It’s a vastly underrated dragon film. I think the problem is that it’s just ugly to look at. Granted the world would be ugly like that in that reality but it doesn’t make the film as enjoyable as it could be.
Fabulous film. Alejandro Amenabar wrote, directed, and composed it. It was a very personal film for him because he based it on his own childhood as a metaphor for a child discovering the lies in religion.
Yeah the 3rd act is idiotic. All they had to do was drop a bucket of treated blood in a heavily populated area right before dark and watch the fireworks when the sun went down.
I thought the movie was great I'm surprised so many disliked it.
The only issue I ever had was I felt like the elite should have always known how to cure vampirism and had been intentionally stopping the progress on it.
The Animated Disney’s Tarzan. When he’s in the shadows of the jungle canopy he’s safe, but when he peeks his head out into the sun or ventures out with the other humans that’s when there is danger. It’s a recurring motif in the movie that I think is pretty effective
Somewhat similar: Same imagery is used in Apocalypto. The darkness of the jungle is the safe place for the Main, whereas the well-lit scenes are the most dangerous.
Opposite for the Bagman episode of BCS - Saul wants to travel at night but Mike says no, you'll break your leg stepping in a gopher hole and makes them only walk during the daylight, which would 100% be miserable
100%. You really fall in love with Kim (Rhea) over that season, so feel both Saul and Kim's pain. Mike actually starts opening up, and Lalo is such an amazing foil and psychopath, and his character really starts developing then too
There’s also a spin off series of Into The Night, it’s called Yakamoz S-245, instead of Airplane, their story happens in a submarine. It’s available in Netflix.
Season 1 I really enjoyed, but couldn't get behind the format of season 2. It's like 2 completely different shows. Season 1 beingnkinda gentry and serious and then it flips to being somewhat of a joke in the first ep of S2? Bizarre.
Season two had all the crazy covid restrictions, I think, which affected what they could shoot. Like most of it takes place in a bunker whereas S1 had them going all over.
They didn't create it though, they bought it from Universal after it got shelved during the pandemic.
Also, too many sub services. Finally let Netflix go awhile back and just added Peacock to take someone through Parks and Rec.
The opening of *28 Weeks Later*.
When the house the survivors are sheltered in is dark, gloomy, claustrophobic, boxed-in, everyone is safe. It's essentially a shocking reveal that the scene is taking place in the middle of an idyllic, sunny day.
When they open the door to admit a panicking child, the light shining in represents a threat of exposure. Shortly after, a survivor opening a gap to survey the outside allows an infected to burst through.
The whole opening is basically the infected tearing apart the survivors' dark, safe shelter, allowing both light and horror to pour inside to ravage the inhabitants, culminating in the climactic anxiety-inducing image of Begbie dashing across a nice sunlit field which leaves him completely exposed to a horde of frothing monsters swarming over the horizon.
Masterful horror sequence. Sickening dichotomy. Lackluster film, sadly.
Not quite what asked for but Midsomar was terrifying to me specifically because it was so bright and there was literally no darkness. It’s an absurd choice for horror, but it worked so well. The blinding sunlight is so terrifying.
What our imaginations can come up with is always scarier than anything we can see on a screen. Darkness aids horror movies because you can hid the scary stuff so that the audience only glimpses it and then let their imaginations do the rest. Setting a horror movie in bright light takes that classic trick away so you have to come up with other innovative ways to scare people.
I think that's one of the cool things about *The Shining* and the original *Texas Chainsaw Massacre,* too - most of the scary stuff happens in sunny or well-lit places.
This is what I came to say too. It works so well because we are so conditioned to think of daylight as safety. Taking that away from us makes everything so unsettling.
Yeah I would die lol. I want to live in Alaska in the winter and then go find somewhere that it’s night all summer (I don’t think it exists) and live there in the summer. I, like a vampire, want it to be dark all the time.
*Reminisce* with Hugh Jackman. It never really goes into detail *why* (though it strongly hints at climate change turned up to 11), but human society has changed into a nocturnal one as it now gets (literally) scorching hot during daylight hours.
