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The Vast of Night Movie Review

The Vast of Night is a 2020 science fiction film directed by Andrew Patterson. It’s a pretty good, charming indie flick.

In the 1950s, two kids search for the source of a mysterious frequency that has descended on their town. This movie was obviously based on ‘The Twilight Zone’, not on any exact storyline, but more on the overall feel of that classic show, which I adore, so of course I was bound to like this flick as well. The story here makes use of its 50s time period stupendously, especially when it comes to storytelling and many immediate details such as radio and also racism from the day.

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I really liked the film’s approach at storytelling, and by that I mean the more talkative way of moving the plot forward, basically resembling a campfire scare story. Clearly, the film was made on the cheap and thus they set out to make it this way, but still the dialogue is so good here and the stories so chilling and memorable that all of it worked for me.

I also really appreciated the two main characters, especially Sierra McCormick’s Fay. She’s so sweet and infectiously adventurous and inquisitive. The relationship between the two is also quite strong. Of the others, Mabel was evidently very memorable.

The Vast of Night is undoubtedly very cheap technically speaking. The cinematography is far from accomplished (the use of TV screens was a bit excessive) and the film’s insistence on just a few locations and the dark really spelled out its very small budget. The final scene with the spaceship was very cool, though. Still, this is one of those ambiguous films that are too short in runtime and ultimately somewhat disappointing when they end as they hooked you in so much before.

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But simply seeing that amazing 50s sci-fi vibe was wonderful to me as a fan of that stuff. The humor was sporadic, but very effective at making fun of people back then and what they believed would happen in the future. That made that slower, less plot heavy first act still worth your time. But the second half remains the juiciest part.

Although clearly made on the cheap, The Vast of Night mostly manages to transcend its budget limitations thanks to a stellar script, great dialogue, strong main characters and an infectiously charming campfire approach to storytelling. It’s a wonderful ‘Twilight Zone’-inspired time capsule that honors the show and its vibe so well.