31 Days of Halloween: No One Will Save You

2023, Brian Duffield (Jane Got a Gun) -- Disney

I am rarely "scared" by the horror movies we watch, but oh do I so love when the fear in a scene is so tangible that I sit up in my seat, that I can so sink into a situation that I feel it creeping up the back of my neck. That is one of the reasons I watch horror movies -- no, not to be frightened, but to be transported away by an experience, to become completely absorbed in it.

Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever, Last Man Standing) lives in a nice house, living a nice life as some sort of Etsy-style maker of custom anachronistic clothing and items, and sending them out by mail. She is a quirky, out of time young woman living alone in a big house on the edge of town. But she, every time she leaves the house, even to mail out her goods, suffers immense panic & anxiety. This is not just generalized anxiety or agoraphobia but connected to something in her past, something to do with a childhood friend, who is no longer with us.

And then aliens show up. 

There is no typical build up, no "is it or is it not" creeping story about weird noises and lights. Nope, it goes from introducing Brynn to having a fucking gray running around on the first floor of her house, and we are immediately sunk into the fear Brynn experiences as she tries to, first, hide from it, and then, fend it off. And from there, it does not let up.

There is a full blown alien invasion going on, and thus, no will save her. Also, whatever she did has her convinced that nobody in the town would save her anyway. The heart-pounding terror she feels running from the multiple body-formed aliens (standard grays, long armed ones, fucking giant spider ones!) is compounded by having no where to run to, for its happening all over. Flying saucers hover over the town, emitting their cow catcher beams of light, constantly trying to suck her up, but she keeps on getting away, leaving more than a few bodies behind. Brynn is very resourceful, very capable, and despite the tragedy she is ruled by, very intent on living.

And then the aliens do catch her. And... well, for most people the movie will fall apart entirely here, as the director kind of slides into Shyamalan take-a-right-turn-at-Albuquerque territory. Both Marmy and Kent did not care for the ending, but I see what the director/writer was going for, that even as the world is probably ending outside, it will go on for Brynn.

I will spoil it for you.

Brynn, as a young teen, struck and killed her best friend in a fit of anger. It was probably not intentionally a killing blow, and she was a minor, so there was probably no prison time. But nobody in town, and she herself, has ever forgiven her. And the grays, who seem to have some symbiotic creature that will put you in an idyllic fantasy while they ride your body, seem to find compassion for Brynn's tragic history. But instead of forcing the symbiote back into her, they allow the town to be altered to her favour, giving her dance parties with 50s music and the downtown square all strung with lights. While the invasion continues.

Its a hard scene to sell, but to me, its even more horrific. The world is ending, and they seem to have almost rewarded her perseverance, her resourcefulness. But we know its not sustainable and eventually she will succumb. But for now, she gets to dance in a pretty dress with a nice boy ridden by an alien symbiote.

Don't forget to comment on how there will now be about a thousand "ending of movie explained" shitty YouTubes and blog articles out there farming content and clicks!

Don't forget to mention that pretty much the entire movie is without dialogue! Its a neat conceit that, like the fear, I was entirely subscribed to.