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Brian Duffield’s No One Will Save You has one line of dialogue, but the film gives us so many amazing visuals across 93 minutes that it isn’t even really a talking point.
The film, now streaming on Hulu, stars Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) as a young woman named Brynn who’s been shunned by her community for an unspecified reason. Duffield, who also directed 2020’s sleeper hit Spontaneous, taps into the overarching theme of alienation as Brynn struggles with loneliness and grief, isolated in her big, creaky house.
And then the aliens show up.
No One Will Save You is an alien invasion film, and the design of the Grays and their ship is impressive. (The latter is somewhat reminiscent of Nope). Instead of having aliens that all look the same, Duffield offers some variety in size and personality, which led to some differing opinions on the aliens’ cuteness. A viral TikTok of a kid acting for his life in an alien costume was also used to meme the movie, and Duffield told the New York Times he made the invaders the more traditional Grays to revitalize “what’s become like the emoji alien.”
A page from the script circulated on X shortly after the film debuted, and Film Twitter debated whether it was cool or cringe. It’s meant to convey the claustrophobia of a scene in which Dever’s character is paralyzed by an alien, without dialogue. Dever does a great job simply reacting and moving the action forward with her face and emotions, and the set design of the house subtly informs the story as well. No One Will Save You also has a more poignant story about forgiveness (and, yes, trauma) nestled inside.
It got both the Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro bump, with del Toro leaning into No One Will Save You’s themes of redemption: “Grace and salvation emerge from pain and suffering,” he wrote. Those themes kind of evaporate by the film’s much-discussed ending, but Duffield seems happy leaving it open to interpretation.
Why it matters
This film didn’t get much advance promotion, so its word-of-mouth popularity is a good sign. It’s been on Hulu’s Top 15 list since it debuted, and out-of-context clips of the film went around on TikTok, which likely led to more views.
I just wish Hulu didn’t blast so many ads over this film; I counted at least four ad breaks that completely broke the momentum of No One Will Save You, a film that’s only 93 minutes long. This is a movie that actually might have benefitted from a theatrical release, especially in the lead up to Halloween.
