Kaitlyn Dever leads in an extreme example of the show-don’t-tell concept with a sci-fi horror home invasion backdrop.

Score: 3.5/5

No One Will Save You is an odd movie. I really enjoyed it, but some decisions super didn’t work for me. The movie follows Brynn (played by Kaitlyn Dever), a social pariah of a small town, living alone in a big countryside house where an alien attempts to abduct her. What proceeds takes several turns and dials up the action in ways that I didn’t see coming. The alien design and inventive story decisions kept me on my couch for the entire 93-minute runtime. What was a little more challenging for me to enjoy from this movie was a bold take on a script level, but one that made it difficult to not take me out of the experience.

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Spoiler-warning.

Brynn has two lines of dialogue the whole movie. In fact, besides background character chatter that you mostly can’t really make out, there is no dialogue in the movie. Period. With that said, Kaitlyn Dever does an excellent job through her eyes and physical performance to show that Brynn has severe anxiety and likely would choose not to speak often. It’s hard to believe that she has no words in the situation she finds herself in. Or that other people she interacts with have no words. There is one scene in particular where it seemed so strange. Yes, the movie gives you context through actions and visuals, but it really did take me out of the movie at times, wondering, “Will she finally have something to say?” What she does say, yes, hits the emotional core of her character, but after all the other moments that have just as dire consequences to her life as well as humanity as a whole, it boggles my mind she has not a single other word to say. All this to say, this show-don’t-tell story choice… was a choice. And it felt more like something that held back my experience where just sprinkling some small bits of dialogue here or there would have still had the same effect the production aimed for.

Spoiler warning over.

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Outside of this decision, I really liked this movie and am kind of bummed it didn’t get released in theaters. The alien content in this movie was both what most people think of an alien in public discourse but with a lot of really unique ideas adding their personal stamp to characters. It also pushed against what I would think to do in this situation because Brynn is not me, and clearly, based on her life, she never consumed the many movies or video games that would give good examples of what would probably help in a situation involving an alien breaking into your home. Let alone that her fear of the people in her town and the guilt she feels is greater than her fear of aliens.

The story goes to some bonkers places by the end, yet it all fits with the character. I can’t really speak of other actors since this is pretty much a solo show for Dever. I have always been a fan of hers, and this will be one of those movies that I will always be able to point to as a great example of her ability to lead a project on her shoulders alone. She captures the complex struggle of her character wonderfully and sells the terror of what it would be like to deal with an otherworldly encounter. So, for those looking for a unique twist on the home invasion movie, it’s hard to go wrong with this one.