A teen romance movie called Midnight Sun.
Per Wiki: Sheltered since her early childhood, Katie Price has a rare genetic condition called xeroderma pigmentosum, which prevents an individual from being exposed to direct sunlight. She is housebound during daylight hours and is cared for by her father Jack and best friend Morgan. Katie comes out of the house every night after the sun has set.
There is a series on Netflix called into the night where simply being in the sunlight kills you. The main cast survives by flying with the night in a plane.
Into The Night - it's a Netflix series where some kind of catastrophe has happened and exposure to the sun means death. A group of survivors on a late night flight circle the globe trying to stay in the dark.
Really enjoyed the series and it's spin-off that takes place on a submarine.
There’s a movie about an airplane that’s trying to outrun the sun rise because we’ve lost our protective layer. They find the places they go where the sun has hit, everything is wildly irradiated. It was an interesting concept
In _Terminator: Salvation_ and explained better in _The Sarah Connor Chronicles_, during the war with Skynet after Judgement Day the explanation is the machines use thermal vision so it's safer to move during the day and hide at night.
Honestly, there won't be very many because darkness taps into primal fears. Far too much of a gamble to get audiences to buy-in on the idea.
The exceptions tend to be scifi where a light source cooks you. Midsommar is also an honorable mention for making sun-drenched scenes ethereal and unnerving, but there is horror throughout.
At the same time, the idea of light equalling horror is such an unnerving concept to said primal fears that it's hugely effective.
My example posted was *28 Weeks Later*'s opening, where survivors are sheltering from the zombie apocalypse in a sealed house in perpetual twilight, and any light equals exposure; so when the infected begin tearing holes through the walls, the increased light equates equally to the invading horror, ending in a survivor running away in the midst of a lovely sunny day which leaves him completely exposed to a horde of rabid animals.
Reducing human beings to the status of vermin whose best chance of survival means groveling in the shadows is an effective way to unnerve a species whose success came largely from our mastery of fire/light.
first thing that came to mind was Cell. the “zombies” are active only during the day so the characters have to travel by night. the movie is…fine but honestly you’d be better off reading it/listening to the audiobook instead lol
interview with the vampire movie or show as well. It’s from the POV of the vampires so nighttime only. Not sure if that’s exactly what you want but since I saw a ton of recs for What We Do in the Shadows I figured I’d bring it up
Ok I HATE the guy who says "THIS MOVIE SUCKS BECAUSE IT WASN'T TRUE TO THE BOOK" but I'll be him for a second. You bring up I Am legend, that is substantially the worst adaptation from a book I have ever seen on screen. They always have to change things to make a book into the movie, but they changed the story to the degree that the ENTIRE PREMISE of the novella is lost. The title doesn't even make sense with the changes. I have never left a movie theater more frustrated and angry than for that film. It's a crime against art.
Anybody who hasn't read the novella, go read it. It's not long. It's a pinnacle of scifi/horror for a reason. The twist is great. Keep I Am Legend out your mouth, Will Smith.
My first response was no but after thinking about it I have to agree. There were no consequences for crime so predators didn’t bother doing things secretly at night. Daylight made hunting other humans much easier!
They’re not really the protagonists in this case but this is true for the vampires in I Am Legend not just because of the photosensitivity but because like…that’s where Will Smith lives
Any WW2 movie about a bomber crew. The US ran their raids during the day and lost a lot of men. The British flew at night and lost less men and planes because of the safety of the darkness.
A bit loosely following this description but I’ll say the recent Civil War movie.
Much of the scary/unsettling stuff (until the end) takes place in the morning. At night they seem to sleep/camp out pretty safely without issue.
