Trey Edward Shults’s rise and subsequent career as a filmmaker happened pretty much entirely within the 2010s, as his first three movies were released between 2015 and 2019, with his fourth not coming until a little later. If you look at just the 2010s (and, spoiler alert, that’s the decade that houses his three best three movies), Shults’s body of work to date was quite neatly divided by the three short films he made in the first half of the decade, and the three feature films he made during the second half of the decade, released between 2015 and 2019. Bridging the gap between these wasKrisha, which was the name of a 2014 short film Trey Edward Shults directed that he expanded to a feature-length movie of the same name in 2015, which was his feature film debut as director. As for the film he released mid-way through the 2020s… well, that will be gotten to. Good things come to those who wait, and so too do bad things, it seems.
Shults is good at building tension and a sense of unease throughout his various movies, but has only made one full-blown horror movie to date (and, even then, some might think of it more as a psychological drama). Another trademark of his is playing around with aspect ratios, sometimes doing so in a waythat would makeWes Andersonblush. Returning to the genres he likes, though, his non-horror films are still rather grim and unwavering, it has to be said, and watching everything in his body of work makes itmore than apparent that he’s able to do something fresh with character-focused films that aren’t afraid of getting psychologically intense. Those three best feature films to date are ranked below, with some difficulty. All are of a relatively high quality, and none can be considered anything close to bad. At the same time, none are quite perfect, but they are of an immensely high quality considering they’re a filmmaker’s first three, and because Shults was young at the time, given that he was born in 1988. They’re not easy films to watch, but they can all count themselves among the more powerful small-scale releases of the 2010s. As for his fourth movie, well…
4’Hurry Up Tomorrow' (2025)
Starring: The Weeknd, Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan
Here’s the thing aboutHurry Up Tomorrow… it’s quite comfortably the worst Trey Edward Shults film to date, but it’s also not really being perceived as a Trey Edward Shults film. It’s largely seen as a movie byThe Weeknd, and though the mega-popular artist didn’t direct it (if he did, it wouldn’t be in this ranking and all), he was a co-writer and co-producer, on top of starring in the film as a fictionalized version of himself. He kind of didthe same thing briefly inUncut Gems, though that was more of a cameo, and his attempts to break into acting since haven’t exactly been successful. He’s still popular and largely acclaimed as an artist, but bothThe Idoland nowHurry Up Tomorrowhaveattracted significant negative attention. The latter might not be quite as bad as the former, but it’s still hard to recommend.Jenna OrtegaandBarry Keoghanboth fare a little better in their roles than The Weeknd, but performances and sometimes striking visuals aren’t enough to save this one.
It might not be the worst thing ever, and some of the negative attention does read as a tad hyperbolic. That’s faint praise, admittedly, butThe Idolcaused such a stinkthat basically anything The Weeknd did as a follow-up was doomed to initially live in its shadow. Of course,if it had been good, it could’ve maybe crept out of said shadow after a little time, but no. It’s just not enough. There isn’t enough toHurry Up Tomorrow. It’s kind of about The Weeknd having an unusual encounter with an unstable fan,certainly going for a psychological thriller kind of thing in theory, but not doing so with much care or entertainment value in execution. You could watch it and come away acknowledging that a few small things about it are sort of tolerable or, again, not the worst thing ever, but enthusiasm beyond such a point is difficult to muster. Shults will probably move on from this just fine, sinceHurry Up Tomorrowis far more directly tied to The Weeknd. Whether The Weeknd can emerge from it… well, anything’s possible. But it’s probably not the sort of thing one would want to put money on, no matter how much this hypothetical person enjoys gambling.
Hurry Up Tomorrow
3’It Comes at Night' (2017)
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Riley Keough
The aforementionedKrishawas a critical success, but not the kind of thing that generated much buzz outside film festivals upon release (more on that film’s quality/plot in a bit). So, it wasIt Comes at Nightthat ended up being the film to give Trey Edward Shults a little more exposure on a slightly bigger scale, perhaps thanks tomarketing that was a little subversive and/or sneaky. It resulted inIt Comes at Nightmaking something of a stir, but not always for the right reasons. Certain viewers felt misled by the film being more of a psychological drama with some more realistic horror, as opposed to the “It” in the title ending up being more of a literal monster. If you want something conventional horror-wise, maybe you’ll walk away fromIt Comes at Nightdisappointed, but those in the mood for something atmospheric and tense – while also being a little unconventional – could find this considerably more engrossing.
