Alien abduction movies are nothing new in the world of cinema. There are countless entries in this subgenre with varying degrees of success, but many filmmakers have tapped into this world for scares, laughs, and commentaries on life. I’m more of a fan of these movies when they lean into films’ horror or thriller aspects, and I have seen my fair share of them. That’s why I can say that No One Will Save You is an alien horror/sci-fi/thriller that’s worth a watch and sets a new bar for this subgenre.
No One Will Save You is the sophomore film by director Brian Duffield with a simple premise on the surface level: An anxiety-ridden young woman tries to escape from being abducted by aliens. Kaitlyn Dever plays our young woman, Brynn, who is just trying to survive falling victim to these creatures’ attacks. That is the most anyone should know before seeing this movie because of the depth, horror, and acting that makes No One Will Save You so good.
The direction is phenomenal, to say the least, from Duffield. The director conveys an isolated tone paired well with the atmospheric nature that gave me chills. The movie starts on this note, but doesn’t it make it overwhelming, depressing, or too dour. Duffield uses this right mixture for No One Will Save You and even includes a level of hope in the 3rd Act that comes off as natural. For example, one character is dying, and another holds them in their arms. The scene is silent and poignant and represents death, giving new life from one to another.
There’s even a degree of twisted – in a sweet way – comedy in the last few moments of the movie with a song by Ruby Murray that puts a nice bow on the film.
In addition to the fantastic directing, Duffield’s writing is another part of the movie worth noting.
No One Will Save You‘s script holds, by my guess, five to ten percent dialogue, and that’s in no way a negative. The movie features many layers of deepness within the story, and Duffield’s writing skills help bring those to life organically. One of the themes touched upon is dealing with past demons, and the character Brynn is a surrogate for that idea. Duffield’s previous film, Spontaneous, was a genre-bend of horror, comedy, romance, all the while telling a coming-of-age story. His sophomore film does take horror, sci-fi, and thriller to suggest a story where grief is another part of the movie.
Subsequently, Brynn deals with losing a loved one in bits for the story’s duration. Duffield uses his technique as a writer to weave that portion with a survival story and translates it well throughout No One Will Save You. It’s the skills of a damn good writer, it kept me engaged with the movie. Yet, none of this would be so successful without Dever’s talent.
The lack of dialogue is a challenge for any actor, yet it does allow legroom to interpret the correct type of emotion, action, and conflict. Dever is given the task and handles it well during the movie. The film’s primary focus is on the actor, who can perform in ways that got me in the character’s mindset. There are plenty of opportunities for some to fall back into the tired trope of just looking scared or frightened in a nauseating way. Dever doesn’t descend into those traps and sets her character up to have a genuine sense of resolution during pivotal moments in the 2nd and 3rd Acts.
All the directing, acting, and writing elements amount to a close-to-great but fall short because of the CGI.
The VFX department could’ve used more time or maybe a little more in the budget to refine the look of the creatures better. I wasn’t expecting perfection from No One Will Save You, but the creatures could’ve used more rendering to give them a more authentic look. Consequently, the faults of the monster are surprisingly more apparent as the movie goes on. Typically, low-lit or night scenes can cover up some of the flaws in the CGI designs, but that wasn’t the case for this movie. It did not take me out of the film, but it was noticeable in a few scenes too many.
No One Will Save You is an excellent entry in the Alien Abduction genre, and director Brian Duffield knew how to convey terror and horror with the subject. Kaitlyn Dever held her own, carried the movie from beginning to end, and even had some fun with the role moments before the credits. I was surprised at how much I liked this movie, but I am glad to have seen it now—highly recommended.