Movies
[Review] ‘Tonight She Comes’ is a Brutal and Unrelenting Fever Dream
The myriad of emotions associated with horror movies are usually only pleasant in hindsight, as you fondly remember screaming and/or gagging in reaction to whatever traumatized you on-screen, even though these are obviously negative feelings. This peculiar phenomenon is why I can state that I immensely enjoyed Matt Stuertz’s Tonight She Comes, despite initial reactions of revulsion and shock.
Tonight She Comes stars an ensemble of unfortunate youths (featuring Larissa White, Cameisha Cotton, Adam Hartley and Nathan Eswine) who are drawn to an isolated cabin where a young girl named Kristy (played by the dauntless Dal Nicole) disappeared. As the film counts down to midnight, this drunk and horny group of youngsters discovers that Kristy is stalking the surrounding woods, murdering everyone in her way. Thus, they must band together in order to survive her supernatural rampage, all the while dealing with mysterious strangers lurking in the woods.
While this brief summary may be reminiscent of several traditional slasher movies, this film is anything but. Satanic cults, vomit-inducing rituals, and solid direction complement the copious amounts of horror movie references (with one especially blatant shout-out to the Friday the 13th franchise’s most iconic kill), making this one of the most bizarrely original horror movies in recent memory even as it plays with popular genre tropes. The story may get a little messy, but the film is almost constantly unnerving, not to mention fun, and never feels without purpose.
The structure sometimes suggests that the main characters are humorously stumbling into several unrelated horror flicks, but it somehow works. Stuertz’s stream-of-consciousness brand of storytelling results in a surprisingly clever fever dream of a film, that simultaneously makes you gag in disgust as it compels you to keep watching just to see where the insane story and visuals are going next.
Tonight She Comes can be construed as an unconventional reflection on human sexuality through horror movies (especially when you take into account some of the recurring sexual themes and the extremely suggestive title), but it’s ultimately still a modern grindhouse flick, hell-bent on attacking all of your senses with likable but (mostly) paper-thin characters and a muddled plot. Because of this, there will certainly be some viewers who’ll claim that the film is entirely lacking in the narrative department, but I think it’s clear that Stuertz’s unorthodox storytelling decisions were completely deliberate.
The oddly sinister antagonist is only further proof of this, as there’s something inherently unsettling about an exposed human body relentlessly chasing you around in the dark. This might have something to do with archaic moral values still ingrained in modern society, but the film only uses this as a jumping off point for some of its most memorable moments. The amazingly brutal effects and slick editing only highlight these qualities, as does the obligatory synth soundtrack, despite feeling a bit repetitive at times.
Despite doing so many things right, Tonight She Comes isn’t for everyone. This unexpectedly charming gore-fest may offend a large portion of its potential viewers with its over-the-top antics, but the movie is definitely worth a watch if you can stomach some of the worst (or arguably best) that the genre has to offer. Just don’t pick this one up for family movie night.
Tonight She Comes will be playing in select Cinemark theaters on October 5thas a part of Thursday Nights at The Asylum!
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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