief are messy and can feel like a tidal wave of pain when you’re already reeling from the previous waves. Rebecca Hall makes you feel Beth’s pain. Through the whole movie you are treated to Beth’s suffering and confusion. If you’ve ever experienced a deep loss you know the feeling that she’s going through. The only times the focus drifts away from all that hurt is to uncover the deeper story and mystery behind what actually led to her husband’s death.

Now I have delicately danced around the potential spoilers so that if you have any interest in the story you have this jumping off point to go watch it. There’s a lot to the story and the acting is excellent all around with the small exception of a brief appearance of a few side characters. It’s currently only available via rent or purchase online, as far a I can tell. I think it’s worth the money, but we all know there are other options. All I’ll say about the alternative means is that if you enjoy the movie you should support the creators with a purchase in some form. If you’re not interested at all in watching the movie for yourself, I will be describing major plot points in pretty great detail. You might find some interest. And I’m going to be leaving out a major portion of the plot, so there’s some meat on the bone left over if you decide you want to watch later anyway.

So, Owen killed himself. It adds a layer of pain to the agony lasagna that Beth is working through. She has to cope with the struggle of being a teacher dealing with braindead coworkers and entitled parents, the depression that she has already been dealing with for a large period of her life, her husband’s death, and finally all the fun guilt that accompanies the pain of the loss of a loved one to suicide. The people around Beth are trying their best to be there for her but most are either wildly unequipped to help someone in the throes of grief.

Owen leaves a suicide note that reads, “You were right. There is nothing. Nothing is after you. You’re safe now.” This is referencing a brush with death that Beth had when she was younger. When people hounded her to give them an answer as to what waited for them after death, her answer was “nothing.” That answer never sat right with Owen. In her mind that means that her depression and emptiness that she carried with her had spread to Owen.

Nobody is able to give her the support she needs except her best friend, Claire. Claire is far from perfect. She says the wrong things at times, but Claire feels like a real human being trying her best in an unwinnable situation. Beth’s neighbor, Mel, is also in her orbit doing what he thinks is best for her, but he’s not great at actually understanding her needs. As Beth makes increasingly unhealthy decisions and falls further and further into a spiral, Claire does her best to nudge Beth onto the right path while knowing better than to try and force her into anything.

When Beth shows up to work at school, Claire greets her with surprise and concern. Claire gives off the idea that maybe Beth should takes her time with things and stay home until there’s some distance between Beth and her loss. When Beth and Claire go out for drinks later that day Claire is quick to support Beth and help her through that difficult first step into the world when you feel you might be done living in your depression den. The conversation doesn’t go well, though. Beth spirals out of control and shares way too much information, then drinks her embarrassment away. Claire takes care of Beth and makes sure that she gets home safe and is able to sleep off her night.

If Beth listened to Claire, this would be a boring story. Beth would continue with her brush with alcoholism, but likely pull away from it eventually. She’d take her time getting adjusted to life without Owen and get to putting away and getting rid of his things with time. I hope you all have a Claire in your lives. Claire’s that person in your life that’s there for you through everything with a non-judgmental love and patience to help you through the disaster of your own making. However this is a horror movie and Beth isn’t ready for the correct decisions right now. So the story continues.

All through the previous events Beth turns on music, pours some wine, and goes through Owen’s things. Owen was an architect. He designed and built their house, himself. Beth finds his sketchbook where the plans for the house were first drawn. As she flips through the pages the sketches get more and more incomprehensible until a final set of sketches with the design for their house, then a direct copy mirrored in the other direction.

As Beth continues going through her husband’s things she keeps hearing soft, deep, almost seductive whispers that almost sound like Owen’s voice telling her places to look and for things to see. She also sees these humanoid visages appearing as empty spaces. As Beth removes Owen’s things from her life she isn’t actually healing. Her mind isn’t there yet. So she’s just leaving these Owen shaped voids in her life. Those entities are there seducing her down this path she is on. Though they scare her, she seems to view them as a sign that she’s digging in the right places.

Beth chases down loose ends that Owen has left for her. Beth starts to believe that these whispers and interactions she is having are with Owen. That culminates in a scene where she starts to become physically intimate with the entity before it reveals that it isn’t Owen. The scene then turns from this sweet embrace with the man she loves from beyond the veil of death into a brutal assault. She thought she finally found some closure but it was in a dangerous place. The obsession for “truth” that she had been feeding as a way to sidestep her grief had finally collapsed in on her.

From there Beth spirals. She makes conversation with the entity that has haunted her. It’s Nothing. Capital “N” Nothing. It’s the void tempting her, trying to push her into embracing oblivion. In the final scene Beth is fully immersed in the Nothing’s grasp. All light around her is snuffed out. All that is left is her, the Nothing, and a gun. The same gun that Owen used to kill himself. Beth mulls over her options while the Nothing makes the case for oblivion. Rest. Problems vanishing. She deserves it.

Luckily Claire has noticed her friend’s absence. When she couldn’t get ahold of her on the phone she went to her house. When she noticed the house was trashed she walked toward the place she feared Beth had gone. When she arrived and saw the situation that Beth was in she dove into action and figuratively made herself a beacon of love and hope that Beth could follow back home. Because Beth sees the alternative to death as a real, honest option, she’s able to find the strength within her to put the gun down and return to embrace life. The last shot is of the Nothing. It’s still there. Beth sees it now. But she also recognizes it for what it is. She knows its power. And now she has a better appreciation for the things she still has in her life.

Through the whole movie, you’re watching a woman desperately trying to be strong. Beth fights tooth and nail to get a complete understanding of what may have happened to her husband to the detriment of her mental health. She never really starts that grieving process until the end where she finally accepts death’s place in her life. If you peel it back a layer you can just see the decline of suicidal depression. Beth surrounds herself with reminders of her loss and wallows instead of letting other people in or better yet letting herself feel the pain of the horrible circumstances she finds herself in. Beth denies her feelings instead of addressing them. In the place of healing something dark festered and almost ended her.

Sometimes pain is a necessary evil. Sometimes feeling unbearably awful for a bit and being okay with that is just how things have to go. The alternative can be worse. Pain like that doesn’t just go away. It finds a way to make you address it. I feel that this movie did an excellent job at portraying that awful battle that one has to go through in those times of suffering.

Like I stated earlier, there’s a lot more to the movie than what I mentioned. I could have go on more about it, but this post is already nearly novella length, so I’ll leave it there. Thanks for reading

Treat yourself with love and respect. I command it. This is a threat.

Ethan Rodgers