Initially, Gone in the Night seems like a cabin invasion movie. However, within 90 minutes, the feature takes so many twists and turns, balancing flashbacks with a present narrative. It saves most of its answers for the final 15-20 minutes. The journey getting there unravels a sinister plot and the desire to delay the aging process.

Directed by Eli Horowitz, who co-wrote the film with Matthew Derby, Gone in the Night stars Winona Ryder as Kath and John Gallagher Jr. as Max. Kath refuses to call Max her boyfriend, and she’s uncertain why she’s still with him. Her friends dislike him. He’s an aging hipster who wears Bad Brains t-shirts and blathers on about music. To salvage their relationship, Max decides to take a trip two hours north of the city, to a cabin in the woods. There, they find out the cabin is already occupied by a young couple, the slightly menacing Greta (Brianne Tju) and the rather sulky Al (Owen Teague). Max and Greta have a little too much chemistry, to the point she makes out with his elbow during a board game. Yes, you read that correctly. When Max goes missing the next morning, Al tells Kath that he hooked up with Greta, and they’re not coming back. Kath spends the rest of the film trying to figure out what happened.

Ryder’s great in whatever she’s in, but Tju turns in one heck of a performance here as well. She keeps her character mysterious and slightly dangerous. She commands nearly every scene she’s in and makes one heck of a villain, a counter to the more reserved Kath. Dermot Mulroney does a fine enough job playing Nick, the cabin owner who eventually forms a bond with Kath after she calls to inquire about Greta. They share a mutual love for nature. Yet, it’s also apparent that Nick may hold more secrets than he’s letting on.

This film doesn’t follow a traditional narrative structure. A good portion of it features flashbacks that show Max met Greta and Al prior, so there’s a little more to his get-a-way weekend adventure than meets the eye. Revealing more here would spoil the plot. This is a film that keeps most of its secrets close to its chest, and the eventual reveals are worth the wait. The pacing is well-crafted, slowly spreading another breadcrumb here and another there. If I can find one flaw with the film, it’s how it handles aging. It’s an undercooked theme. Max makes rude comments about Kath’s age, including her night vision when they arrive at the cabin. Meanwhile, you get a sense Kath only tolerates Max because he’s refused to grow up and still has a sense of adventure that she clings to. However, one of the final reveals feels a little heavy-handed. Aging is always a great subject to tackle in a horror film, but it’s a little clunky here.

Small criticism aside, Gone in the Night is an entertaining and at times, unnerving feature. Ryder and Tju both give strong performances. This isn’t a film that relies on jump scares or buckets of blood. Its value lies in the strange interactions between an older and younger couple and the fear of aging, specifically feeling insecure in the face of mortality.

7 out of 10