Scare Value Award Winner – Best Final Girl
No One Will Save You review.
Hulu brings us a combination of two different types of invasion movies. One strange choice keeps the movie from reaching its full potential.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
No One Will Save You
Directed by Brian Duffield
Written by Brian Duffield
Starring Kaitlyn Dever, Ginger Cressman, Jack Duhame, Geraldine Singer, Dari Lynn Griffin, Lauren L. Murray and John Cortes
No One Will Save You Review
This is the first review I’ve written that will contain more words than the movie it is covering. No One Will Save You isn’t a silent film…but it may as well be. Outside of some background dialog…we go the entire hour and a half without much talking going on. It’s a choice. There is a narrative reason for some of it…maybe even most of it. Unfortunately, it becomes completely distracting after the first act. It undermines a lot of the great choices instead of enhancing them. Something that would have been interesting if done in a 20-minute short film…turned monotonous and repetitive over the course of 90.
No One Will Save You is a home invasion movie. It’s also an alien invasion movie. Fusing the two together is a clever idea. For the first act, at least, it’s also a worthwhile one. Brynn Adams (Kaitlyn Dever) lives alone in an isolated farmhouse following the death of her mother. She has been ostracized from society following an incident in her past involving her BFF Maude. The exact nature of that incident is kept secret for a long time…but eventually we get an answer. The set-up justifies the silent nature of the movie. To a point.
Brynn spends most of the movie alone on screen. With no companion to speak to…it’s a fine choice not having her walk around talking to herself. The few times she finds herself around society the townsfolk have no interest in speaking with her…and she is too ashamed or feels too guilty to speak to them. It can even be understood that she suppresses any exclamation when the alien invader(s) infiltrate her home. You probably want to remain as quiet as possible under such circumstances.
The problem isn’t that her silence is nonsensical. It’s that it overwhelms the picture. After a fantastic opening act…you can’t help but think about the lack of dialog in every scene that follows. It becomes too much of a distraction to prove a worthy exercise. There was a middle ground between Brynn talking to no one for 90 minutes and no one ever talking…No One Will Save You doesn’t try to find it. The aliens talk to each other a little bit. So, there is that.
None of this prevents Dever from delivering a standout performance. In fact, given the limitation imposed by the movie…it’s an incredible one. She is constantly engaging and able to convey every emotion without opening her mouth. It’s just impossible to rectify that an expletive or a plea for help never slips out. It makes things feel unnatural. The grounded reality portion of an alien invasion flick should feel…well…grounded and realistic.
The actual invasion is fun too. There are, however, diminishing returns on the concept. The opening act is tremendous. A game of cat and mouse with a single alien intruder who can control electronics and move things telekinetically. It’s so well done that the movie basically needs to do something radically different after Brynn survives the night. It does try a different tact (involving human hosts) but we inevitably end up right back at Brynn’s home fending off a single alien intruder.
The second go around is more action oriented but a clear step back from the dynamite opening. The next stage takes us out of the home and into the world. It’s another step backwards. No One Will Save You gets less interesting as it goes.
The alien design is solid though. With heads and bodies that resemble a classic alien look…and limbs that can contort and, in some cases, extend to create a horrifying, giant creature. A bit spider-like…and a bit human-like. The human hosts are a decent change up to the formula. Like the repetitive story, however, the concept peaks early. No One Will Save You never again rises to meet its level.
The mystery surrounding Brynn’s isolation is a decent B-story…but drags on too long. We know something bad happened. The specifics are kept under wraps until the climax. Frankly…it’s not interesting enough to justify its position there. Brynn writes an apology letter to Maude early in the film…something about being unable to forgive herself. Later Brynn sees (what must be) Maude’s parents in town. A wordless (of course) exchange with Brynn ends with the latter being spat on. So…yeah…it’s bad.
Brynn eventually confronts her past. It’s done in a way that feels more interesting than it is. The first of a few choices the finale of No One Will Save You makes that you may find underwhelming. The truth is…No One Will Save You would have been better off ending after the first act. It would have deprived us of some fun creature designs, a handful of good ideas, and a wonderful lead performance…but it would have delivered one of the best short films in recent memory. Instead, we get a movie that’s too long, too repetitive, and too obsessed with its wordless experiment to match the brilliance of its opening salvo.
That might sound harsh…especially for a movie that ends up solidly in the “good” department. Make no mistake…No One Will Save You is a good movie. It’s just…also only as good as it allows itself to be. Enough things inside of the work are great to make good a disappointing result for the overall package. Dever is great. The opening is great. Alien designs are great. The suspense is great. It’s often beautiful to look at. No One Will Save You is “merely” good. Feels like a missed opportunity.
Scare Value
Not to damn No One Will Save You with faint praise…but the movie gets as much as it can out of what it wants to do. The choice to make the entire film nearly dialog free ends up more distracting than interesting. There’s a great short film in here…but only a good feature length one. Dever owns every second of the screen in a mostly silent performance. A lot of great elements combine to make a good movie. Potential left unrealized.
3/5
No One Will Save You Link
Streaming on Hulu
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