No One Will Save You (2023)

A home invasion horror with a sci-fi twist, No One Will Save You is a film I have been looking forward to since I first found out about it. Okay, there wasn’t a long wait, considering I first found out about it last week, but I was still waiting enthusiastically until I could fit it into my viewing schedule.

Written and directed by Brian Duffield (who made his feature directorial debut with the very enjoyable Spontaneous, a film so good that I always forget it was his first time in the big chair), this is a largely effective blend of elements we have seen before, given a fresh burst of energy by being placed in the middle of an alien invasion movie.

Yes, I said the words “alien invasion movie”. That is what this is, whether it is the main battle between a young woman (Brynn, played by Kaitlyn Dever) and the beings trying to take her from her home or the flying saucers positioned over a small town that looks set to be overwhelmed by life from other planets. As the title suggests, things don’t look good for anyone onscreen.

Taking as much influence from the imagery and history of sci-if movies as he does from the modern horror landscape, Duffield does a fantastic job here of weaving genuine chills and thrills with a sly undercurrent of fun. The lead character is constantly in peril, and there’s some backstory to be revealed to explain why she has apparently been ostracized by her home town, but her pain and loneliness allow for the possibility of a wider range of non-traditional “happy” endings.

The excellent production design and special effects throughout (particularly in the design of the aliens) allow Duffield to deliver a number of superb set-pieces, although it must be said that nothing quite tops that first close encounter. The script is structured well, although it should be noted that there is little to no spoken dialogue throughout the entire film, and it’s fun to watch someone make the most of a fairly audacious central idea in a way that is so confident and creative.

While there are a few other actors onscreen here and there, this is largely a one-woman show. Thankfully, Dever is more than up to the task of carrying the film on her shoulders. Whether she is being terrified by night-time visitors, being determined to fight back, or being resigned to what she thinks is a no-win situation, Dever is easy to root for, even while holding on to a secret regret that is used as a crucial point in the third act.

Let’s end with the ending. That third act is where No One Will Save You will lose some people. It’s a coin toss as to whether you will like it or not. I did, but I can see why some might end up absolutely hating it. It’s certainly a bold choice, but it feels like the right one when you null everything over after the end credits have rolled.

Maybe not quite as good as it could have been (personally, having one other person alongside Dever could have allowed for some dialogue and added even more opportunities for tense encounters), No One Will Save You is a treat nonetheless. Duffield is currently two for two, and I look forward to whatever he does next.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Love And Monsters (2020)

No matter how often it happens, it can always be surprising to see the Netflix effect in action. Everyone and their dog, ironically, seemed to have watched Love And Monsters last week. It was a film on my radar for some time, but I didn't realise it had appeared online until I saw everyone giving their opinions on it. And the general census seemed to be that it was a good one.

Yeah, I don't disagree with the majority here.

Set a number of years after a chain reaction of events that led to our planet being overrun by mutated creatures, we follow Joel Dawson (Dylan O'Brien), a young man who has recently reconnected over the radio comms system with Aimee (Jessica Henwick), the potential love of his life. He decides to leave his own colony to travel the seven days over land and meet her again in person. The only problem is that Joel is not a fighter. He tends to freeze when faced with any nasty monster. Thankfully, he meets a very smart, and helpful, dog along the way, and also meets a couple of other survivors (Clyde, played by Michael Rooker, and young Minnow, played by Ariana Greenblatt) who have skills they can teach him. Growing more and more capable, Joel starts to rate his chances of getting to Aimee. But the threats keep getting progressively more dangerous.

Directed by Michael Matthews (who has a small filmography that doesn't indicate a sudden move in this direction), Love And Monsters is a fun post-apocalyptic creature feature that moves some very likeable characters around in a world chock full of influences, ranging from the obvious (A Boy And His Dog and a number of films featuring Ray Harryhausen effects) to the not-so-obvious (there seems to be a few nods to the famous journey made by Frodo Baggins).

The script, by Brian Duffield and Matthew Robinson, manages to be light and amusing while also maintaining a sense of threat. Our hero is woefully unprepared for so many steps of his journey, but improves on the way. His chances of survival, however, tend to remain the same, depending on what luck he might have on the way. And the comedic approach to the material means that you're not entirely sure that there won't be a way to kill the main character off (temporarily, or for good).

O'Brien is very good in the main role, believably naive and optimistic, and able to step up to some big challenges without suddenly seeming superhuman. It's a world in which brains are just as valuable as any other resource, and O'Brien convincingly plays his role wide-eyed, but not dumb. Rooker and Greenblatt are a great addition to the middle section, and provide some great set-ups that are later paid off. Henwick is also very good, although her character development is undermined by a complete lack of surprise. There are also good turns from Dan Ewing as a yacht captain offering to help a colony move and, best of all, a couple of very talented canines playing a dog named Boy, arguably one of the best scene-stealing animals I can think of from the past decade.

With a finale that even manages to make you think of the wonderful Clash Of The Titans, consistently impressive special effects throughout, a surprisingly positive approach to living in a post-apocalyptic world, and the potential for at least one solid sequel, Love And Monsters is well worth your time, if you like creature features. Although, as far as I'm aware, everyone else has seen it by now anyway.

8/10

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Spontaneous (2020)

Written and directed by Brian Duffield, adapting a novel by Aaron Starmer, Spontaneous is the kind of good-natured film that should immediately make you a fan of those involved, both behind and in front of the camera. It's a great teen movie, easily sitting alongside the best of that sub-genre, and it just happens to involve a lot of spontaneous combustion.

Katherine Langford plays Mara, a cool schoolgirl who manages to stand out from the crowd without going into full quirky mode. She's good friends with Tess (Hayley Law), and the two of them seem to be happy wandering through their teen years. And then their classmates and peers start to explode. There doesn't seem to be any detectable cause, and no rhyme or reason to it. With the possibility of an early death now looking likely, Dylan (Charlie Plummer) decides to tell Mara that he has a crush on her, and has done for a while. They don't know how much time they have so they may as well enjoy some of it together.

Although he's been writing movies for almost a decade now, this is the directorial debut from Duffield, and it's a very confident one. He's helped himself immensely by casting it so well, but there's also a great balance throughout the script, blending the absurd humour of the situation with the deeper thoughts it prompts in the minds of the lead characters. It also includes some enjoyable movie references without resorting to having certain characters define themselves by dropping famous quotes in every other sentence (an error that so many other movies make when the writer wants to show how cine-literate they are).

Langford and Plummer pair up well, but it's Langford who carries more of the movie on her shoulders, being the individual in more scenes and discussing more of the unfolding situation with the voiceover provided to viewers. It's a star turn, and Langford is surely destined for even more great things in her future career path (if there's any justice). Law does well in her role, although she doesn't get to have as much fun as either Piper Perabo and Rob Huebel (playing Mara's parents). She also doesn't even get to have as much fun as Yvonne Orji, playing Agent Rosetti. I don't mean that Perabo, Huebel, and Orji are adding lots of laughs with their moments, but the way in which their characters are connected to Mara allows them to be involved in some interesting, sometimes supportive and sometimes confrontational, conversations.

Not a gore-filled splatter flick, the spontaneous combustions themselves are often allowed to happen just off-camera, with lots of blood then thrown all over people in close vicinity. Don't seek this out if you're after a horror comedy, but also don't seek it out if you prefer your films to be cosy and bloodless. It does what it needs to do in order to show how shocking the deaths are.

The more I think about Spontaneous, the more I like it. And the title is given a lot of poignancy once the first few scenes properly set out the premise. Next time you're wanting to make a spontaneous viewing choice you could do a LOT worse that this.

8/10

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