When did the horror of a double-booked vacation rental become a thing? It’s the hook for two new releases, “Barbarian,” which will premiere later this month, and “Gone in the Night,” directed by Eli Horowitz and starring Winona Ryder and Dermot Mulroney. In Horowitz’s nimble thriller (co-written with Matthew Derby), Ryder plays Kath, whose younger lover, Max (John Gallagher Jr.), disappears on that titular night.
As they drive into a secluded cabin, it’s clear that someone else is already there—another, younger couple. If any of us were to encounter the aggressive disdain that Al (Owen Teague) shows the pair, we’d hop back in our vintage Volvo and drive home, dark roads are doomed. But no. After some prickly bargaining, facilitated by Al’s girlfriend, Greta (Brianne Tju digs deep into the deception), Kath and Max stay. Soon things get playful and weird. As the adult in the room (aging is a theme), Kath goes to bed. When she wakes up, she hears from a grumpy Al that Max and Greta are gone.
After being stabbed and then enraged, Kath begins to wonder how this abandonment could have happened. Her need to know leads her to the cabin’s owner, Barlow (an attractive gray Mulroney). They form a lovable pair as they set out to solve the mystery of a shaky one. There are plenty of twists and turns, which surprise the couple time and again. In a funny feint during the frenzied finale, the filmmakers jump from one contemporary fable to another, also born of culturally shaped desires, using Ryder’s nuance and confidence.
Gone in the night
Rated R for foul language and some bloodshed. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV providers.