Shults places tremendous trust in the audience to pay attention and figure out whats going on.
And that trust makes the horror ofIt Comes at Nightpay off spectacularly.
Shults sat down with EW to talk about 10 intriguing points of influence he considered while making the film.
Credit: Eric McNatt/A24 Films
I have a copy of it right now, so Ill read it soon.
Paul Thomas Anderson
There Will Be Bloodwas such an instrumental movie for me, period.
I sawThere Will Be Bloodand it was so reinvigorating.
Penguin Books
I was like, Oh sh, this is amovie!
This is what movies can do!
While makingIt Comes at Night,There Will Be Bloodbecame my comfort food.
Warner Bros
I would just put it on my laptop and watch it.
I think its such a beautiful film.
Dogville, von Triers 2003 minimalist epic starring Nicole Kidman, was also a touchstone.
A24
The morality play going on in that film, its amazing.
People in confined spaces, messing each other up.
I saw that when I was first discovering von Trier and I was completely blown away.
Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
Stanley Kubrick
Hes one of the best that ever lived.
If you look atThe Shining, for example, its so open to repeat viewings.
you might always find new things.
Its about the unraveling of a family and the childs experience of that.
And this terrible outside force that tears everybody apart.
Such a huge influence for me.
DeAgostini/Getty Images
There are certainly stylistic influences that made their way intoKrishaandIt Comes at Night.
Seeing kids thrust into situations like this, thats just heartbreaking to me.
Even now, our tribe is our family, however you define that.
If someone gets between me and my cat, theyd better watch out.
Thats why the gas masks fascinate me so much.
Theyre a block of your human emotion, and masks have been in cycles of violence for centuries.
Prisoners
I was so impressed by [cinematographer] Roger Deakins work onthis film.
And the way that the light hit Paul Danos face when he turned around.
And the use of close-ups.
The way that the photography of the scene established the mood its extraordinary.
Then I dropped out of school and interned for Malicks office for a while.
My grandfather was a prisoner of war during World War II.
And above the fireplace were two Medieval weapons and BruegelsHunters in the Snow.
Shults geeked out when he realizedThe Hunters in the Snowappear in bothMelancholiaand Andrey TarkovskiysSolaris.
Then I got a Bruegel book and sawThe Triumph of Death.
It haunted me in the best way.
It was a hellscape of all my fears.
Then I read that Breugel was inspired to paint it by the plague in Europe.
And I just thought how perfect that would be for the movie.
