The Vast of Night

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

Anyone else watch this on Prime? From the rapturous (yes, that was deliberate) reviews I was expecting much more, but I found it all rather ponderous and the music score really got on my tits. From the faux Twilight Zone opening I was hoping for an exploitation film approach but it takes itself too seriously. John Carpenter could have done something great with this idea and there are certainly some nods to him, especially in the camera work. Still, they did a lot with a (presumably) low budget. Give me Foes any day.

[JoeS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoeS]

A pleasing low hum of a movie. Director Andrew Patterson's movie is set in the late 50s in the wake of the Sputnik launch in a town so small that its streets seem vacant because everybody's at the local high school basketball game. The gimmick here is that the movie itself is an extended episode of a Twilight Zone style program entitled 'Paradox Theater.'* Patterson and co-writer Craig Sanger drop the premise fairly on, and the sporadic returns to it are fairly brief and inconsequential.

There are really only three main characters in the movie, and one of them is never seen. Fortunately, the leads are winning (and they show a mastery of analog tech that must seem pretty strange to people of their age group!). Sierra MaCormick plays Fay, a young woman who works as telephone switch operator. One fateful night, she patches a mysterious call into the tiny radio station in town, helmed by Everett (Jake Sloan). The caller is “Billy” (Bruce Davis) who upon hearing strange noises on the radio, calls in to say they are reminiscent of the sounds that accompanied a strange encounter he was involved in years earlier. Another woman, Mabel (Gail Cronauer) contacts them with a similar story. With the town seemingly abandoned, the pair head off to find out what's behind the mystery.

Along with The Twilight Zone, VAST evokes CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE 3RD KIND, War of the Worlds and Roswell (the tale is set in New Mexico). M. I. Littin Menz' cinematography is vividly captured digitally, but, some of the showy camera moves are out of keeping with the low-fi storytelling (not to mention utterly antithetical to its supposed Rod Serling roots). The story never really goes anywhere surprising, but, it's mainly a moody character piece - and a pleasingly mellow one.

* But, of course, in color and a wide aspect ratio (2:35)

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Give me Foes any day.

I've had my eye on that one for a while. I think I'll pick it up based on your recommendation.

[moviesludge Member Find all posts View Profile Close moviesludge]

If you can get past the aggressively annoying beginning it becomes pretty intriguing and does some interesting stuff, but I found it ultimately disappointing. Felt more like an old radio play than a movie.