No One Will Save You

 I think we've found the feel-good movie of the year.

What else can we expect from a film called No One Will Save You? Ironic titles are a thing, right?

(One movie later.)

They weren't kidding.

Brian Duffield's latest film runs on practical silence for 93 minutes. There's only one discernable line in the whole film, with a few words sprinkled as background noise. What we can discern is that Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) is a town pariah in Middle of Nowhere, USA. One night, an extraterrestrial intruder shows up at her house. She kills the intruder, but finds herself further isolated the next morning, as practically everyone's been taken over by alien parasites. To make matters worse, the intruder's fellow aliens aren't done with her yet.

Aaron Morton's cinematography establishes Brynn's life in the absence of words. A few gravestones let us know that her mother and best friend, Maude, are dead. The mailman's (Zack Duhane) flippant handling of a package lets us know him all too well. Dever, herself, introduces us to Brynn as she nervously looks in the mirror. She keeps our attention with compelling body language. That's all the essential when her normal life becomes abnormal.

The first invasion is the film's centerpiece. Anyone who's ever worried about rats in their house will freak out when the alien arrives. The unnerving sound design vocalizes the alien with utterly inhuman chirps and groans. Its footsteps are as startling as its first glimpses. Its presence causes electricity to fluctuate much like Jean Jacket did in Nope. That scene lasts for ten minutes, and all the while, you'll question whether it's a good idea to watch it before bed. Jospeh Trapanese's score doesn't help the nerves at all. The full alien is a creepy CGI creature which gets creepier in hindsight when the others are revealed to be shapeshifters.

What else can you expect? Brynn's subsequent close encounter with possessed humans is a thrilling set piece. The aliens' ships emerging from the clouds is just as unnerving as the ones in ID4. She dispatches the next two aliens with some masterful ingenuity. She even breaks free from possession by parasite. Her audience sympathy doesn't waver even after the reason for her being a pariah is finally revealed. But the audience is guaranteed to laugh, nervously, once it gets to its "happy" ending.

No One Will Save You debuted last month on Hulu. But this is a good as time as any to watch it. It's a slow but rewarding horror film with a strong lead and one of the best sound designs you'll ever hear. The sound designers deserve whatever praise comes their way. Press play to see what I mean. Just beware of the tractor beams.