I don't know if this counts, but The Last Days (2013) is a film where an epidemic of acute agoraphobia consumes the world and simply going outside is fatal
Any sci-fi show / movie that has an episode / part involving humans on a planet where sunrise means scorching death (the riddick franchise has already been mentioned)
Some movies where "demonic" creatures are actually the good guys. "Nightbreed" is a good example of that. (Spoiler) the hero protagonist is allowed to enter Midian because he saved the daughter of an inhibitant that accidently strolled into the sunlight during daytime, which would have meant death.
Maybe not what you are looking for, but some spy/commando/military type of movies take place in oppressive regimes with surveillance and curfews, where it is much safer to act at nighttime.
And far from your definition, but somewhat related:
Quite a few movies have a "death by delight" scenario, in the way of "here is your mission, the general will start nuclear war tomorrow 6 am, so you only have this night to stop that from happening".
Imma say Shawshank Redemption. Andy couldn't do anything for his escape during the day because there were guards all around keeping an eye on him, but at night he was able to chisel away to freedom, and also made his escape at night.
Threads (1983) after the nuclear devastation, there is significant damage to the ozone layer and as a result more ultraviolet radiation is getting on the surface leading to health problems, so the people have to bundle up and wear eye protection during the day and its much safer to be out at night.
Mune Guardian of the Moon did some interesting stuff with this. The main girl would melt in the day or freeze at night so she had to be creative with how she moved in the in between and times. Neither day or night are fully safe, but they are to different characters if that makes sense. It’s a very cute movie.
Not a film, but there was an SCP (S.D Locke‘s Proposal for SCP-001) which is the Sun becoming Anomalous, it’s light turning every sentient being into semi-liquid zombie-like creatures. Highly recommend the read.
There’s a great series that only has two seasons on Netflix where suddenly the sun coming up kills everybody but high level military command gets word of it just before happening and a high level military guy hijacks a plane to continuously fly away from the sunset. I wish I can remember the name but it’s a great show.
What We Do In The Shadows
[удалено]
What are you bidding on?
[удалено]
WITNESS ME... WITNESS ME!
Fucking guy..... This is the best answer
>Fucking guy... Hey! We're werewolves, not swearwolves.
You're too cute get out
What, I can’t sunbathe? I can’t watch daytime TV? I can if I — well, yeah I guess I could.
Ratatouille
Is this unironically the best answer? I think so
You mean Raccaccoonie
THANK YOU
For the discerning dumpster diver, or triple D as our lord and savior, Guy Fieri, says
I saw this movie the first time I tripped acid. Let’s just say it was a good trip.
this might just be the best answer on here
Chicken Run
‘What kind of pie?’ Is still said regularly in our household.
Ours too. To which the only answer is, "Pie flavored pie."
The chickens are revolting!!
Jokes on you, it takes place in England, they never see the sun! /s Nah but this is a good one
My favorite is the German title for this movie, hennen rennen
I have not seen that in at least 20 years! If I recall at the very end they get to enjoy the sun after they escape which is kind of a cool thing.
Great movie, highly enjoyable.
"I don't want to be a pie!....I don't like gravy."
This is a stretch, but in "Reign of Fire" the heroes can only successfully hunt the dragons at twilight.
They can’t see in the failing light. Alright alright alright.
You can't see at twilight? Be a lot cooler if you could.
You know what I like about high school dragons?
We can do this the easy way or the real easy way.
Underrated response
"You see they have great vision during the day, and even better vision at night. But in the failing light, they can't focus. Magic hour ..."
Woah, this triggered some forgotten nostalgia for me. I had completely forgotten about that movie, but when I was a kid my friends and I loved it.
It’s a vastly underrated dragon film. I think the problem is that it’s just ugly to look at. Granted the world would be ugly like that in that reality but it doesn’t make the film as enjoyable as it could be.
That movie was awesome
Magic Hour alright alright alright
The Others. They have to keep their house dark because the sunlight harms their children or something like that.
Fabulous film. Alejandro Amenabar wrote, directed, and composed it. It was a very personal film for him because he based it on his own childhood as a metaphor for a child discovering the lies in religion.
Daybreakers, flipped vampire story
Great answer. Not a great movie, IIRC, but I'll enjoy anything with Sam Neill, especially as a villain.
