Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night is one of the more effective low-budget sci-fi films of recent years, using lo-fi, simple techniques to create mood, atmosphere, and dread throughout. The slow burn of the film’s narrative is especially satisfying as the characters’ quest for truth keeps slowly shifting over the course of the film and transforms into something entirely different by the end. Grounding much of the film in conversation, monologue, and storytelling is a risky move in cinema, but the cast here is up for the challenge of bringing these stories to life with subtle, layered performances that Patterson manages to keep visually interesting through slow push-ins on both speakers and listeners. The only real misstep here is framing everything as an episode of a retro TV show ala The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits – the film switches back and forth between widescreen color and black-and-white television monitor quality with little rhyme or reason. However, that’s a small complaint in such a compelling and unique work of science fiction that looks at the ways in which small-town outsiders can find themselves isolated and vulnerable in communities that value conformity.