The last feature produced by Brian Duffield, ‘No One Will Save You,’ is an Sci-Fi horror film that shows a lot of promise. Bryan (Kaitlyn Dever) is cut off from her society. She spends her afternoons cooped up in her house, surrounded by a myriad of activities such as home building, cooking, and dancing. However, this self-sustained life of hers is disrupted when she is confronted by a bizarre alien creature that breaks into her house, which will lead to her having to face her reasons for her self-imposed isolation.
‘No One Will Save You’ is different first and foremost in its decision making processes because of its ingenious use of sound. The entire film consists of a singular line of dialogue. there first act focuses on diegetic sounds and how the invasion builds tension. As Brynn tries to hide from the alien, and she walks around her house looking for shelter effectively loosening the creaky floorboards. Brynn’s tense frame introduces the viewer to a whole new reality.
This moment of focus on Brynn’s character makes the scene all the more compelling. Every move is made with much control and action. He uses self-defense. At the same time Duffield perfectly incorporates the layout of the house to induce fear in the audience.
The use of nooks and crannies as well as the distorted shadows casted through hammered glass are quite creative, but also extremely creepy. The feeling of whimsy we associate with the house during the daytime quickly vanishes and is replaced with a slight feeling of dread.
There is still pity in leaving in the aspects that are effective, for as time passes and this scene goes on, it seems to lose its context in which it was holed at the beginning. There are greatly missed opportunities for scares in the film by Duffield and he begins to rely on the alien in a kitschy manner which makes the fear turn indifferent. The first few moments of the first act are the best overall in the movie as further No One Will Save You is kept to the boring lack of narrative context all throughout.
Brynn is undergoing the loss of her mother and is rejected by her group for reasons that are not apparent to the audience. The invasion pushes her beyond her borders and triggers in her an instinctive wish to flee her harsh surroundings. And, since it is painful for her, we completely lack any iota of understanding as to why. The script is not competent enough to induce sympathy or concern at her melancholy because it is not built around her. Rather, we are taken through the exhausting loop of being chased, being caught, being set free, and being caught again without any resolution or sense of direction.
There is a sense of disoriented panic at the intended dread, as well as its core, sorely missing in Duffield’s film. The concepts of what alienation this entails, what unresolved trauma this narrows, and what redemption this begs are simply echoes in the numerous tedious sequences. No One Will Save You is a masterpiece of a slow burn, and one you desperately wish would hurry up. The one who carries the weight of the film is Diver, who gives a physically masterful depiction. She does all the carrying in her body and her minute tics, and there is no belatedness that is otherwise needed to give the feeling.
Sadly, although the emotions of the movie can be empathized with and understood, there are persistent alien scenes that are damaging and serve as dramatic distractions, making her as a character feel secondary.
The creative intentions are noteworthy, and Dever certainly more than does her share of the work, but both the direction and the film’s editing does not do either justice. The rationale for the excruciating wait for any missed background becomes too trivial and tardy when it does eventually come. The rest of the movie completely drowns out the originality of ‘No One Will Save You’, and while the premise is tempting, turning it into an existential sci-fi adventure, unique style and adequate context is what makes the movie exceptional, which this one clearly does not have.
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