It’s the kind ofmovie often associated with A24as a distribution company,playing around with mystery/thriller/horror conventionsin a very much slow-burn narrative. It’s about a family with their own problems waiting out some kind of global threat, and then further complications that arise when a second family shows up at their property and wants refuge.It Comes at Nightis all about building suspense and characters, with the bigger things at play narratively taking place outside the home, in what could charitably be called the background.It certainly doesn’t go epic, but the intimacy is undoubtedly unnerving, and Shults was able to get some very good performancesout of a talented cast that includedJoel Edgerton,Christopher Abbott,Carmen Ejogo, andRiley Keough. It’s uneasy stuff throughout, and an admirable small-scale psychological horror/drama film that shouldn’t be avoided, evenif the talk of misleading marketingmight make some approach the film with added trepidation.
It Comes at Night
Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son. Then a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.
2’Krisha' (2015)
Starring: Krisha Fairchild, Alex Dobrenko, Robyn Fairchild
Fittingly for a first film,Krishais Trey Edward Shults’s most small-scale and intimate movie to date, as well as his shortest, clocking in at just 81 minutes. It follows its titular character as she arrives at a Thanksgiving dinner, and there is instantly a feeling of something being a little off, even though the movie doesn’t play all its cards until closer to the end (that is, if it even plays all the cards it could; much remains unsaid, but not necessarily in a bad way). It becomes clear that Krisha, the character, is estranged from members of her family in various ways, but it takes time before the audience catches on to why things are strained within the extended family. Itbegins as a character-focused drama, and then gets more intense as things reach a breaking point narratively. Some might even want to classifyKrishaassomething of a horror movie, owing to the direction it goes in.
The way itexplores some difficult themes is brutally honest, and it’s the kind of thing that sticks with you, even if you might not want it to.Krishais a film made with clear constraints, given the fact that ittakes place pretty much within one locationand sawShults using family members for his cast(he also plays a supporting role in the film himself). But its willingness to be personal and unwavering in its approach to a story about family dysfunction and hardships is inevitably what makes it succeed. It goes further than a good many films by first-time directors, and it’s also made with what feels like more confidence, to the point that it’s astounding Shults was still in his mid-20s whenKrishawas made. It’sthe kind of film you might watch once and then never really feel a desire to see again, but it is more than worth watching it that one time.
When Krisha returns to her estranged family for Thanksgiving dinner, past demons threaten to ruin the festivities.
1’Waves' (2019)
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Sterling K. Brown
Wavesis quite comfortably the film that can be considered the best Trey Edward Shults has directed to date. It sees the director once more telling a dramatic and human story that goes to some dark places, but here, the drama iscombined with romance to striking effect. It’s alsosomething of a coming-of-age storywith its focus on young love, all within the confines of a family drama.Sterling K. Brownplays the father in this family, and puts pressure on his two children in different ways, especially Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Tyler’s generally the focus of the film’s first half, while his sibling, Emily (Taylor Russell), gets the spotlight for much of the second half.Wavesjumps between protagonists with ease, and, once more, also plays around with aspect ratios as a way to accentuate particularly large shifts in the lives of the film’s characters.
Some might see it as all a bit on the nose, but even though Shults goes “bigger” with some of the emotions inWaves, compared to his other movies, there remains a certain amount of sincerity and authenticity to it all. The film provides the most tumultuous and engaging emotional journey of his films so far, with even some of theromance-focused scenes having a nervous energy to them. The performances are all great; Shults had already shown he was able to make both non-professional and professional actors alike shine prior toWaves(demonstrated byKrishaandIt Comes at Night, respectively).At 135 minutes,Wavesis also easily the longest of Trey Edward Shults’s films to date, but he finds plenty of places to go within this film to justify that runtime. It’s the kind of film that didn’t necessarily suggest where Shults will go next. Of course, where he went next was Hurry Up Tomorrow, and maybe the less said about that one, the better. But other than that… he really could do anything from here, and that’s one of many reasons he’s (still) a director to keep an eye on going forward.
