Although
I’ve been freaked out by fictional aliens before—the alien from Alien, the
thing from The Thing, the potato-headed creep from E.T.:
The Extra-Terrestrial—I have never considered myself afraid of aliens like
I am of serial killers and ghosts and the like. Maybe it’s because while the
more earthbound spooks can theoretically get at you anywhere, I have no plans
on ever going to space or Antarctica or into a Stephen Spielberg film. I do
frequently go home, though. That happens to be where I live. So when a movie
drops about freaky aliens invading someone’s house I take notice. This time
that film was No One Will Save You, a quite effective horror
piece that stands apart thanks to its fantastic central performance, admirable
CGI, and interesting framing.
There are less than ten spoken words
in No One Will Save You, a bold choice that could have gone wrong
in multiple ways if it weren’t for Kaitlyn Dever, who plays our main character
Brynn, as well as some good old fashioned “show, don’t tell" storytelling
on behalf of the screenwriters and director. Dever’s presence and command of
the screen is astounding, making us care about and sympathize with Brynn despite
the fact that we go into the film with only vague hints of her backstory and
almost never hear her talk. All we know at first is that she is the town pariah
and that, if the title is to believed, she won’t have anyone to turn to when
things start to go down.
The film rarely lets up when this
happens, ratcheting up the tension and keeping it there. The aliens are
appropriately scary, always showing some new disturbing trait just when you
thought you had them all figured out. As Jaws taught us, the
less we see of a movie monster the scarier it is, and while this holds true of
the aliens in No One Will Save You the CGI used to render them
is done well enough that they are still scary when you do get an eyeful. The
sound design and directing adds to the visuals, keeping things dark and creepy
even when the action moves to the daytime.
And that ending? Well, let’s just say
that it is one that I was thinking about long after the film ended. The lack of
narrative handholding that makes Brynn's backstory so interesting is felt up
until the credits roll, leaving the end up for debate and interpretation. Or
I’m just a rube who thinks a lack of clarity is the same as being artsy. It’s
one of the two.
Even at ninety minutes No One
Will Save You does occasionally feel long, but I think this
speaks more to the tension present in the film than any perceived pacing
issues. It’s a tight, effective thriller that is a good choice for this
upcoming spooky season, and if the creep factor doesn’t stick with you the
ending will.
No One Will Save You is
now available on Hulu.
This review was first published in
the Keizertimes on October 6th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.
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