NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU. Science fiction about a UFO invasion… and more

An alien invasion as a metaphor for battling inner demons in “No One Will Save You” –  a film praised by Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro.

Brynn lives alone in a large house near the forest on the outskirts of a small town. The young woman makes a living by sewing clothes and selling them online. In her free time, she cooks, builds a model of the town, and spends time in the idyllic garden surrounding her house. On the surface, her life seems happy, but in reality, Brynn feels deeply lonely after the death of her mother and her best friend. To make matters worse, the townspeople harbor hostility toward her because of a tragic event in her past (the details of which are kept secret by the creators until the end, so it’s best not to reveal them). One night, Brynn wakes up to discover with terror that someone has broken into her home; the intruder turns out to be a humanoid alien. She accidentally kills the alien and sets out to inform the authorities the next morning, only to find that the aliens have taken control of the townspeople’s minds.

Brian Duffield began his film career as a screenwriter, co-writing scripts for movies such as “Insurgent” (2015) by Robert Schwentke, “Jane Got a Gun” (2015) by Gavin O’Connor, “The Babysitter” (2017) by McG, and “Underwater” (2020) by William Eubank. Duffield made his directorial debut with the black comedy “Spontaneous” (2020). The idea for “No One Will Save You” was inspired by films like “Heavenly Creatures” (1994) by Peter Jackson, “Signs” (2002) by M. Night Shyamalan, and reports of UFO abductions, particularly the famous case of Betty and Barney Hill, who allegedly had a close encounter with aliens in September 1961. While writing the script, Duffield decided to eliminate dialogue, though he wasn’t sure how Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Brynn, would react to this. She found the lack of dialogue intriguing, and as a result, only five words are spoken throughout the entire film.

20th Century Studios acquired Duffield’s script and invested nearly $23 million in production. The film was shot from April to June 2022 in New Orleans and surrounding areas. Special effects were created by experts from the British studio DNEG (formerly Double Negative), known for their work on “Inception” (2010) by Christopher Nolan, “Ex Machina” (2014) by Alex Garland, “Blade Runner 2049” (2017) by Denis Villeneuve, and the “Black Mirror” series. “No One Will Save You” had its theatrical premiere on September 19, 2023, in Los Angeles and New York, and three days later, it hit streaming platforms Hulu, Star+, and Disney+. Unexpectedly, it became one of the most-streamed productions during that period. Critics praised Duffield’s film, and Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro played a significant role in promoting it, showering it with praise through social media.

King, who not long ago rightly praised “Bone Tomahawk” (2015) by S. Craig Zahler—one of the best horror films of the last decade—can be trusted in this case as well. “No One Will Save You” is a dream come true for fans of “The Twilight Zone”, “The X-Files”, and chilling tabloid-style stories. It is also a film that, beneath the surface of a fantastic UFO invasion story, addresses very non-fantastical themes. It’s difficult to discuss this directly without revealing key plot details, so it’s better to stick to broad ideas, the most important of which are trauma, grief, and the struggle—both against external invaders and inner demons. In this sense, “No One Will Save You” is akin to films like “Saint Maud” (2019) by Rose Glass, “Monolith” (2022) by Matt Vesely, or “Stopmotion” (2023) by Robert Morgan, which use the conventions of horror, thrillers, and science fiction to explore deeply traumatized women.