This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.
Despite inspiring numerous tales across media, horror seems to be experiencing a drought when it comes to alien-based narratives. Some of the genre's greatest work beams us into outer space to deal with unknown species, from the Alien franchise to The Thing, A Quiet Place, Cloverfield, and Nope.
It has been some time since an extraterrestrial horror film has chilled audiences to the bone and had them fearing strange lights in the dark. That is until Love and Monsters and The Babysitter director Brian Duffield released No One Will Save You, a truly unique and deeply chilling sci-fi horror set to terrify you from the comfort of your own home.
No One Will Save You follows Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever), a seamstress and recluse who has locked herself at home while mourning the loss of her mother and best friend, Maude. As she comes to terms with the loss by creating a model town in the home, she awakens to discover her home has been invaded by a humanoid alien. She attempts to fight the otherworldly intruder while coming face to face with demons of her own as she discovers the whole town may be under the control of the mysterious beings.
What immediately sets the film apart is its largely wordless dialogue that plunges the audience into a world defined not by its dialogue, but by the actions you see on screen. What No One Will Save You lacks in words, it more than makes up for in the tension that bleeds from one scene to the next created by its minimal settings, imposing darkly lit scenes, and hair-raising grapples between Brynn and the alien invaders.
Its Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers tropes mixed with a classic home invasion film makes it an unexpected treat as Brynn's plight takes more twists and turns than what you may expect going into No One Will Save You. Despite the glaring omission of Dialogue, Devers' performance as Brynn is highly emotive and intensely captivating as you follow her not only through this terrifying ordeal but the pain of her grief and isolation.
Her isolation further heightens the fear in the film as she faces an unbelievable threat that she cannot possibly vocalise to those around her who have shunned her and are not likely to run to her aid. It creates an air of wrought desperation from the get-go as she feels in a helpless position, but she embodies the perfect scream queen as she is far from the damsel in distress and brings the fight to the aliens in some spectacular action scenes.
Quietly entering our lives through a Netflix release, it feels like audiences were robbed of a truly special cinema experience with No One Will Save You. The film has fully realised the scary grey aliens of many people's nightmares in a dark, dangerous horror sure to stick in the audience's brains for weeks and months to come.
No One Will Save You is available to stream now on Disney+.