When I saw the trailer and a brief clip for No One Will Save You, I worried it had played its hand too early. It’s not an uncommon occurrence in modern trailers, but thankfully, in this case, it was irrelevant because No One Will Save You has plenty more to offer.
I certainly did not expect two key things from this movie. One is how it had almost no dialogue save for grunts, whimpers, and shuddery breathing. The other is how quickly it gets down to business and still has plenty left to showcase beyond that.
The story sees a young woman, Brynn (played by Kaitlyn Dever), living alone in an isolated house in a rural town. There are hints early on that she’s not doing this because she wants to but because a traumatic event from her past has effectively exiled her.
She manages reasonably well, except for rushed, panicked visits to town. Keeping herself busy with hobbies and work in her large old home. That is until one night, something from beyond the stars finds its way into her home, and a destructive game of cat and mouse begins.
Director Brian Duffield ratchets up the suspense quickly to stop it from being a factor for the last two-thirds of the film. We see the alien invader’s form in brief cuts: an arm here, a weirdo leg there, and the odd silhouette at first. Still, things are left wide open after an intense fight between Brynn and the invader, and that allows No One Will Save You to change shape quite early on, and we get the two stories unfurling at once: the growing alien invasion and the truth behind Brynn’s seclusion.
There’s confidence at play in how the story is told. Duffield gives respect to the audience by not hammering home Brynn’s baggage nor overexplaining the invasion. With little to no dialogue, that’s a task that could have been a lot tougher, but the structure of the story actually gives way to more exciting kinds of visual storytelling. The performance from Dever certainly helps. She conveys Brynn’s complicated situation and anxieties with a superb emotive display.
I know there’s much rolling of eyes regarding personal trauma being a staple of modern horror. I agree it’s oversaturated and producing some horribly cynical and misinformed movies about mental health, but like any overused horror staple, it can always work in the right hands. From a story standpoint, Brynn’s trauma allows No One Will Save You to play out the way it does. She’s isolated in a way that just about facilitates her scrappy fight for survival. She’s not portrayed as some frail lamb battling inner turmoil outside, but as a conflicted, guilt-wracked woman who must uncover something of her past self if she’s to survive the relentless pursuit of the Greys.
And what a treat those aliens are. It’s great to see the Grey alien made to look like such a threat, but the surprising variety of types makes perfect sense of that early reveal. Each version is more fascinating than the last, and how each new one is introduced is memorable. In fact, two of my favorite moments in No One Will Save You are those reveals.
I had to stew on the ending for a bit to really understand where it landed for me, and I ended up quite satisfied with its direction. Again, the use of trauma made the ending so much more effective.
I was a fan of Brian Duffield’s Spontaneous because of how deceptively simple a premise it was and how strongly it delivered on it. It had a disturbingly frank worldview that wasn’t especially kind to its protagonist. The same can be said of No One Will Save You. Brynn’s tale is one of sadness and grim acceptance of isolation, which doesn’t magically go away no matter what Brynn achieves over 90 minutes. In both cases, I am a fan of the fact that they aren’t afraid to show there’s no easy fix for dealing with your past, even if something extraordinary changes your life.
Score 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to ”Great”. While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
