‘Shahab Hosseini delivers classy scares’

New Iranian movie ‘The Night’ starring mega-actor Shahab Hosseini has been praised by an international film reviewer.

The flick set in an L.A. hotel with an eye for export to Iran is Kourosh Ahari’s impressive directorial debut which offers “classy scares”, Richard Kuipers said, praising the movie as a “stylish psychological horror thriller” by an Iranian American director.

Iranian actor Hosseini with impressive performances in Oscar-winning movies ‘A Separation’ and ‘The Salesman’ is starring in the flick as a married man in a frayed relationship.  

‘The Night’ with some affinity to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ has been acquired by IFC Midnight, which aims to release it in North American cinemas in January 2021.

The classic imageries of fear including an oddball at the front desk, a black cat, a homeless man mumbling incoherent warnings and a skeptical police officer are cleverly employed in the flick.

While the theme focuses on creating fear, in the backdrop a shattered marriage is depicted which is closely connected to the knockout final act.

The couple had to spend a few months away from each other before getting US citizenship. They went to a dinner party with two other Iranian American couples and on the way back home they ended up in a haunted old hotel building.

The scary flick has its own distinct personality due to fear and marriage issues placed in juxtaposition to each other. The two-hander is faultlessly performed by Hosseini alongside the female character as his wife and the final scene will be a great page-turner as the couple could face some fatal consequences if they fail to look squarely at each other.  

AG/AG