B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping Brian Duffield’s No One Will Save You into the ol’ VCR. 

If you follow me on Instagram (insert shameless plug here – @lisa_frankenstein), you know that I watched No One Will Save You when it premiered…and I loved it. 

With credits like writing The Babysitter and writing/directing Spontaneous under his belt, I don’t know why I doubted Bri Guy; I simply thought I was in for a home/alien invasion movie. 

But, friends, it’s so much more. 

“Thank god I wasn’t tapped for Don’t Worry Darling.”

Kaitlyn Dever stars as Brynn, a woman who has been ostracized by her small town. One night, aliens invade her home and seem hellbent on assimilating her and all of the other denizens into vessels for their hive mind. 

I know what you’re thinking. Baillee, that just sounds like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Stick with me. 

Throughout the film, Brynn battles aliens while the story behind her exile is slowly revealed. Oh yeah, and there’s NO dialogue. None. There are noises and music, and Brynn lets out exasperated words to no one in particular, but there isn’t any written dialogue. 

It isn’t a plot device like the A Quiet Place series, but it’s a way for us to share in Brynn’s isolation. No one speaks to her, so silence is an artistic choice. And, in my opinion, it was definitely the correct one, as I don’t think the metaphor would’ve been as powerful through regular speech. 

How your neck feels if you move too fast in your 30s. 

Now, in order to discuss the reasons why I love this movie, I’m going to have to give some spoilers. This movie is so new that I understand if you want to come back after you’ve read it. 

Spoilers ahead in 

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The reason that Brynn has been excommunicated by the townsfolk is that when she was 12, she accidentally killed her best friend, Maude. Maude and Brynn were fighting, and Maude shoved Brynn to the ground. In a fit of anger, Brynn picks up a rock and slammed it into Maude’s head, killing her. 

This is where all of the symbolism comes in. 

As the aliens invade, their lights are red, blue, and white. When we finally see what happened to Maude, we’re met with police lights and sirens. All of the lights from the invasion represent the different police lights from the night Maude died. These lights can also freeze time to represent how Brynn’s act left her frozen in that moment, and she’s never been able to move forward. 

Additionally, on the first night of the invasion, Brynn is hit by a door and sustains a head wound. We don’t see exactly what happens to Maude, but I believe the head injury is also meant to represent/allude to Maude’s fate. 

To infect humans, the aliens force them to swallow some sort of tentacled organism that, in my humble opinion, looks like a rock, once again alluding to Brynn’s unending guilt over Maude’s death. 

It’s giving playing sardines with your high school youth group. 

The metaphors run deeper than a probe, and yes, I already regret writing the beginning of this sentence, thank you. 

No One Will Save You is reminiscent of films from Ari Aster’s catalog like Hereditary and Midsommar (because Beau is Afraid can eat it). Sure, we have a coven or cult as the antagonist, but the real antagonist lies beneath, which, in this case, is Brynn’s guilt. 

Brynn has been alienated, meaning she has become an alien, in the town she grew up in. That’s why I ultimately think the aliens release her. There’s something within her that speaks to them and transcends spoken word. She’s suffered so much over the past decade that they’re finally giving her the release she’s needed. 

Brynn has been invaded by her guilt since childhood. Although there were clearly some issues to be addressed because of how she reacted to Maude’s actions, she was a child when she accidentally killed Maude, and it’s time for her to be able to forgive herself. That’s why she’s shown at the desk with her inner child. She’s finally able to forgive her inner child for killing Maude. 

“Hey, girl! I know we haven’t spoken since high school, but I have a great opportunity for you.” 

No One Will Save You gave me the same twinkle in my eye that I got from Asteroid City. It was one of those times where after the credits roll, I think, God, I love movies. 

I think the trailer makes it easy to write off, but I can understand why it was cut the way it was. It’s so much more than an alien movie. It’s a movie about guilt and remorse and being defined by a moment in time. I also can’t tell you the last time I watched a movie where I thought about all of the symbolism and then also thought, Man, the beginning of this movie has the whimsy of Beetlejuice. 

Again, I’m not here to undercut what Brynn did, but she was a child. I can’t even imagine the hurt she caused, but you’re talking to someone who didn’t feel like an actual adult until 5-6 years ago, and I’m 31. 

Don’t sleep on No One Will Save You… or else you might have to fight off aliens and your own guilt in your pjs.