Review: 'Night's End' Muddled and Ho-Hum

A film clearly made during the pandemic, Jennifer Reeder's horror film "Night's End" finally sees the light of day.

A one-location film that utilizes a lot of web calls, the project takes a clean concept and muddies it up with too many extraneous characters and a ho-hum backstory.

Ken Barber (Geno Walker) is a shut-in who has suffered a nervous breakdown that cost him his wife and family. Holed up in his apartment, Ken tries his hand at several influencer-type video blogs hoping for some income, while inexplicably caring for plants in a dark, closed-up living space.

Having only broken up two years earlier, Ken is, weirdly, besties with his ex-wife Kelsey (Kate Arrington) and her new husband Isaac (Michael Shannon!), who seem really invested in the fact that during a call with his best friend Terry (Felonius Munk) a stuffed bird topples off the wall behind him. Immediately assuming the apartment is haunted, Ken goes about looking for any history on the place, and quickly discovers there was a murder there.

He contacts supernatural podcaster Dark Corners, or "DC" (Daniel Kyri), as well as an expert on the paranormal, Colin Albertson (Lawrence Grimm). There's a lot of nonsense involving spirit jars and the releasing of evil spirits, along with Ken dealing with loud banging and sudden flashes of light that knock him out.

Needless to say, Ken wants whatever is in his apartment out, so he enlists Colin to help get rid of it. Their efforts will be broadcast on the Dark Corners web channel.

The script by Brett Neveu feels like something someone cooked up over a weekend in between bingeing episodes of "Charmed." The tone is all over the place, with Walker's Ken being very serious and dramatic about the goings-on in his apartment, while supernatural guru Colin – complete with a fireplace mantle backdrop covered in candles and numerous dreamcatchers – hams it up so much it feels like the movie suddenly becomes a parody.

The acting from the rest of the cast is fine, but the biggest head-scratcher is the involvement of respected A-list actor Michael Shannon, who clearly is doing a favor for his wife (who plays his wife in the film). He wanders in and out of scenes, making wisecracks and acting shocked and horrified at things unseen. Frankly, it's cringe-inducing.

The reveal of a demon in the film's final reel looks like something straight out of an early season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and I'm still unclear what it had to do with the mother/daughter murder storyline that came before it.

The film is called "Night's End," but it should have been called "Please Let it End." I appreciate anyone who puts their all into making a film; it's just confusing what stories inspire someone to invest all that time and effort.

"Night's End" debuts exclusively on Shudder March 31st.