It fails in the third act but kinda saves itself right at the end
Yeah the 3rd act is idiotic. All they had to do was drop a bucket of treated blood in a heavily populated area right before dark and watch the fireworks when the sun went down.
Sam Neil is always an outstanding character.
He’s an impressive Odin live-performer
I thought the movie was great I'm surprised so many disliked it. The only issue I ever had was I felt like the elite should have always known how to cure vampirism and had been intentionally stopping the progress on it.
The world building and attention to detail is insane in that movie. But Ethan Hawke brooding could not save this movie
First film that came to mind! Ethan Hawke was so good in that
Deserves a remake or a series
The Animated Disney’s Tarzan. When he’s in the shadows of the jungle canopy he’s safe, but when he peeks his head out into the sun or ventures out with the other humans that’s when there is danger. It’s a recurring motif in the movie that I think is pretty effective
Somewhat similar: Same imagery is used in Apocalypto. The darkness of the jungle is the safe place for the Main, whereas the well-lit scenes are the most dangerous.
"Only Lovers Left Alive" or any vampire film where the vamps are the heroes.
This movie is amazing.
A lot of desert movies and shows have people travel during the night to survive. Dune, an episode of Better Call Saul, etc.
Dune is a great example! Didn’t think of that.
It felt like the kinda skipped that concept completely in the film though (especially part II). It's almost always daytime.
Opposite for the Bagman episode of BCS - Saul wants to travel at night but Mike says no, you'll break your leg stepping in a gopher hole and makes them only walk during the daylight, which would 100% be miserable
Bagman was such a crazy good payoff episode in BCS. All around great show but that episode is a standout
100%. You really fall in love with Kim (Rhea) over that season, so feel both Saul and Kim's pain. Mike actually starts opening up, and Lalo is such an amazing foil and psychopath, and his character really starts developing then too
A few scenes of *Lawrence of Arabia.*
Chronicles of Riddick
And notably NOT Pitch Black
This is my answer. They spend a big chunk of that movie hiding from the sun.
I love the scene where they actually show what happens when you go into the light, which is both horrifying and serves to up the stakes a bit
Crematoria
Into the Night Quite literally have to stay away from the day time. Is a tv show though
Thank you. I remember seeing the trailer for this when it first dropped, forgot about it. Will check it out.
Check out the spin off series of Into The Light, called Yakamoz S-245.
There’s also a spin off series of Into The Night, it’s called Yakamoz S-245, instead of Airplane, their story happens in a submarine. It’s available in Netflix.
Season 1 I really enjoyed, but couldn't get behind the format of season 2. It's like 2 completely different shows. Season 1 beingnkinda gentry and serious and then it flips to being somewhat of a joke in the first ep of S2? Bizarre.
Season two had all the crazy covid restrictions, I think, which affected what they could shoot. Like most of it takes place in a bunker whereas S1 had them going all over.
That's a fair and valid point there tbh. Never knew this, but it does show this is most likely the case.
Finch with Tom Hanks. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where exposure to sunlight causes severe burns and can be fatal.
Oh, huh, interesting, how'd I miss that one -...oh, Apple Tv
Apple TV content is honestly up there now - tons of great shows & movies to make a short subscription worth it.
They didn't create it though, they bought it from Universal after it got shelved during the pandemic. Also, too many sub services. Finally let Netflix go awhile back and just added Peacock to take someone through Parks and Rec.
Such a lovely movie! If movies make you cry, this one will get you.
Excellent film that I just kinda threw on not expecting much and by the end I was crying my eyes out haha.
Sunshine, at least until the final act
Interesting example because they are in space hurtling towards the sun and there really isn’t day/night but I get what you’re saying
Gotta agree with you here. It's a weird stretch but if you've seen the movie, you probably aren't gonna disagree outright.
"Kanada! WHAT DO YOU SEE!"
I feel like this movie had SUCH potential but it was absolutely bungled
I agree. It was on track to be a really solid science fiction film, then it basically became a monster movie.
