It comes at night - horror of the inner self

There is little more terrifying than the loss of civilisation.  The threads that hold our world together are thinner and more frayed than many would want to believe.  The world as humanity knew it has fallen apart for great civilisations of the past.  It could fall apart again for ours - we are not special.  It comes at night is a horror / thriller that's huge in scale but minute in focus.  It concentrates on a small group of people hiding out in a remote cabin in a forest, they have survived day by day since the world outside collapsed.  Disease, chemical attack, alien invasion - it hardly matters.  This family just wants to live and do what they can to avoid losing their son, sanity and humanity.  When a stranger appears asking for help, which will they give up first?

It's a simple premise that's short on answers but asks a lot of pertinent questions about society, family and the lengths one would go to live in peace.  The story is less interested in teasing the viewer with the potential horror of a killer virus, rather we are teased with the very real horror of the reaction to its potential.  For the family, read the civilised world.  With all our interconnections, just-in-time deliveries and instant access, how quickly would a civilised world turn in on itself if even a sliver of that was wrenched away overnight?  Even in a world of plenty, the 'strong men' decry outsiders as invaders 'taking away' the rightful property of the 'natives'.  What horrors lie ahead in a world of chaos and disharmony ravaged by disease?

To anyone looking for a straightforward horror film with the usual signposts - look elsewhere.  The true horror here lies in inner space, amongst the comforting fires of the hearth and surety of the family unit.  By keeping the space of the story locked into a single cabin and its nearby woods, and by using fire-lit interiors whenever possible, the director maintains a singular focus on this.  The horror is knowing that this is now the entirety of the world one can feel safe in, and knowing that to defend it one might have to lose one's humanity.  And if we lose the thing that makes us human, then what is left?