It Comes at Night: The Fear of the Unknown Anonymous 12th Grade

Trey Edward Shults’ transcendent It Comes at Night opens with a startlingly brutal death. Bud, Sarah’s father and Paul’s father-in-law, has fallen ill and died from a mysterious disease ravaging the Earth. In fear of succumbing to the illness, Paul, his wife, and teenage son rush to bury and subsequently burn their grandfather. Infection would mean death. After disposing of and starting to grieve for Bud, the family gets back to their normal routine until their life changes again when they are awoken in the middle of a night by a man rummaging through their food stores, hoping that he would be able to find some food for his wife and small child. Will, as he will later be called, explains his dire situation to the generous family and they agree to help him - but only if he agrees to move his family into Paul’s secured house deep in the woods and hopefully far away from any trouble. Will’s family arrives and Paul immediately informs them of the rules he and his wife have set up for the household: everyone will follow a routine, everyone will do their fair share of work, no one will open the red door, and under no circumstances will anyone go out at night. The two families quickly settle into this routine, but when the red door is...