I Watch Movies: The Vast Of Night

The Vast Of Night

It’s the 50s and this may be an episode of Paradox Theater, which is the Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits but does not infringe on their trademarks. In Cayugah New Mexico it’s the night of the big game, the first high school basketball of the year. But two youngsters aren’t there, Fay is running the town switchboard and Everett is the DJ in the town radio station.

Here are some things the film likes. It likes the physical actions needed to run the electromechanical machinery, especially the switchboard and the tape machines. It likes very long shots, especially very long outdoor walking and talking with no cuts. It also likes long indoors shots; when Fay arrives at the switchboard we spend a lot of time just watching her as she connects calls, with hints of the small town life (also something the film likes). That scene leads into the strangeness, namely odd sounds on the radio and on the phone lines.

Mystery is the other thing the film likes. When they ask for help identifying the sound on the radio people tell them their stories. But the stories don’t have answers, they only have more questions.

Watch This: A creepy, atmospheric film mixing 50s American small town life with weird mystery
Don’t Watch This: If charismatic but occasionally tactless teenagers messing with tape recorders is going to bore you