Iranian filmmaker Kourosh Ahari's directorial debut
The Night has the distinction of being the first US-produced
film to receive distribution in Iran for over four decades.
The film stars Shabab Hossein and Niousha Jafarian as a young Iranian couple living in the US who
spend a night in a creepy old hotel where they and their infant daughter
are menaced by a malevolent presence that forces them to confront their
past.
Speaking about his film, Ahari says:
"Throughout Iran’s cinema history,
the horror genre has never been celebrated as a new horizon to craft unique
original narratives that satisfy the desire of its large audience. As a
psychological horror genre fan myself, I always craved to see an elevated
horror in Farsi, deeply grounded in real life. Blessed to find myself in the
art, I decided to explore the genre and welcome the challenge of creating
one.
"The Night is a brew of my fascination with human psychology
married with my curiosity of an unknown world, which we all may have
experienced one way or the other. Our story approaches a very complex yet
common human condition, the fear of our darkest secrets being revealed. My
co-writer, Milad Jarmooz and I decided to elevate this often buried
fear of human beings to the surface and shape it as the driving force of
terror in our story. The Night at its core is a psychological
thriller that gradually dives into the world of horror as the secrets of its
two main characters are permitted to come out of hiding and take form,
confining the couple with their one-year-old in an eerie old hotel. The
Night will not end until they confront the truth within themselves.
"The story and themes of The Night are profoundly universal
and current, allowing the audience to instantaneously relate to the movie.
Although the language spoken in The Night is primarily Farsi,
the dominating visual storytelling dimension allows you to overcome the
subtitles and become absorbed in the film. While you might find resemblance
to some of the iconic horror genre films, throughout the development of the
story, we kept reminding ourselves that the legends had already mastered the
haunted hotel story. We are greatly inspired by them, nonetheless, we are
not in the attempt of walking the same path, so don’t let this creepy hotel
fool you; look for the signs and pay attention to everything. That’s not to
say, you wouldn’t feel like not wanting to stay at a hotel after viewing
The Night."
The Night is in US cinemas and on
VOD from January 29th. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
Check out the trailer and poster below.
The official synopsis reads:
Following a tense night out with friends, Babak (played masterfully by Iranian superstar Shabab Hossein, winner of Best Actor at the 2016 Cannes Film Festivali), and Neda (Niousha Jafarian) and their infant daughter find themselves spending the night in a hotel. As a malevolent energy torments the family, Babak and Neda’s deeply guarded secrets are summoned from their dark hiding places. THE NIGHT will not end until they confront the truth within themselves.
