Never Let Go premiered at this year's Fantastic Fest and was one of the most highly anticipated screenings at the genre film festival. It is easy to see why, especially when you have Halle Barry making a return to horror and director Alexandre Aja, known for his contributions to the genre with High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, and Crawl. Aja and Berry's contributions certainly stand out but with a weak and confusing story and mythology Never Let Go just never lives up to the expectations.
The story follows a family who lives in a remote rundown cabin in the woods. Momma (Halle Berry) has a strict set of rules that her sons, Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) must follow in order to stay safe from the evils that lurk outside their door. But as the boys get older and begin to question what the evil is and if it is even real, tensions between the family grow and danger becomes inevitable.
The film feels like a book adaptation in so much as it is struggling to flesh out the details of adapted material in a limited runtime. So it is strange that it is so undercooked for an original piece. From the beginning, you are waiting to understand the full picture of what is going on, making it hard for the audience to understand the stakes of the story. The constant push and pull between characters while trying to understand what is real becomes increasingly exhausting as the movie goes on. By the time everything is finally revealed it is easy to lose interest.
Never Let Go looks great and you can see Aja's distinct style including creepy creature effects and effective, although scarce, scares peppered throughout. Unfortunately, it seems he is playing it safe, especially compared to how tense and uncomfortable his other films have been. Perhaps this is due to the studio backing – it leans more into familial drama and fantastical elements rather than horror. When we do see the various creatures they are effective which leaves the audience wanting much more.
Halle Barry gives a great performance and it is nice seeing her come back into the horror fold, so hopefully she will have more chances to show off her affinity for the genre. Jenkins and Daggs also give impressive performances, especially given their age and how much of the film centres around their relationship.
Never Let Go is another in a long line of horror focused on cycles of familial trauma and allusions to addiction, but it does not have anything particularly interesting to say. It takes the pieces of similar films surrounding belief like The Village and Frailty but without much else to add so it ends up feeling like another amalgamation of the same plots we've seen. It is unfortunate that great leading performances and a beloved genre director were not able to make more out of the script.
Never Let Go was screened at Fantastic Fest 2024 on Thursday, September 19. It is released in UK cinemas on September 27
