It Comes at Night Literary Elements

It Comes at Night Literary Elements

Director

Trey Edward Shults

Leading Actors/Actresses

Joel Edgerton

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Riley Keough

Genre

Horror, Mystery

Language

English

Awards

N/A

Date of Release

2017

Producer

David Kaplan, Andrea Roa

Setting and Context

America - Undisclosed Location, deep in the woods. Present Day 2017 Language* English Awards* n/a Date of Release* 2017

Narrator and Point of View

POV is that of Paul and Travis

Tone and Mood

Suspenseful, Dramatic

Protagonist and Antagonist

Protagonist is Paul, Travis and Sarah. Antagonist is the outbreak and eventually Will and Kim.

Major Conflict

Will has broken into Paul and Sarah's home for supplies. He asks them for help as he has a wife and child at home. Sarah and Paul decide to let them live at their house for protection.

Climax

Travis and Andrew (Will and Kim's son) have nightmares about the outbreak. Eventually it seems that Andrew has gotten sick, but his parents won't let Paul and Sarah have a look. It comes to a standoff at gunpoint between the families, and Will, Kim and Andrew are all killed. Travis then contracts the virus and dies.

Foreshadowing

The opening shot of the Grandfather having the contagion foreshadows there is an unknown force that is coming for them.

Understatement

It is understated as to whether Andrew did contract the disease as we never see him during the final scenes.

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

N/A

Allusions

The film is an allusion to Trey Edward Shults's own relationship with his father, as he implanted the emotional experience of his relationship into the fictional story.

Paradox

Will tells Paul that he had a brother. Paradoxically, he doesn't. It's Kim who had a brother.

Parallelism

Paul and Sarah sitting at the kitchen table in the final scene parallels them sitting at the kitchen table with Travis earlier as they are deciding what to do with Will.

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Cite this page