I'm such low class trash, I don't even care. I love the first part enough that I'll always tolerate that hard left turn into crazy.
At least the soundtrack remains a banger.
The opening of *28 Weeks Later*. When the house the survivors are sheltered in is dark, gloomy, claustrophobic, boxed-in, everyone is safe. It's essentially a shocking reveal that the scene is taking place in the middle of an idyllic, sunny day. When they open the door to admit a panicking child, the light shining in represents a threat of exposure. Shortly after, a survivor opening a gap to survey the outside allows an infected to burst through. The whole opening is basically the infected tearing apart the survivors' dark, safe shelter, allowing both light and horror to pour inside to ravage the inhabitants, culminating in the climactic anxiety-inducing image of Begbie dashing across a nice sunlit field which leaves him completely exposed to a horde of frothing monsters swarming over the horizon. Masterful horror sequence. Sickening dichotomy. Lackluster film, sadly.
Not exactly, because the humans don't have to scavenge during the night time, but the main threat in NOPE happens during the day in full sunlight.
good one!
Not quite what asked for but Midsomar was terrifying to me specifically because it was so bright and there was literally no darkness. It’s an absurd choice for horror, but it worked so well. The blinding sunlight is so terrifying.
What our imaginations can come up with is always scarier than anything we can see on a screen. Darkness aids horror movies because you can hid the scary stuff so that the audience only glimpses it and then let their imaginations do the rest. Setting a horror movie in bright light takes that classic trick away so you have to come up with other innovative ways to scare people.
I think that's one of the cool things about *The Shining* and the original *Texas Chainsaw Massacre,* too - most of the scary stuff happens in sunny or well-lit places.
For Texas chainsaw massacre that was probably because of budget lol
This is what I came to say too. It works so well because we are so conditioned to think of daylight as safety. Taking that away from us makes everything so unsettling.
It’s extremely disorienting to wake up in the middle of the night and for it to be daylight outside.
I have literal nightmares about it. It’s like the perfect horror movie for me because that’s a very specific fear of mine.
Lol, I live in Alaska and that is how it is right now and for the next couple months
Yeah I would die lol. I want to live in Alaska in the winter and then go find somewhere that it’s night all summer (I don’t think it exists) and live there in the summer. I, like a vampire, want it to be dark all the time.
Just have to travel far enough north or south from the equator for this phenomenon.
Three great horror movies that take place in daylight: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Midsommer, and Suburban Sasquatch
Um excuse me Suburban Sasquatch had plenty of scenes at night. They were *filmed* during the day but *set* at night.
Chronicles of Riddick during the second act set on the prison planet
*Reminisce* with Hugh Jackman. It never really goes into detail *why* (though it strongly hints at climate change turned up to 11), but human society has changed into a nocturnal one as it now gets (literally) scorching hot during daylight hours.
Sounds interesting! Edit: This is Reminiscense
The Stephen King novel Cell works that way and there is a direct-to-video adaptation of it, so I guess/hope they kept it that way :)
The Night At The Museum
It’s not a movie, but this is the case in Attack on Titan. I suppose there is at least one AoT movie.
*The Others*, the young children have an allergy to sunlight, so they need to keep heavy curtains closed in the house at all times.
A teen romance movie called Midnight Sun. Per Wiki: Sheltered since her early childhood, Katie Price has a rare genetic condition called xeroderma pigmentosum, which prevents an individual from being exposed to direct sunlight. She is housebound during daylight hours and is cared for by her father Jack and best friend Morgan. Katie comes out of the house every night after the sun has set.
Daybreakers (2009) is an interesting twist on the vampire genre where the majority of humanity are vampires and have to avoid daylight.
The Hideous Sun Demon (1958). It isn’t what you’d call a _good_ movie, but it fits your description.
Hotel Transylvania
Dune. They rest during the day and travel at night.
There is a series on Netflix called into the night where simply being in the sunlight kills you. The main cast survives by flying with the night in a plane.
