THE VAST
OF NIGHT

		Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
THE VAST OF NIGHT - 2019 USA Release: May 15, 2020 GED Cinema, Amazon Studios Rating: USA: PG-13

The movie opens with a black screen and a sitar playing a tune not entirely unlike the opening chords to The Doors This Is The End.*

The movie fades up to an old-fashioned black and white television and a voice that is not entirely unlike the way Rod Serling opened his TV show, THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

The Serling-voice tells us that we are entering Paradox Theater and tonight's episode is, THE VAST OF NIGHT.

We see a television episode begin, in all of its poor resolution, sound, and color. The picture quickly resolves into a foggy, yellowed, but color movie.

Seems entirely gimicky and the period argo of the characters is off-putting at first. Yet, the characters are committed to their small New Mexico town gab, issues, and history and the characters are all flawed, unique, personable, and recognizeable.

We begin with Everett Sloan (Jake Horowitz: CASTLE FREAK [2020]), a young, nerdy, skinny twerp of a prankster who commands respect, despite his smart mouth charm, for his Fix-it capability. Everett is an expert with the latest 1950s electric tech and whenever the school gym hosts a game between highschools - a big deal in the tiny town of Cayuga - Everett is the kid to call when the non-techy folks can't figure out all the electrical hinky doo-dads that go into all the lights, tubes, sockets, and what-not.

When Everett isn't helping the fogey townsfolk out with their confused adoption of new-fangled electrical appliances, he's a Disk Jockey at WOTW radio station. The only radio station in town which also transmits the highschool game play by play to all the folks in the rural county.

Because nothing is automated in a 1950s backwoods town, the phone system is a manually operated switchboard, worked by rotating shifts of telephone operators, plugging and unplugging banks of cable from one phone call into the receiving socket of another. Not a lot of phone calls on a Cayuga night, especially with most of the locals at the game.

Like the older Everett, 16 year old Fay Crocker (Sierra McCormick: SOME KIND OF HATE, TWISTED SISTERS, PRETTY LITTLE STALKER, WATCHING OVER YOU, WHO STOLE MY DAUGHTER? VFW, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING, AMERICAN HORROR STORIES [TV]) is fascinated by the burgeoning tech at the end of the Atomic Age and the dawn of the Space Age. She keeps up on all the latest science breakthroughs via magazines she reads at the town library. She even saved up to buy herself a brand new portable reel to reel tape recorder that Everett recommended.

The shy Fay enthusiastically asks for Everett's help in setting up her tape player, as it was expensive and she doesn't want to ruin anything. Everett is laconically amazed that she didn't try to figure it out herself and teases her over it. Fay's known Everett long enough to know when he's messing with her and the dialogue between the two is quick, clever, and at turns, biting and sharp.

It's never hurtful though and there's no hint of romance. Everett seems to view Fay more as a little sister and she is onboard with this, talking to him like a Big brother but never with a swoon. She respects Everett for his knowledge of their mutual technology passion and abilities but never puts up with his "guff".

So it is we wind our way with them through town, past brief conversations with the folks of Cayuga, all who seem to know one another, and on into the night as Fay and Everett walk to their separate jobs. They part company when Fay takes over duties at the town switchboard and Everett goes his night job at the radio station.

Scene transitions are long fades to black with unfocused light remindful of static on old TV sets. When the movie fades up into another scene, it opens like we're watching an old TV show with a slow transitions back into a wide screen color movie.

But this isn't any ordinary night in Cayuga. Fay listens to Everett's show as she waits for the random phone call. When she finally gets one, an unidentifiable sound comes over as she asks for the person the caller is calling.

In tiny town 1950s America, people would call the Operator and ask to be connected to someone.

Confused by the strange noise, Fay calls a distant switchboard operator, Winnie (Pam Dougherty: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN, WITCHBLADE [TV], FULL METAL ALCHEMIST: BROTHERHOOD, PHOBIA, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN [2014], SATANIC PANIC), to help her do a line check.

Then a call rings and she has to mind the board. As Fay asks for the name, a woman's panicked voice comes across. The woman can't hear Fay but while a dog barks madly, she cries out that there is something in the sky hovering over her house. Then the line goes dead. Fay tries another line and the unidentifiable sound is there.

Fay calls the town police and the station operator tells her about unknown problems out in the boondocks that called the local cops away. The call abruptly cuts off.

Fay calls Winnie back but doesn't get far before that call is cut off too. Call after call is being cut off and replaced by the mysterious sound. Fay is growing concerned but trying to stay calm.

"I'm sure it's nothing."

Not knowing what to do and with a signal that is jamming her lines, Fay is surprised when the sound interrupts Everett's radio show. She immediately calls him. He knows nothing about the sound, but is put out that its interrupting his radio show. He has sponsors after all.

He checks his back-up tape and realizes that his show was indeed interrupted by the unidentifiable sound. Suspecting something big is happening but hoping the answer is just a common thing he hasn't thought of, Everett puts out a request to his dwindling audience to see if anyone recognizes the sound.

It's just something simple, probably.

Except Everett gets a call from a man named Billy (Bruce Davis: THE JURASSIC GAME, IN BED WITH A KILLER, RATTLESNAKE, WILD INDIAN, AGNES, WHAT JOSIAH SAW) who recognizes the sound. Everett agrees to put the man on the air and the story Billy has to tell chills Everett and Fay.

As Billy talks the screen slowly fades to black until the only way we can follow is to simply listen to Billy's voice.

As his tale unfolds it gets steadily threatening, creepier, and it dawned on me that I was captivated without being bombarded by a heavy-handed Hollywood studio movie, smashing me over the head with histrionics.

It's all so gradual but definite. The worst is yet to come though the pot is slow to boil.

Then Everett and Fay meet Mable (Gail Cronauer: FLESH AND BONE, EARTHLING, THE SECTOR, FREAKS [2017], THE SEVENTH DAY) and what happens in her house, as she sits there so scared yet steady, sends Everett over the edge.

Okay. Run, Fay!

Along with his co-writer, Craig W. Sanger, Writer, Producer, Director, and Editor, Andrew Patterson, wisely used his micro-budget (under a million) with its microcosm of two people we see, with the voices they hear coming over the phone lines. That and the unknown sound coming over everywhere else.

The action is tense, edge of your seat, yet scaled down to such a personal level of growing panic I nearly felt like I was right there with the characters.

With multiple viewings, THE VAST OF NIGHT only gets better as the cinematography of Miguel I. Littin-Menz is increasingly fascinating. His night shots and camera movements rise to breath-taking.

Wonderfully, the ending didn't let me down.

There are no worn out tropes, cats screaching, hand-on-shoulders, sudden loud noise, and other untalented hack devices. There are no tedious over-obvious references to movies that came before. THE VAST OF NIGHT presents itself like a lost TV show, unknown history version of our world, full of the same beauty, flaws, oppression, and ultimately, crushing horror we all recognize.

All of the Mystery, Suspense, and Thrills are earned. Full stop.

This is Andrew Patterson's first and only movie, which astounds me even more. Professional famous Directors spend their lives getting rich in Hollywood as they try to make just one of their movies rise to this level.

What I'm about to say I never like to say about n00bs, as I feel high praise is unfair for a first attempt, giving them nowhere to go for their next work.

But visually, audibly, from the story to the characterization, direction to the acting, THE VAST OF NIGHT feels Perfect.

For me, this is a perfect movie.

Five Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2021 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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