[FILM REVIEW] NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE

2/10/2021

HORROR MOVIE REVIEW HORROR MOVIE REVIEW NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE

The last third capitalises on the slow-burn dread, building to a finale that bears all the arcane and grisly oomph of the author's previous screen adaptation THE RITUAL, along with his bravura touch.

Desperate and without documentation, a woman from Mexico moves into a rundown Cleveland boardinghouse. Then the unsettling cries and eerie visions begin.
Director: Santiago Menghini
Production company: Imaginarium Productions
Language: English
Genre: Horror
Screenplay: Jon Croker, Fernanda Coppel, based on the novel No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill

Horror maven Adam Nevill returns to the screen with the Netflix adaptation of his award-winning novel NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE. The novel's setting has been relocated from suburban Birmingham UK to a wintry Cleveland USA, which may have lost a degree of familiar dereliction, but should appeal to broader audiences. The plot focuses on Ambar (a convincingly vulnerable Cristina Rodlo), an illegal immigrant who's desperate for documents and a new life, adding an interesting social element to proceedings.

The film takes a more measured approach to the swift, rowdy violence of the novel. Bumps and bangs are replaced by creaks and whispers in plugholes, ratcheting up the claustrophobia and the chills. When Ambar takes a room in a grubby, women-only boarding house (which brings to mind the Bates' mansion in 'Psycho'), she soon finds herself at the mercy of Red, her shifty landlord, and Becker, his hulking and mentally ill brother. The other women in the house seem as oblivious as Ambar to the evils lurking in the basement and the unseen watchers in the hall. But not for long.

There are no easy answers in NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE and viewers less familiar with the source material may find themselves scratching for the mystery behind events. The MacGuffin in question could've used a tad more explanation, and the backstory characters remain less than ghosts. The supernatural menace is well rendered all the same and first-time director Menghini paints a sympathetic portrait of Ambar's toils in a sweatshop, her memories of a deceased mother and her faint hope of a better life.

The latter soon sees her trapped completely and the haunting spills over into real life, the horror unfolding in accelerating scenes of desperation and gore. A spectral fight on a stairway and a bid for escape lend thrills to events and there are spooky highlights throughout, with fluttering moths and clever lighting effects. The last third capitalises on the slow-burn dread, building to a finale that bears all the arcane and grisly oomph of the author's previous screen adaptation THE RITUAL, along with his bravura touch.

4/5'

JAMES BENNETT

James Bennett is a British writer raised in Sussex and South Africa. His travels have furnished him with an abiding love of different cultures, history and mythology. His short fiction has appeared internationally and his debut novel CHASING EMBERS was shortlisted for Best Newcomer at the British Fantasy Awards 2017.

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