If You’ve Had Bad Roommates Before, Guess What Happens To Alan at Night (SOHOME)

Title: Alan at Night

First Non-Festival Release: TBD

Director: Jesse Swenson

Writer: Jesse Swenson

Runtime: 91 Minutes

Starring: Jorge Filipe Guevara, Joseph Basquill, Chris Ash

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the Sohome Film Festival in 2025.

When it comes to apartment living, renting is its own experience that comes with perks and challenges compared to owning a home. Ideal for students, those saving up, those without any strong roots, and those who cannot afford to own at the moment. This leads to some folks resorting to rooming with strangers to cut down on costs.

Social media influencer Jay (Joseph Basquill) is out in this situation when his best friend Camillo (Jorge Filipe Guevara) must move home to save money. Jay manages to find Alan (Chris Ash), a shy herpetologist who seems like a fine fit for the month. His arrival is met warmly but as Jay gets to know Alan better, he discovers some of his more interesting quirks. Things come to a broil when Jay oversteps, pitting Alan against him. The roommate conflict would be irritating enough if it weren’t for Alan’s strange, sickly transformation that confuses everyone around him. And puts them in danger.

Another influencer found footage film, Alan at Night does enough to distinguish itself from its peers while serving crowd pleasing disgust.

More gross than it is scary, the true horror of Alan at Night is having a roommate. From the beginning, Alan’s introduction is met with uncertainty and fear. How will Jay cope with living with someone who he knows significantly less than his previous roommate? The question transforms as Alan’s behavior gets increasingly stranger. It changes from what Alan could possibly do to upset Jay in a month to how Jay will navigate the increasingly contentious relationship before things get out of hand. Regardless of his own culpability in their relationship, Jay’s fears of his roommate are valid. When your safety depends on the trust of a random person living across the hall from you, it is understandable to be on-edge at the first sign of trouble.

Alan starts out as an affable enough guy before his transformation sets in and things get stickier. Introverted, quiet, and interested in topics that most would shy away from, Alan’s demeanor changes, like Jay’s, during the ordeal too. In an effort to prove that Alan is a bad roommate, and doing messed up things, Jay does everything that a bad roommate would do. He installs cameras everywhere, blames Alan for every issue in the house, and obsesses over his life. Of course, Jay has good reason to believe something is wrong with Alan at a certain point, but his willingness to believe that Alan is up to something sinister long before he reaches the conclusion that he might be the asshole makes it easy to root against him in the end. In fact, as Alan gets bolder in his own behavior, it becomes more of a reflection of Jay’s. Alan may be a monster but he’s truly not trying to be, unlike Jay.

Foiling Alan, Jay and Camillo take on the more antagonistic role as they push Alan further as his transformation continues. Alan at Night makes no excuses for its irritating protagonists, even spelling out all the ways in which they are violating Alan’s privacy in a necessary yet on-the-nose monologue from the incensed Sam (Hadley Durkee). Throughout the ordeal, even when Jay is clearly in the right, it’s hard to get on his side considering what he puts Alan through. It becomes the perfect trap for Jay. Because he was so apathetic towards Alan’s needs at the beginning, it’s harder to feel sympathy for him when Alan finally does have enough. A warning for anyone who takes advantage of their roommates, or the socially unaware in general, Alan at Night does so without being too preachy.

Alan at Night is only dragged down by the confines of its story. By the time it reaches its second act, Alan at Night gets caught in its own formula. Alan does something strange, Jay and Camillo react poorly to escalate the situation, and whatever issue broached is unattended. With how repetitive its story gets by the time the third act comes around, it is easy to see how it will end. Thankfully, Alan at Night does end on a high note, even if it is a predictable one.

More gross and uncomfortable than scary, Alan at Night is a serviceable found footage horror with a nice comedic undertone. Comical enough and certainly gross, Alan at Night plays around with its premise in fun ways before settling into its satisfying conclusion. Its constraints might make the apartment-based horror feel confined, but it only adds to the claustrophobia. Simple yet effective, Alan at Night is a solid found footage horror comedy that is bound to make you squirm.

Overall Score? 6/10