Sometimes risks pay off…

Now on the Disney+ streaming service; No One Will Save You is a lean and mean little sci-fi thriller that isn’t afraid to get a little abstract at times in the spirit of doing something truly different.

This film introduces us to Brynn Adams (Kaitlyn Dever), a creative and talented young woman who’s been alienated from her community. Lonely but ever hopeful, Brynn finds solace within the walls of the home where she grew up—until she’s awakened one night by strange noises from decidedly unearthly intruders.

For those who remember Spontaneous from 2020 (you remember that weird little teen rom-com that got us through lockdown?) it’s no surprise that writer/director Brian Duffield follows it up with a sci-fi thriller that takes all the right elements from the genre but adds enough of a different twist to allow us with a very unique experience.

Duffield isn’t trying to re-invent the wheel here and that actually works in his favor because it allows him to throw expectation out the window when you get about 30 min into the movie and realize that that there actually hasn’t been a stitch of dialogue spoken by anyone.  This holds through the entire movie and that’s when you realize you’re in something different.

As a storyteller he wants us to pay attention to the esthetic that he is establishing and wants us to work to understand the back story of Brynn and the torture that she is going through with these very unwelcome home invaders.  If anything Duffield is channeling his inner X-Files/Outer Limits and wants to put us in the moment of these insane things going on rather than dialoguing us to death about it with the usual beats.  Yeah it gets a little abstract in the third act at times, but that’s what allows our imaginations to run wild

Via some stellar production design, visual effects and minimal reveals of her “intruders” allows for the mood to really get cranked up to some very different levels.  He’s doing so much in this movie with so very little.

While comparisons to A Quiet Place are obvious ones to make, this movie is very different because it gives us incredibly strong character work WITHOUT the exposition of any dialogue which in this day and age is kind of a rarity.

All props in the world have to be given to Kaitlyn Dever for taking on this role because it’s challenging to say the least…and quite frankly she makes it look pretty darn easy from beginning to end.  I can’t remember the last time we get see a pairing of actor and director that have the obvious level of trust that these two did while making the film, and it makes me excited for even more.

There’s ultimately no doubt that many can and will argue that No One Will Save You deserved a theatrical release (especially when you put it next to some recent weak offerings we’ve seen in the genre) but I’m glad this is actually streaming on Disney+ here in Canada (Hulu in the States).  It takes the pressure off in the grand scheme of things and allows a writing/directing talent like Brian Duffield and his star Kaitlyn Dever to give us something that audiences won’t be able to ignore.  Both Writer/Director and Star of No One Will Save You are about to come a very big deal.