MY CALL: If you think “story” is overrated and just want all the alien abduction, tractor beams and telekinesis without wasting a moment of dialogue to explain what’s going on or why, then this is your movie. A simple, straightforward, high energy, popcorn horror delight. MORE MOVIES LIKE No One Will Save You: For more feisty Sci-Horror, consider Extraterrestrial (2014), Psycho Goreman (2020), Snatchers (2019), Grabbers (2012) and Kids vs Aliens (2022)—all of which are also much more gory than today’s reviewed movie.
Things for a small-town social pariah get exciting when aliens invade her small town. We don’t know what Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever; Monsterland) did. But we see that a lot of the townsfolk sure do hate her for whatever it was. And hate is the key word.
This feisty alien invasion movie wastes no time diving into the home-spelunking fun. And while there’s nothing “funny” about this movie, the pacing feels a lot like going through a haunted house with your friends. You smile and press your back into your sit, braced for the next jump.
In style, I’d say it owes a lot to Signs (2002) in its utilization of exploratory sounds as aliens poke around the house as well as the alien’s own biological sound emissions. We also see things strongly reminiscent of Independence Day (1996), Dark Skies (2013) and The Hidden (1987)—a veritable cornucopia of Sci-Fi influences abound with nothing feeling overtly “copied.”
There’s some telekinetic poltergeist gags that take a while to find their footing. At first, I didn’t like this at all. But eventually the gag was better utilized. Despite this criticism, the domestic cat and mouse antics were generally energized. Good pacing, and a good level of action.
Brynn is trapped and isolated by an alien EMG attack, disabling all electrical components in her isolated house and car. Moreover, these aliens seem to have somehow possessed or mentally dominated several townsfolk as well. When Brynn encounters them, they charge at her like rage zombies. Aware that she is on her own, Brynn prepares to defend herself against the next domestic raid. Most attempts to infiltrate her home and, presumably, abduct her have transpired at night.
This movie isn’t great from a writing perspective. But it’s really entertaining. Things just keep happening to poor Brynn. Human drone assaults, skirmishes with aliens of various shapes, scrambling around the house, tractor beam gags, some clone stuff, more telekinesis tossing furniture around and breaking stuff, lots of chasing, revisiting Brynn’s past trauma, squirmy alien parasites, lots of spaceships doing spaceship things…. there’s hardly a dull moment.
Brynn is a real scrapper; clearly the Ash Williams of her town. When she finds a victory, you root hard for her. But poor Brynn gets dragged through wreckage or telekinetically crashed through walls to achieve any small victory. And despite seeing many of the townsfolk, Kaitlyn Dever carries this film like a one woman show.
Writer and director Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) delivers a hefty dose of high-paced jumpy entertainment with this Hulu original horror movie. If you want something fun and mindless, but not necessarily dumb or campy or schlocky, this is a good popcorn horror movie recommendation.