No One Will Save You
The Twilight Zone episode was better
Kaitlyn Dever must escape aliens and small town mores in No One Will Save You.
Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) is used to life on her own. After an incident from childhood made her a town pariah, she’s spent 10 years of her life living on her family’s property. It’s a nice house with a lake and all the amenities one could ask for, but the isolation still takes its toll. Now, with her mother gone, Brynn is all alone in the world and must psyche herself up to do simple things, like go to the post office.
And she’ll need that psyche-up energy because it’s clear the town hasn’t forgiven her.
This becomes a big problem when someone breaks into her house in the middle of the night. She sneaks down expecting more townsfolk and property destruction but finds extraterrestrials instead. Horrified, Brynn spends a good portion of her night hiding from the invaders and trying to figure out what to do if she survives her encounter.
How do you tell people about an invasion if no one will speak to you?
Alfred Hitchcock would often give himself a challenge in the films he made. In Rope, he set out to make the film appear to be one continuous shot. In Psycho, he killed off the leading lady in the first 20 minutes. No One Will Save You seems to have a similar ethos behind it. Director Brian Duffield set the challenge of having a dialogue-free movie. He accomplishes it with aplomb, but unfortunately, the movie seems to revolve around the gimmick rather than the gimmick enhancing the story.
Duffield seems to have style down as a filmmaker. The aesthetic of Brynn’s home and even the look of the aliens is quite striking. It’s a shame that more care wasn’t taken when he was writing the screenplay. The whole film feels like it could have been an amazing, tense short. But stretched to 93 minutes the limits of the storytelling begin to show.
The movie was clearly at least inspired by the classic Twilight Zone episode “The Invaders”, a silent half-hour episode of television that features the legendary Agnes Moorehead fighting off extraterrestrial menaces that attack her isolated farmhouse. While the movie certainly enjoys riffing on the episode, it doesn’t have the same satiric point that the Twilight Zone episode boasted. In fact, the “twist” at the end of No One Will Save You is more baffling than satisfying. It would have been nice to cut down on some of the incessant chasing and really explore the implications of what the ending meant.
But who has time for thoughtful reflection when there are weird aliens to quietly sneak away from?
The first silent encounter with the alien makes sense. Brynn’s alone, terrified, and has to be as quiet as possible to escape. But these encounters have diminishing returns. As Brynn faces alien after alien, the quiet terror formula starts to feel forced. Also, it’s worth noting that the aliens get progressively more horrifying, making it seem like Brynn is trapped in some never-ending Dark Souls boss battle.
Though the script seems to be more of an elevator pitch than a fleshed-out film, it does have a saving grace in Dever. An incredibly accomplished performer, Dever manages to stuff as much emotion as possible into a rather hollow role. Her Brynn is teetering on the edge of a breakdown, clinging to memories of the past to keep her from completely crumbling. The invasion awakens something long lost in Brynn — her grit. Dever imbues the role with a believable physicality. Brynn must unleash her inner beast to fight the creatures in her home. It’s a captivating performance that deserves to be in a more thoughtful film.
While Dever and some kitschy style aspects keep the movie from settling into dull territory, it’s hard to watch No One Will Save You and not see the lost opportunities.
Verdict: An excellent performance from Dever can’t elevate this invasion movie past the Twilight Zone episode that inspired it.
No One Will Save You is rated PG-13 and is available on Hulu Sept. 22.
