Alienated: Horror offers Close Encounters of the Unheard Kind…

Over a decade after being shunned by her local town for an incident that led to the death of her friend, Brynn keeps herself to herself, literally and metaphorically dancing by herself and repeating her steps again and again on the estate home she inherited from her mother. One night she hears a strange sound in her home and is scared to realise there’s an intruder below. She’s even more terrified when it becomes clear that the figure she sees doesn’t look remotely human.

She survives the initial encounter, but begins to realise that no-one will likely believe her story… and a ride into town shows that feelings against her have hardly thawed over the years. But Brynn’s experience with the alien may have been far from unique – and, in fact, she may have been luckier than some.  So far.

Her visitors have no intention of going anywhere… and so Brynn must draw on her survival skills and find her own voice again – to move beyond the tragedies of the past and to ensure she has the future she craves…

*spoilers*

Steven Spielberg once commented about the importance of sound in movie, but also noted that a great film should be able to tell its tale even with the sound turned down. Some of the most memorable movies and productions have shown this to be true. Words carry weight, but soundtracks channel emotion and physical acting can speak a language of its own. Horror works best in the anticipation of an event, A Quiet Place pivoted around the idea of silence as a defense and a whole episode of Buffy was devoted to a threat that robbed people of speech before slaying them.

No-one Will Save You is an interesting example of that almost-silent sub-genre, one that works very effectively in parts and less so in others… the barometer being whether you notice it in the moment or in hindsight. For the first third, it’s a sly conceit, the deep-bass of the soundtrack the only audible indication that something dangerous in the neighbourhood… but of dialogue itself, nary a vowel. After all, a solitary girl, used to being alone, keeping her distance from a town that doesn’t want to talk to her and then having to hide from an unseen intruder gives no real reason to use or hear her voice. But, perhaps inevitably, as we progress, the obstacles and lack of voice become more overt and that almost-silence becomes a more obvious affectation. (We consistently hear the background buzzing of conversation but there are only two sentences in the whole piece that are in any way distinct). How many of us, even if we were alone for extended periods of time, would at least say something to cut through that silence and seek solace in the sound of our own voices? (Just me, well, okay then…).

Brian Duffield, as director and writer, mines the territory well enough, giving us the kind of story-telling cinematic experience that could only work on screen and No-One will Save You is, by turns, stylish and smart, yet – heavy on mood and menace – it’s not quite as satisfying as a tighter and more streamlined film with a more definitive statement to make, could have offered…

The mixing of the result is more interesting than the ingredients. There’s hiding, pursuit and some gruesome interactions – this is ‘Last Girl’ writ large, largely because Brynn is the only girl, excepting a memory that tugs at the fringes of the feature until revelations come late in the final act. And you don’t have to be a die-hard film buff to start seeing the homages to which *director Brian Duffield doffs his hat: there’s Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, Signs, A Fire in the Sky, a darker take on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and obviously a tsunami of ‘inside the house‘ slasher movies.

Booksmart‘s Kaitlyn Dever, so good in Netflix‘s Unbelievable, holds the solo weight of almost every scene here and it’s interesting to see a pared-back performance so reliant on expressions and physical presence. Though the slow reveal could just have easily suggested something demonic or a supernatural slasher-flick enemy, the ‘alien’ aspect is obvious soon enough.  The CGI of the alien visitors is effectively modern, even if also old school in both design and choreography. The skeletal frame of the extra-terrestrials ‘Greys’ works best when seen out-of-proportion, partly off-frame or out-of-focus in the background. These are more dangerous and pissed off than their cousins in CE3K, but there’s also a sense that they are vengeful rather than sadistic. They could be here to colonise, but there’s no ‘joy’ or wanton malice in the process. Again, their movement and intent is grounded by taking proven techniques and giving them some shine. As an audience, you’re torn between concentrating on what’s happening and the clear indication that there’s also a subtext and B-story winding its way through events. It’s the difference between the what and the why of things, the mystery and the pay-off. There’s a timeless quality at work throughout with small-town ’50s cars and clothes alongside 21st Century technology and it all adds to that sense of otherness… and there’s a subtle feeling of the Deep South (it was shot outside New Orleans), but beyond that? Elsewhere…. elsewhen.

The problem within anything that holds you in the moment is wondering where it’s leading. With No-one will Save You, I applauded the story as it unwound, even through a more wash/repeat third-act and some very late-in-the-day revelations concerning the tragedy that isolated Brynn to begin with. But I was inevitably conjuring up possible resolutions as we progressed (what if it’s really X..?; maybe this happened because..?; wait, could that mean..? is this even real..?) and truth be told I think I ended up with ideas that were rather more enticing than where the film actually goes – it produces the kind of frustrating ending where you may disagree on the wider meaning. The film lures you in as hard sci-fi and pivots to something more whimsical finally decides it has something to say about redemption. It’s both easy to see why Stephen King has publicly expressed his admiration for the film and also understanding why some people will feel far less satisfied as we stumble and tumble to an ending a little too slowly and with enigmatic symbolism rather than a truly definitive cathartic conclusion.