by John Tillyard, Contributing Writer
Brynn Adams (Kaitlyn Dever) lives isolated outside a small town. She spends most of her time decorating dollhouses, making dresses, and writing letters. One night, things turn dark when she receives a visit from extraterrestrial beings who may know something about her past.
The most striking thing about No One Will Save You that makes it less conventional is that it has almost no dialogue. It tells the entire story through the character’s actions and expressions, and the scene’s atmosphere. It’s a clever idea for a story where the main character is alone for significant periods, since people typically don’t say anything out loud in those situations. With this restriction, combined with Brynn being the only character in many scenes, and the solo point of view for the entire story, it is left to Dever to carry this whole thing with her performance, and she does that admirably. You feel what she is going through in every moment of high emotion and tension. At no point did I wonder why she wasn’t saying anything or what she was thinking.
It would be easy to assume the lack of dialogue was a gimmick to give what does, on the surface, feel like a generic horror story more of a unique selling point. But it works naturally for most of the story. There was only one scene where I wondered why the characters didn’t say anything, and that not having them speak felt a little forced. It meant that the story’s exposition had to be visual. We learn the main character’s name when she visits her mother’s grave, certain information about their relationship with other characters is shown by their reaction when they see them, and overhead shots show the escalating situation.
The first 20 or so minutes feel like every horror and alien invention story there has ever been. The alien even looks like the stereotypical “little green men” design from the 1950s. But then something happens that appears to resolve things, and it’s from there that the actual plot starts to unfold, revealing more about Brynn’s past and the town she lives outside of. This familiar look and feel to many other alien and horror stories helps to build up certain expectations for the audience, which they then subvert. This subversion makes for an exciting ending, but before that, it makes the whole experience noticeably less enjoyable. Many cases of immense tension and shock moments are fine for what they are, but they also feel uncreative in their design. Some alien designs are inventive in taking the stereotypical design and adding something to it. But aside from that, many of the visuals and scary moments cover scads of old ground.
That is not to say that these sequences aren’t still tense and scary. With the unexpected way one of the early chases ends, I was never quite sure what would happen from then on. The effects are certainly not the best, but it helps that most of the scenes with effects take place at night. However, there is still something genuinely creepy about the aliens in all the scenes they are in. With only one main character, we don’t get the old horror trope of a group gradually being picked off individually. There is only one character to care about, making us care much more, and watching it at home adds to the feeling of isolation Brynn has.
I can’t talk about the ending without spoiling it, so I will say that it is by far the most original part of the whole experience, and just about makes up for the more generic ride that the preceding hour or so is. It paints the aliens and other characters in a contrary fashion, likely leading to a heavy debate about their motivations and how we should feel about them by the end. It manages to be surprising without actually being a twist. The abundance of questions and lack of understanding you have before the ending make the way the pieces come together very satisfying.
On the other hand, certain aspects of this plot don’t quite come together by the end. A few things don’t make much sense or just aren’t explained. Once again, I can’t say any more without spoiling things, so I’m sorry if that seems vague. This lack of explanation makes it challenging to understand what it all means by the end, so it is a big enough problem that it needs at least mentioning.
Overall, this appears on the surface and, for most of the opening act, to be a fairly generic horror and alien innovation story that uses all the tried and tested tropes of those genres. But after the opening, a much deeper story develops that leaves you wondering what secrets lie in Brynn’s past. Dever’s expressive performance, and the atmosphere created by writer/director Brian Duffield, will keep you gripped and give you a real reason to care. The lack of score in certain places significantly increases the tenser moments. The effects and design of the aliens are nothing to write home about, and there’s nothing to say about any of the side characters since they have so little screen time.
But while the ending ruins some stories, the conclusion to No One Will Save You shines and makes you feel like the movie was worth your time. I look forward to seeing what kind of discussion this will stimulate. I also like that this went straight to streaming. But I can’t praise Dever enough for how she singlehandedly carries this whole thing, and does it while rarely saying a word!
Rating: Liked It
No One Will Save You is currently streaming on Hulu
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