‘The Vast of Night’ Finds Inspiration In Early Television Science Fiction

With an abiding love for original, black-and-white “Twilight Zone” programs and affection for “The X-Files,” I approached director Andrew Patterson’s “The Vast of Night” with trepidation. What a delight then to be swept up in 1950s small town New Mexico as switchboard operator Fay hears an indecipherable audio frequency and transmits it to friend Everett, hosting a radio call in.

The opening, in quite daring fashion, invites direct comparison to the Twilight Zone with this introduction to Paradox Theater on 1950s television. Cleverly, the film returns several times to remind us that what appears on tv as a program is, for us, this film as our Twilight Zone/Paradox Theater. It works because of the rapid unfolding. For example, in one spectacular scene the camera races along the ground down a main street, across yards and a field, down an alleyway, through cars to the Cayuga High School gymnasium where the basketball game of the season is being played. The sound follows the locations flying by with a pounding beat surrendering to the roar of the crowd and the squeaking of tennis shoes. This is bravura filmmaking. 

The story revolves around solving the mystery of the mysterious sound, a “slipstream caught between channels,” as the introductory Rod Serling type voice describes it. Honestly, there isn’t much to the plot, but lingering on closeups of Fay and Everett, their jabbering and rambling on almost nonstop, becomes immediately engaging. They’re caught in the midst of something important, determined to figure it out. The investigation involves a mysterious man who calls Fay, a nod to military involvement and racism, and a shut-in. As Fay and Everett race around Cayuga, their rapid-fire dialogue adds momentum and the nighttime adds to the unnerving atmosphere, as do several cuts to a completely black screen. The camera also follows them from behind, encouraging viewers to lean forward, listen more closely, and try to discern the details. 

This all works because Sierra McCormick as Fay and Jake Horowitz as Everett, both teenagers, hold the screen with a casual, unself-conscious chemistry. This satisfying little film zips through its 89 minutes with confidence and style. “The Vast of Night” is now available exclusively on Amazon Prime.