Movie Review: ‘No One Will Save You’ (Second Opinion)

Plot: Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) lives alone as a seamstress in a small town. Still mourning the loss of her mother from four years ago, Brynn feels increasingly isolated. Brynn spends her time writing letters to her dead best friend Maude and constructing a model of her hometown in her living room. An unknown past event has turned the town against Brynn, making her further withdrawn. One night Brynn awakens to find a humanoid alien has invaded her house. What follows is a terrifying nightmare of survival that will push Brynn to her emotional and physical limits.

Review: It’s creepy season people! That time of year when we relax in the warm embrace of all things horror, put up Halloween decorations way too early, and argue the merits of candy corn. (I personally like it and no I will not be taking any questions at this time.) It’s also the season where audiences typically receive a new crop of horror films. If you’re looking for a fresh take on the home invasion sub-genre, No One Will You Save is a nice little gem to start your spooky season sojourn off right.  

Director Brian Duffield proves once again why he’s a rising name in the cinematic horror world. A true student of the 70s, 80s, and 90s horror aesthetic, what Duffield did for slashers (The Babysitter) and creature features (Underwater), he does once again with an alien spin on the home invasion story. Led by an impressive performance from the always outstanding Kaitlyn Dever, No One Will Save You showcases a taunt, tight, and riveting tale that’s compelling and terrifying, but also deeply empathetic.

While there are some heavy influences of Bob Clark’s Black Christmas and Robert Lieberman’s Fire in the Sky, what sets No One Will Save You apart is the almost complete lack of dialogue. Indeed, there is only one single line of dialogue in the entire film. As a director, if you’re going to make that bold of a choice in 2023, you better pray the sound design and score are on point. Thankfully they both are. The rattling of cupboards, the thump of footsteps, and the banging of refrigerator doors haven’t been this fear-inducing since The Conjuring. At times I was so flooded with anxiety that when certain cuts happened, I visibly jerked. (One such moment which showed an alien calmly sitting down across from Brynn had me yell out “Jesus!” and woke up my wife. Sorry hon.) Concurrently Joseph Trapanese delivers a tense and dread-filled score that plays like the love child of Rick Wakeman’s work from The Burning and Jerry Goldsmith’s Alien. Duffield does an exquisite job of blending all these elements together.

No One Will Save You also points to the success that comes from a singular vision. Duffield (who also wrote the screenplay) views the lack of dialogue as an opportunity, rather than a hindrance. The story must be told completely through sound design, score, and physical movements/reactions. Cinema at its core is a visual medium and Duffield utilizes the “show don’t tell” philosophy to the maximum benefit. Within fifteen minutes we know that Brynn lives alone, makes dresses, obsesses over the town she lives in, desperately misses her mother and best friend, and is completely ostracized by the town. There’s not a single line of dialogue to indicate this. Instead, Aaron Morton’s solid camerawork tells the story. It makes instances like when Maude’s mother spits in Brynn’s face, much more impactful.

There’s also another element to the story that director Guillermo del Toro recently pointed out. (So credit where it’s due; this is all GDT.) Great science fiction always talks about something else. Frank Herbert’s Dune Cycle deals with the problematic nature of following manufactured messiahs. Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness tackles gender identity. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner examines existentialism and the nature of what it means to be human. Duffield’s No One Can Save You (according to GDT) addresses the concept of guilt and salvation, particularly from a Catholic dogma perspective. Brynn is clearly guilt-ridden by a traumatic incident and the narrative backbone here is that her salvation emerges from pain and suffering. Any attempt by Brynn to avoid (hiding from Maude’s parents), escape (catching a bus to leave town), or repress (making town miniatures and drowning herself in her seamstress work) her trauma results in massive strife. It’s not until she’s tested by the aliens and is forced to confront her trauma that true salvation becomes possible. There’s even a disgusting alien “communion” of sorts that hammers this idea home. That Duffield bakes this ideology into the script and has it work so well, testifies to his creative talent.

Of course, none of this would be possible without a stunning lead performance from Kaitlin Dever. Whether it’s Last Man Standing, Dopesick, Justified, or Booksmart, Dever has consistently proven herself to be a young actor with range and massive talent. Everything is told through physical gestures, facial expressions, and desperate stares—a difficult task even for the most seasoned actor. It’s the story of a character where those elements must substitute for words—and it works. Dever, without dialogue, somehow finds a way to make Brynn an empathetic and relatable character. Her isolation, loneliness, and quest for redemption are things most of us can identify with. We desperately want her to survive, and we also want to discover the source of her pain.

Unfortunately, there are two main elements that prevent No One Will Save You from rising to the level of excellence. First off, the limited $23 million budget shows, with the aliens looking too much like creatures from a late 1990s TV movie on the SyFy network. It took me out of the film. Secondly, No One Will Save You has a Twilight Zone-esque conclusion that almost, but doesn’t quite, work.

Honestly, though, these are very minor quibbles. At ninety-three minutes this movie moves at an impeccable pace that will have your heart in your throat more often than not. It’s too bad this movie was regulated to HULU because I think it would have played like gangbusters in the theater with a large crowd. Regardless, I highly recommend you be abducted No One Will Save You. It’s a Hell of a good time and the perfect kick-off to the Halloween season.

My rating system:

1 God Awful Blind Yourself With Acid Bad

2 Straight Garbage

3 Bad

4 Sub Par

5 Average

6 Ok

7 Good

8 Great

9 Excellent

10 A Must See

No One Will Save You : 7/10