No One Will Save You
Release Date: September 23, 2023
Director: Brian Duffield | MPAA Rating: PG-13 | LeavittLens Rating: 7/10
Throughout film history, the genres of horror and thriller have served as uniquely provocative vehicles for socially resonant themes. Take The Night of the Living Dead and its allegorical critiques of rampant social injustice in the 1960's, Carrie and its take on the challenges and perils of living as an American teenage girl, or--more recently--Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us as scathingly biting commentaries on race relations in the 21st century. Each film crafts haunting images that not only sear the imagination of the viewer, but simultaneously imprint their resonant thematic materials in ways that carry far beyond the closing credits. Indeed, the genres seem uniquely equipped to provoke audiences into deeper reflection precisely because they are at once manifestations of and dealings with the predominant fears of the cultures from which they've emerged; their very existence provides a venue for reckoning with such things. Freud recognized this uniqueness decades ago, writing:
Horror [one might also insert thriller] tends to concentrate on a type of ‘Other,’ an ‘Other’ which is very familiar and because of that much more frightening, an ‘Other’ which is rooted in our psyche, in our fears and obsessions.
Our scary movies are where we go to tell stories that expose and reckon with the fears that haunt our lives. And in an age being referred to by many as a mental health crisis--where the U.S. Surgeon General refers to loneliness as a 'dark thread' running underneath our society, nearly 50% of Americans under the age of thirty report persistent feelings of hopelessness, and antidepressant usage has risen by more than 35% in the last six years alone--it seems that what haunts us most is what lies within. This is what makes Brian Duffield's latest extraterrestrial thriller, No One Will Save You, such a compelling text for our time: less because it gives us another story to add to our alien canon, and more because it chooses to use many of the primary beats of the genre to explore the deeper and more terrifying enemy of hidden trauma.
The film opens by introducing us to Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever), an isolated young women who lives an eccentric life alone in an old, creaking house on the edge of her rural town. She devotes herself to creating a small replica town in her home, cooks and dances alone, and seems to enjoy this idyllic life in a peace that is separated from the rest of her community. We quickly find, however, that this life may not be of her own choosing: upon entering her town to deliver a letter, we find the she speaks with no one, and furthermore is met with piercing glares from the strangers around her. We don't know what has caused this rift, but one thing becomes certain: she is the one who is thought to be responsible.
It's in this first half that this film truly shines. It trusts the audience enough not to provide any verbal or written exposition; in fact, there are no scenes of dialogue in the entire film, and Brynn only utters three words throughout the perfectly brisk 90 minute runtime. This provides a degree of mystery that effectively escalates the tension - before any strange creatures enter the story, we are already wondering what the hell is going on. This nearly comprehensive lack of verbal communication leaves the bulk of the story's heavy lifting to Dever, who shines in her starring role here, and to the sound work, which creaks and clicks and groans with sublime suspense. The silence works as an effective revelation of Brynn's character as well, reiterating her isolation by showing that she has, functionally, no one to talk to or trust. The camerawork and coloring is also exceptional throughout, revealing just enough of the aliens in their initial invasion before hiding their images behind closing doors and changing angles. In an era of filmgoing that is often bogged down in expository dialogue and overly obvious images, such effective work from the craftspeople is a refreshing change of pace.
The second half of the film is where we find increasing clarity on the nature of Brynn's life, and perhaps why the aliens seem to have focused their attention on her. While the ultimate revelation of the film works well, both as a testament to the unrelenting power of buried trauma and our own resistance to addressing it, some of the film's creativity also gives way here: the more we learn about the aliens, the more we find how stereotypical they actually are. Given that the film seems intent on using the invasion as a vehicle for its larger themes, this obviousness is certainly excusable, but it also leaves a bit to be desired as the film goes on and the mystery unfolds - the puzzle box that was so expertly wrapped in the beginning seems to be a bit of a letdown in its stereotypical nature by the end. That said, the final 15 minutes recover things with a thought-provoking examination of Brynn's frantic running and fighting, examining the truth that sometimes the most intimidating--and seemingly alien--things can come from within as much as they can come from without. And, as the title suggests, No One Will Save You from the alien inside.
Stream No One Will Save You now on Hulu!
(Additional note: this film is a terrific pairing with another recent sci-fi thriller, The Vast of Night, available on Amazon Prime. Both are only 90 minutes long, so if you're looking for a couple fun alien thrillers, check them out!)