Directed by Andrew Patterson
Written by James Montague and Craig W. Sanger
Starring Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz and Gail Cronauer 
Running Time 1 hour, 29 minutes
by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport 

”Can’t waste tape on a tombstone.” 

In the film Vast of Night, Everett (Jake Horowitz) and Fay Crocker (Sierra McCormick) are two radio obsessed beatniks that have an admiration for the airwaves. Setting the film in a fictional 1950s sleepy town called Cayuga, New Mexico, it is safe to say that the writers and director are fans of the Twilight Zone. Cayuga being the name of the host and creator of Twilight Zone, Rod Serling’s production company. 

While the entire small town is filing into the high school gymnasium for the rivalry basketball game, Everett and Fay are out taking her new voice recorder for a spin by approaching citizens and asking them random questions. They mosey around a bit before they head to their respective jobs; Fay is the town’s switch board operator and Everett is the local deejay. Fay takes a call that ends up being an unusual frequency that she alerts Everett about. This strange night noise inevitably sends them down a rabbit hole that leads them to mystifying and puzzling answers. 

As a teen, I thought that disk jockeys that had their own radio shows were the bees knees. I dreamt of wearing a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses and hosting my own program to play all my favorite rad tunes of the moment (e.g. Blink-182, Alkaline Trio, Nirvana, Patsy Kline, Ramones and Buddy Holly… remember, I was a teen). Instead I donned a fedora, grabbed a reporter’s notebook and joined the high school newspaper to cover breaking news stories such as: overweight backpacks causing kids to have the posture like a geriatric with a hunchback. If only I had a crystal ball, I wouldn’t have gotten so bummed out about my life as a journo. I would have seen into the future and known that my ambition of becoming a radio personality aka theeee Cinematic Crypt Keeper, eventually be true. Despite not living in a time of jetpacks and flying cars, I am fortunate enough to be experiencing the podcast age. This has given everyone and their cat the capability to start their own show. From aliens to true crime to cinematic corpses, there is a broadcast out there that appeals to just about everyone. Vast of Night proves that there are even people that will listen to inconceivable noises rather than watch the town’s biggest basketball game of the year. 

There was much to love about this film, however the platonic chemistry between Everett and Fay had my heart fluttering. It was reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite duos: Mulder and Scully of X-Files. Everett and Fay are two curious, sharp-dressed characters who want to believe and seek the truth. The banter between them came off so natural and the actors made it seem so effortless. I wanted to crawl into the screen, sport a pair of glasses and befriend these two hepcats… especially Everett. What can I say, I loved his cardigans and Buddy Holly esque glasses. 

This film was a reminder that maybe life before smart phones wasn’t that bad. A existence without Uber eats or the capability of text messaging leads to an old fashioned way and possibly more powerful method of communication: speaking to one another. Despite the film being structured with extremely long takes and dense conversation, as a viewer I was completely engaged. Maybe it was the sound of their voices? I found their articulation rather soothing and hypnotic; perfect for the radio. I have to admit, though, even before I was put under the spell by their calming words, I was enamored with the film. The first glimpse is of a home that is decked out in in 1950s furnishings including the wildly popular illumination piece of the time, a sputnik light. This was the moment I realized this film was made for me and could do absolutely no wrong.  When the leads, Everett and Fay, were introduced and started jibber jabbering, this movie had me hook, line and sinker. 

I realize I am going to sound like a senior citizen when I say this but, few flicks come along like this one nowadays. A picture like this is a treasure to have amongst the typical stuff that is hurled onto the silver screen. What is most impressive about Vast of Night, is that this was the director’s feature debut, which first premiered at the 2019 Slamdance Film Festival, where it took the prize for Best Narrative Feature. Similar to the main characters portrayed in the film, this flick is extremely daring and innovative. It was not afraid to take chances. Vast of Night seemed to live by the same mantra as Everett when it came to deciding whether to play the kooky frequency over the airwaves or not, “I don’t care if we get in trouble, it's good radio.”

Playing at a drive-in theater near you this Friday, May 15 - find showtimes here.

Available on Amazon Prime here starting Friday, May 29.