Survive the Night

This is Eskandari’s second time working with Willis following last year’s Trauma Center, and Willis does a fine job here. The action star seems to be embracing an elder paternalism, a sort-of passing of the torch, if you will, to a younger, more virile version of his star persona, represented here by Murray. He and Murray work well together and indeed have a particularly strong, almost tender scene late in the film as Rich instructs his father, a retired sheriff, on how to remove a bullet from Rich’s shoulder.

The cast is, on the whole, very good. Murray is a rather stock, yet more than serviceable protagonist: I predict that the dad-role phase of Murray’s career will prove fruitful. As the gun-crazy Jamie, Buckner reminded me of a young Michael Madsen circa Reservoir Dogs. He’s sensational as an unquestionable psychopath; even Matty, his brother, seems to be afraid of his trigger happiness.

“…you would never guess that Eskandari filmed Survive the Night in a breakneck ten-day time frame!”

The film is exceptionally polished but not overly flashy; you would never guess that Eskandari filmed Survive the Night in a breakneck ten-day time frame! Eskandari’s ability to crank out such an economical and accomplished looking film at warp-speed will undoubtedly make him an attractive hire for major studio producers. The beautiful cinematography by Bryan Koss supports the tense and menacing atmosphere with effective low-angle and wide shots and well deserves mention.

In the end, like most efficiency movies, Survive the Night is not perfect. There are some gaping plot holes and obvious questions that audiences will ask themselves along the way. The characters come and go from the house, into the woods, and back again so often that one wonders why someone just doesn’t keep running until they encounter assistance. Why does everyone go to sleep at one point only to wake up hours later and continue the previous night’s carnage? Wouldn’t they want to get this over with as soon as possible? Whatever. Like I said, not a thinking person’s movie. But a perfectly adequate “efficiency movie.”