Survival instinct
Every day is Halloween when you’re a horror fan, and over the recent Easter break I found time to catch up on a few entries from my movie watchlist. I want to talk about No One Will Save You [2023] and how it twists the expectations of what horror means in our lives.
SPOILER WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
No One Will Save You (NOWSY) introduces us to the main character, Brynn, a young woman who lives alone in her old family home. It appears idyllic, a huge and beautiful space full of creative personal touches. There is an expansive yard with dense trees and a perfectly manicured lawn. Brynn goes about her day with nervous excitement, but we soon see that all is not well.
We get a sense that something is not right when we witness her interactions with other people. She is thrown dirty looks by her neighbour, and conversations fall hushed as small groups stop to stare when she passes them.
Brynn is clearly an outsider, and her perfectly ordinary life is marked by this social exclusion. She has no one to share things with, no one with whom she can enjoy special moments, and we see her dreamily acting out the things that she wishes she could have. We see her carefully choosing outfits and meticulously tending to her home, hopeful that if she can make things look “just so” then this might help people to perceive her in a better light.
Brynn’s hobbies are solitary activities, and there is evidence of her time spent indoors scattered throughout the rooms of her house. The intricate model village with replica buildings shows her desperate need to belong and feel part of something. It appears that her home is not a safe place, but rather a gilded cage. It provides her protection from the hatred of the other locals, but also keeps her trapped in a headspace that she cannot move on from. She remains frozen in time, reliving her past, isolated and alone.
Brynn mourns for the people who are lost to her and finds ways to honour them, writing letters or taking flowers to a grave. Surrounded by grief, her home has become a prison.
A hugely impactful factor in NOWSY is the lack of dialogue. There are almost no words spoken throughout the entire film, and this elevates the feeling of disconnect that Brynn experiences from the people around her. Language connects us, and she is denied the simple human act of communication.
Brynn remains a victim of her past actions and is crushed by the weight of her guilt, as well as the judgement that others place on her. Her existence is horror. We see the pain it causes her to be ostracised and unforgiven.
Interestingly, I felt a mixture of curiosity and suspicion towards Brynn. Perhaps she is deserving of this negative treatment? NOWSY gives us clues about Brynn’s life and her past, combining the current timeline with flashbacks of memory and allowing us the pleasure of piecing things together.
If no one will save you, then you have to save yourself
There is a hint of foreshadowing, but very little build-up before Brynn has her first extra-terrestrial encounter.
Something I loved about NOWSY is that they go all out on showing you the monster. We get really great visuals that show aliens coordinating an invasion of Brynn’s hometown. The creature design is very cool, and they do not mess around with showing you what is going on. Brynn goes head to head against various adversaries throughout the film and the tension is levelled up each time as we get to learn a little bit more of what is going on.
There is no doubt that Brynn is facing a life or death situation.
Brynn’s exclusion leaves her with nowhere to go, and no one she can turn to in her time of need. No one will help her. No one will save her.
Brynn’s only tethers are to people in her past: her mother and her childhood best friend. She has to fend for herself, and this is where her strength lies. Living with trauma can shape your behaviour in subconscious ways. You may develop coping mechanisms which are intended to keep you safe from real or perceived threats. I believe this is what makes Brynn so different to the other people in this movie, who are easily overcome during the initial invasion.
Knowing that people are always watching her and talking about her has led Brynn to become hypervigilant. This means she is always surveying her surroundings and notices things which may appear to be small or insignificant details. This gives her the advantage and allows her to successfully escape the first few attempted attacks.
Having already lived through horrific events, Brynn has learned to become resilient. She continues to focus on things that need to be done, and puts effort into the things she cares about. She has carved out a life for herself in spite of the difficulties she faces. She has already been through so much just trying to be normal in a world that does not accept her. This perseverance means she does not give up, no matter how bad things get. Her resilience helps her stand up against the threat of attack from the aliens, she will not let herself be consumed by them.
The aliens seem taken aback by her fighting spirit and are curious to understand why she is like this. They delve into her memories in a way that I can only describe in the words of Markiplier, “Oh, it’s adorable. Oh, it’s traumatized.”
Seeing Brynn’s trauma, the aliens relent and allow her to live in the new society they have created. Here we see another outcome of Brynn’s trauma: adaptability. She has had to overcome obstacles and learn how to survive in new ways. She is given the chance to live the life she has always dreamed of, and she embraces this opportunity wholeheartedly, finally content to be a part of her community.
After being starved of connection and kindness for so long, Brynn seemingly gets her Happily Ever After.
What does not kill me makes me stronger
Friedrich Nietzsche
No One Will Save You really stuck with me after I watched it, so much so that I had to share my thoughts with you here. I think it does something very special in a unique way, and I have been inspired to use some of these techniques in my writing projects.
If you are similarly inspired, try out some of the writing prompts or recommended viewing below.
Writing prompts
Write a scene without any dialogue.
Create a troubled character who is shunned for their past actions. What is the dark secret they are unable to escape?
Set an external conflict against an internal conflict. Which one will win?
Recommended viewing
No One Will Save You [2023]
Skinamarink [2022]
Under the Skin [2013]
Let me know in the comments:
How do you feel about fiction with little to no dialogue? Does this make it more or less scary for you?
How did you get on with the writing prompts?
