After almost passing up No One Lives and mistaking it for something generic, Ryūhei Kitamura set out to make a fun and exciting horror movie. And he more than succeeded without sacrificing the fear and personality found in the original script. With Robert Hall’s bloody practical effects sweetening the pot, this movie ends up being a delightfully gory action-slasher.
The initial setup of No One Lives is both familiar and misleading. The cold open shows an imperiled young woman (Adelaide Clemens) running through the woods. It is only when she is caught by her unseen pursuer does the audience learn her name: Emma. Using a broken piece of glass, she desperately scratches her name, while upside down, in a nearby tree before presumably dying off screen. Several months later, the story shifts to Luke Evans and Laura Ramsey’s characters, who pause their road trip and stop at a motel out in the sticks. It seems reasonable to think this couple is about to experience the same fate as Emma, but David Lawrence Cohen’s script has a few surprises in store.
City dwellers and transplants finding trouble in rural parts is nothing new in the horror genre, yet No One Lives feels fresh because it toys with built-in tropes. Rather than subjecting the innocent tourists to a small town’s hidden evils, such as a local gang of serial house robbers, Evans and Ramsey’s characters are in fact the threat. They appear to be an unassuming but romantically strained couple trying to make things work as they move across the country. And from the sound of things, the boyfriend has recently been unfaithful, and his girlfriend is making peace with his infidelity. This is no simple case of a rocky relationship, though. The betrayal is far more unique and dangerous, and soon others are caught up in their discord.
No One Lives turns out to be one of those stories where the bad guys come across someone even worse than them. After a botched burglary ends with several unexpected casualties, the aforesaid bandits piss off the wrong guy. Evans’ character, whose name is not only undisclosed to viewers but also a death sentence to anyone who learns it, does not take kindly to the unwanted attention from the gang’s own wildcard (Derek Magyar). This brief disagreement at a hole in the wall eventually leads to fatal complications, although not for the mysterious passer-through.
Newcomers to No One Lives may not immediately pick up on what are soon to be story subversions. Everything starts to turn upside down, though, when the criminals believe they have found themselves an easy mark. After Evans and Ramsey’s characters are taken hostage, a dark plot twist reveals itself. On top of that, someone, who viewers expected to see more of, removes herself from the story in grisly fashion. That shocking death, as well as the revelation about The Driver’s cargo, promptly triggers a mass slaughter.
A traditional slasher would think twice about having victims as deplorable and unsavory as Hoag (Lee Tergesen) and his ilk; even the only one among them deemed to have a soul, Hoag’s daughter (Lindsay Shaw), is not all that easy to care about. Nevertheless, that lack of general sympathy for The Driver’s fodder makes what happens next a great deal more entertaining. Rather than rooting for their survival, the audience now anticipates their deaths.
No One Lives is in the vein of actioners where a one-man-army takes on a group of villains. Or in this instance, lesser villains. Luke Evans devours his role as the unfeeling, unstoppable and evidently ancient assassin whose current goal is to destroy everyone standing in his way and aware of his secrets. And any shred of humanity The Driver once held is effectively gone, now replaced by pure bloodlust and a desire to recoup his loss. Admittedly The Driver does not have a lot of lines once the killing commences; he may be disinclined to talk as he hunts his prey, but Evans sneaks in an occasional smirk to break up his character’s otherwise stony visage. It is not easy to make someone as glassy, coldhearted and vicious as The Driver likable, however Evans’ natural charisma and allure win out, even as his character bathes in everyone else’s blood and guts.
Kitamura’s trademark sense of hyper-stylized visuals is not always so apparent in No One Lives; his English follow-up to The Midnight Meat Train is considerably more murky in appearance and bluntly shot. The Japanese filmmaker’s over-the-top approach and gonzo direction are less detectable here, but his talent for balancing levity and dread is present. His predilection for cheeky and gallows humor occasionally sneaks its way past Cohen’s straightforward writing as well. And while it was too soon to tell at the time, No One Lives perpetuated a trend in Kitamura’s American horror output: the director is endeared to enigmatic and intriguing villains who ultimately steal the whole show.
Well aware of what it is and isn’t, No One Lives has finally found its fans after receiving a lukewarm welcome ten years ago. Not too many movies can get away with a name as unambiguous and spoilery as this one, however the way it lives up to the title is what makes No One Lives so enjoyable.
The post ‘No One Lives’ – Ryuhei Kitamura’s Gory and Brutal Action Slasher Turns 10 Years Old appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.