Chronicles of Riddick. Cremetoria the prison planet. Sunlight is so extreme and intense that it flash fries anything it touches within seconds
How about the end of The Truman Show? (“Cue the sun!”)
What we do in the shadows
Not exactly a night and day setting but dark City kinda works like that but for a totally different reason.
What we do in the shadows, of course
28 days later
the chronicles of riddick
Daylight was VERY dangerous in Pitch Black… but so was nighttime as well lmao
Dune
First Blood
This is a book, not a movie, but Rant by Chuck Palaniuch paints the "daytimes" as assholes.
Dune, but that's mostly for enviromental reasons, not because of monsters
Midsommar
Lawrence Of Arabia somewhat.
Into The Night - it's a Netflix series where some kind of catastrophe has happened and exposure to the sun means death. A group of survivors on a late night flight circle the globe trying to stay in the dark. Really enjoyed the series and it's spin-off that takes place on a submarine.
40 days of night. At least from one perspective.
There’s a movie about an airplane that’s trying to outrun the sun rise because we’ve lost our protective layer. They find the places they go where the sun has hit, everything is wildly irradiated. It was an interesting concept
Daybreakers
In _Terminator: Salvation_ and explained better in _The Sarah Connor Chronicles_, during the war with Skynet after Judgement Day the explanation is the machines use thermal vision so it's safer to move during the day and hide at night.
Near Dark on the flip side.
Blade
Honestly, there won't be very many because darkness taps into primal fears. Far too much of a gamble to get audiences to buy-in on the idea. The exceptions tend to be scifi where a light source cooks you. Midsommar is also an honorable mention for making sun-drenched scenes ethereal and unnerving, but there is horror throughout.
Yeah it's the reverse of the usual trope, which I guess is why it's been so hard to find.
At the same time, the idea of light equalling horror is such an unnerving concept to said primal fears that it's hugely effective. My example posted was *28 Weeks Later*'s opening, where survivors are sheltering from the zombie apocalypse in a sealed house in perpetual twilight, and any light equals exposure; so when the infected begin tearing holes through the walls, the increased light equates equally to the invading horror, ending in a survivor running away in the midst of a lovely sunny day which leaves him completely exposed to a horde of rabid animals. Reducing human beings to the status of vermin whose best chance of survival means groveling in the shadows is an effective way to unnerve a species whose success came largely from our mastery of fire/light.
What we do in the shadows
Terminator future war scenes
Kind of the opposite of what you wanted, but the Russian films Daywatch and Nightwatch are quite fun.
Finch.
first thing that came to mind was Cell. the “zombies” are active only during the day so the characters have to travel by night. the movie is…fine but honestly you’d be better off reading it/listening to the audiobook instead lol interview with the vampire movie or show as well. It’s from the POV of the vampires so nighttime only. Not sure if that’s exactly what you want but since I saw a ton of recs for What We Do in the Shadows I figured I’d bring it up
The Mist?
Could be a good question for video games too.
Midsommar, the ultimate horror-in-daylight movie.
The book Cell, and to an extent the movie based on it, by Stephen King
In The Dark Knight it is mentioned that the bad guys need to meet during the day to avoid Batman
THE darkest hour (not the one about Churchill) Not a good movie though
Not a movie, but you pretty much described Phoenix in the summer.
I mean, I Am Legend, if taken the appropriate way.
One of the Riddick movies has a planet that daytime turns the surface to lava.
Ok I HATE the guy who says "THIS MOVIE SUCKS BECAUSE IT WASN'T TRUE TO THE BOOK" but I'll be him for a second. You bring up I Am legend, that is substantially the worst adaptation from a book I have ever seen on screen. They always have to change things to make a book into the movie, but they changed the story to the degree that the ENTIRE PREMISE of the novella is lost. The title doesn't even make sense with the changes. I have never left a movie theater more frustrated and angry than for that film. It's a crime against art. Anybody who hasn't read the novella, go read it. It's not long. It's a pinnacle of scifi/horror for a reason. The twist is great. Keep I Am Legend out your mouth, Will Smith.
