Watched: 10/10/2023
Format: Hulu
Viewing: First
Director: Brian Duffield
There's a type of movie that I call a Roller Coaster film. I don't think this is a common term, I think I made it up, but who knows? Maybe I stole it from somewhere and forgot. I use the term to refer to movies that offer a visceral experience on a first viewing, often something you likely can't repeat on a second viewing.
These movies rely on a lot of sheer thrill and pacing more than plotting or character exploration. They'll insert some tidbits and whatnot as the movie progresses so it's got something of a story, but you're there for the experience, not to learn a little moral homily. One of my favorites of this type of film was seeing Gravity in 3D. That was awesome on the big screen with stuff flying everywhere, and I'll never watch it again as I'll never see it in 3D again. I'd also point to the Crank movies as rocket rides. There's a lot of examples, and I'm sure you can point to a few.
It's the sort of thing that likely plays (or played) great at horror festivals where novelty and a cool experience will get you the right attention. I think this movie will serve a lot of audiences and be a great fright-show for an October night for years to come.
But I also couldn't shake the feeling that this was also the experience of sitting on the couch watching someone else play a particularly well-crafted video game.
I'll argue that writer/ director Brian Duffield was able to do this as well as someone was going to do this, sticking to his convictions and not breaking the rules that the film quickly establishes of: no talking, no giving anything away until absolutely necessary, and seeding the ground with hints of what's occurred with the main character, Brynn, as the movie goes along - something to humanize the character who has no one with whom they really interact.
Duffield is helped along immensely by young actor Kaitlyn Dever who plays Brynn. She's completely buyable in the role, conveying intelligence and grit without a single word, as well as a certain emotional fragility conveyed in her performance and hints dropped on screen.
Before events unfold, Brynn is a young adult, living alone in a arts+crafts style house in the woods outside of a small town. The house is her haven, unchanged in decades (there's a rotary phone on the wall - I haven't personally seen a rotary phone anywhere in decades and am unsure if they'd even work with modern phone systems), and she seems to live in a sort of Gen-Z YouTuber idea of what the past might have been like as she makes hand-sewn goods for Etsy and sells them, I assume, for a living.
People in the town seem to have one eye on her, and do not care for her, though we're not told why. But if you've ever seen a movie before, particularly a movie about aliens since Contact came out in the mid-90's, you know she'll be dealing with her personal trauma via alien by the time this movie is heading to the denouement.
But, one night, lying in bed she hears a noise and - holy shit, it's an alien prowling around her living room.
I don't want to be reductive, but the next hour or so of the movie is a lot of cat and mouse with a series of progressively worse aliens, larger and smaller, aliens that take over the bodies of humans, aliens that take the shape of humans, aliens who would absolutely play center for the Rockets. And at least one alien who is basically The Black Mercy from old Superman comics, giving you a vision of your fondest dream while also taking over your body and mind.
The scenes are amazingly well executed, and mostly terrifying. The sound design of the film does a lot of heavy lifting as Brynn scurries around her house and the surrounding area. It's an alien movie and thus in need of showing quite a bit. Fortunately, the effects are a seamless blend of lighting, practical stuff (stuff flying around, etc..) and CGI creatures.
So, your mileage may vary, because it's not really a story, per se. It's an experience - and that's not wrong, it's just, possibly, not going to satisfy everyone. Especially when it all seems like it's headed a certain, inevitable direction. I mean, before we're even half-way through, it's pretty clear Brynn killed her best friend at some point in the past, which is why no one will look at her and she has to live in isolation (except you don't, Brynn! Move! You somehow clearly got off scott-free!). And that "No One Will Save You" title is entirely apt.
Rated PG-13, there's no sex, no swearing, and the violence is limited. But it's also non-stop tension. Go in knowing that this is not going to be everyone's jam.
And because we know aliens now equate to insta-therapy for some reason in movies, we also know she's going to deal with her issues. Which means eventually Brynn is getting abducted and we're going to see specifically what happened. And, lo, these things came to pass.
By design, it's pretty thin plot soup. We're not here for the five stages of grief or an exploration of what it means to be human - we're here to run away from aliens. Fortunately, if you're here for well executed aliens-in-your-living-room stuff, this movie serves it up with style and substance. And, we get in some pretty good shots at the aliens along the way.
MASSIVE SPOILERS
That said, it's not entirely clear what the aliens are up to til the final scene of the movie, which also acts as a punchline. Apparently the aliens have taken over, sending their wriggling mind-control devices to overtake the population (one by one? Seems tedious. Get a virus, you guys.). Brynn has been granted immunity from the takeover and lives peacefully among her former town-mates, who are now mind-controlled alien zombies who no longer sneer at her or gawk as she passes. In fact, now they engage in twilight dance routines she's choreographed with what seems to be a polyamorous tryad.
The *why* of this decision works within the framework of the movie insofar as Brynn is the main character. She gets her version of a happy ending - which is maybe as grotesque of an ending to anything I've seen since The Mist. It works as a punchline, but still leaves you wondering why Brynn is so special: my dudes, first life lesson of realizing you are not the main character in life is that *everyone* has baggage on some scale.
Also, she's straight killed at least three or four aliens along the way. Which made me think: wait, does she get a pass because she's also a vicious little shit somewhere deep down inside, and the aliens recognize game? I mean - it puts a whole other spin on Brynn forgiving herself instead of punishing herself. And I genuinely don't know. Part of the problem of no one saying anything and your antagonists being an unknowable, Lovecraftian menace.
However, the movie is about spectacle and surprises. and not so concerned with anyone's motivation or whether things add up or make sense.
Still, I'd like to know what I just watched.
If I was a bit disappointed, it was that the movie went for generic, Whitley Strieber-esque grays. Sure, they're spooky, but you have the chance to make anything you want, and you go to the generic alien well we've seen since Close Encounters.
I had no less than three people recommend the movie to me, so apologies if my response is a bit lukewarm. For what the movie wanted to be, it hit on all cylinders. I'm glad I watched it! It was perfect for an October evening as we head toward Halloween. So, thanks for directing me to the film.
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