This film was originally reviewed out of SXSW 2022 under its previous title, “The Cow.”
In writer-director Eli Horowitz’s labyrinthine, mostly unpredictable thriller “Gone in the Night,” becoming increasingly risk-adverse is one clear symptom of getting older.
Part unlikely friendship tale and part potpourri of genre tropes orchestrated as a parade of red herrings, this debut feature takes on modern culture’s blatant disdain of aging and veneration of youth.
It begins with a common sequence: two people driving on an empty tree-lined road. They are, of course, heading toward an isolated destination in the middle of nowhere. Middle-aged hydroponics expert Kath (Winona Ryder) and her younger, man-child boyfriend Max (an amusingly annoying John Gallagher Jr.)