Film

The Vast of Night

Name: The Vast of Night
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller
Released: 2019
Cast: Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Bruce Davis, Gail Cronauer, Cheyenne Barton

Mystery

A gorgeous, deliberately paced 1950s sci-fi mystery about two radio-obsessed teenagers who stumble onto a strange frequency and chase it through a night that reshapes their town. Luminous black-and-white cinematography, a patient building dread, and a commitment to mood over spectacle. For people who love slowburn mysteries and the textures of older media.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love slow-burn small-town mysteries told through overheard radio chatter and long, unbroken takes, where the suspense lives in what you can't see.

Skip it if you need constant action or a quick payoff, since much of the runtime is talk, static and walking through dim streets toward something unseen.

What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes of patience, with long conversational stretches and a deliberate pace that rewards listening closely rather than watching for big moments.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Midnight Sky2020

A meditative sci-fi mystery with the same patient rhythm, gorgeous monochrome cinematography, and a protagonist unraveling a cosmic secret against an isolated backdrop. Builds dread through atmosphere rather than action.

But The pacing will test you—long stretches of quiet contemplation with minimal dialogue. Some find it glacial rather than atmospheric.

It Comes at Night2017

Another slow-burn American indie thriller that makes you dread the unknown more than any jump scare could. Creeping paranoia, ambiguous danger, and a commitment to letting silence and space do the heavy lifting.

But The payoff is deliberately unsatisfying if you need neat answers. The horror comes from what you don't see and can't confirm, which frustrates some viewers.

Memories of Murder2003

A masterclass in mounting unease across a single night (sort of). South Korean thriller about detectives chasing a phantom killer. Stunning cinematography, meticulous pacing, and that same sense of grasping at something just out of reach.

But It's long, deliberately structured, and the ending will not give you the closure you want. Bong Joon-ho does not hand out easy answers.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Vast of Night

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Forbidden Planet1956

Both use the space age as a backdrop for interior psychological mysteries; both traffic in the fear of what might be listening back.

The 1950s sci-fi that birthed modern space opera, but it's really a psychological thriller about a man confronting his own subconscious made manifest. Same era as your film, same obsession with hidden broadcasts and cosmic mysteries. Technicolor where *The Vast of Night* is monochrome, but identical DNA.

But The special effects are obviously dated and the gender politics are appalling by modern standards. It can read as campy or quaint rather than eerie.

Night Moves2014

A tense, methodical thriller about three activists planning something dangerous. Precision filmmaking, minimal dialogue, and an escalating sense of dread. Watches like a pressure cooker slowly tightening.

But Almost nothing is explained. The film trusts you to piece together motive and context, which feels withholding to some. Very quiet.

Under the Skin2014

Hypnotic, mysterious sci-fi with an alien protagonist moving through Scotland. Gorgeously filmed, structurally unusual, and committed to keeping you off-balance. One of the strangest major-studio films ever made.

But There is essentially no plot, dialogue is minimal, and it will perplex or bore people expecting conventional narrative. Aggressively atmospheric in a way that can feel pretentious.

Only Lovers Left Alive2013

A vampire film that's really a meditation on love, art, and time. Gorgeously composed, nocturnal, stylish without trying. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are hypnotic. Mood over action.

But It's mannered and languid; the plot is gossamer-thin. If you need forward momentum and conflict, you'll bounce off it.

Enemy2014

A Canadian thriller with fractured, unsettling dreamlike logic. Jake Gyllenhaal is superb. It builds paranoia and cosmic wrongness through editing, sound design, and visual repetition rather than plot mechanics.

But Deliberately oblique and unexplained. The ending will feel like a slap or a revelation depending on your tolerance for ambiguity. Divisive.

A Dark Song2016

Two people in a house attempting something that might be spiritual contact. Slowly reveals itself as a profound meditation on grief and faith. Understated, patient, anchored by genuine human pain rather than spectacle.

But Extremely slow and repetitive by design. One room, two people, and the same rituals performed over weeks. If you need visual variety or conventional storytelling, skip it.

Possessor2020

A body-horror sci-fi thriller about a woman who inhabits other people's minds. Canadian indie that builds dread through visceral imagery and an escalating sense of identity dissolution. Audaciously weird.

But Graphic violence and body horror throughout. Deliberately disorienting editing and sound design can induce actual nausea. Asks a lot from viewers willing to be unsettled.

The Twilight Zone1959

Same framework: normal people encountering the inexplicable in everyday spaces. Both trust silence and mood over exposition.

Rod Serling's original anthology series is essentially the spiritual predecessor to *The Vast of Night*—short, precisely constructed mysteries that often end on cosmic or inexplicable notes. Episode for episode, it has that same commitment to patience and unsettling ambiguity. Pure foundation.

But It's episodic, so investment is always reset. The black-and-white looks like a relic to some viewers. Some episodes are dated in ways that actively sting.

Station Eleven2021

Both are unhurried stories about ordinary people confronting something larger than themselves, told with visual grace and commitment to emotional truth over plot velocity.

A post-apocalyptic limited series that broke the mold for prestige disaster TV. Fractured timeline, naturalistic performances, meditative about art and memory and connection. It feels like *The Vast of Night* lived in a broken world—same texture, same willingness to linger on what matters.

But Narratively fragmented in ways that can feel scattered. The apocalypse is largely off-screen; if you need disaster spectacle, you're watching the wrong show.