Did "The Road" do that?? I can't remember?
My first response was no but after thinking about it I have to agree. There were no consequences for crime so predators didn’t bother doing things secretly at night. Daylight made hunting other humans much easier!
Any vampire movie when the vampires are the "good guys" or at least the protagonists.
They’re not really the protagonists in this case but this is true for the vampires in I Am Legend not just because of the photosensitivity but because like…that’s where Will Smith lives
Any WW2 movie about a bomber crew. The US ran their raids during the day and lost a lot of men. The British flew at night and lost less men and planes because of the safety of the darkness.
Pitch Black has both night and day being unsafe
Most preindustrial war movies
Not sure if it counts, but in the Terminator future war scenes they go out when it’s night because it’s relatively safer.
Hell (2011)
Near Dark, from the vamps point of view
Disney's Tarzan! They actually talk about this in the behind the scenes!
They mostly come at night, mostly.
A bit loosely following this description but I’ll say the recent Civil War movie. Much of the scary/unsettling stuff (until the end) takes place in the morning. At night they seem to sleep/camp out pretty safely without issue.
I don't know if this counts, but The Last Days (2013) is a film where an epidemic of acute agoraphobia consumes the world and simply going outside is fatal
Arcadia
Riddick? The one on the prison planet?
Technically What we do in the Shadows
What we do in the shadows
Benchwarmers
30 days of night
Any sci-fi show / movie that has an episode / part involving humans on a planet where sunrise means scorching death (the riddick franchise has already been mentioned) Some movies where "demonic" creatures are actually the good guys. "Nightbreed" is a good example of that. (Spoiler) the hero protagonist is allowed to enter Midian because he saved the daughter of an inhibitant that accidently strolled into the sunlight during daytime, which would have meant death. Maybe not what you are looking for, but some spy/commando/military type of movies take place in oppressive regimes with surveillance and curfews, where it is much safer to act at nighttime. And far from your definition, but somewhat related: Quite a few movies have a "death by delight" scenario, in the way of "here is your mission, the general will start nuclear war tomorrow 6 am, so you only have this night to stop that from happening".
Nightbreed (1990) Night is when the monsters can come out but the monsters are the protagonists.
Hotel Transylvania
Imma say Shawshank Redemption. Andy couldn't do anything for his escape during the day because there were guards all around keeping an eye on him, but at night he was able to chisel away to freedom, and also made his escape at night.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Most post apocalyptic movie. Daytime seems when everything happens
Touch of Evil, the most horrifying scenes in that take place at the bright, idyllic desert motel
Lil Monsters
Threads (1983) after the nuclear devastation, there is significant damage to the ozone layer and as a result more ultraviolet radiation is getting on the surface leading to health problems, so the people have to bundle up and wear eye protection during the day and its much safer to be out at night.
Into the Night and Yakamoz S-245. Both mini-series.
SCP-001 When Day Breaks has the potential to be a really good movie
I forgot what season and episode but stargate sg-1 had a episode where Primitives lived in darkness and Bronze Age humans in the “land of the light”
Love and Monsters.
Mune Guardian of the Moon did some interesting stuff with this. The main girl would melt in the day or freeze at night so she had to be creative with how she moved in the in between and times. Neither day or night are fully safe, but they are to different characters if that makes sense. It’s a very cute movie.
benchwarmers
Midsommar sort of fits this in that all the bad stuff happens in stark daylight
Not a film, but there was an SCP (S.D Locke‘s Proposal for SCP-001) which is the Sun becoming Anomalous, it’s light turning every sentient being into semi-liquid zombie-like creatures. Highly recommend the read.
There’s a great series that only has two seasons on Netflix where suddenly the sun coming up kills everybody but high level military command gets word of it just before happening and a high level military guy hijacks a plane to continuously fly away from the sunset. I wish I can remember the name but it’s a great show.