So a friend of the site has been hammering away at us for some time now to check out Adam Nevill’s body of work. Surprisingly we were already aware of The Ritual and had previously covered the Netflix movie, so it was kind of cool to discover No One Gets Out Alive next in queue, another Netflix movie via the pen of Adam Nevill. Even better we have the novel on the way and for sure that’s going to be bouncing to the top of our prose reviewing list, guess I should get a move on there as a number of books are waiting for our attention. Anyways slight digression, back to the steak and three veg.

Ambar arrives in Cleveland, Ohio as an undocumented alien without the necessary papers. She is naturally forced to take menial work in a sweatshop, where her boss doesn’t like her, and she is ripped off by a supposed friend. Down on her luck Ambar has to take a room in a dilapidated house for cash, no questions asked. We soon learn the owner of the house, Red, is doing a thriving trade in illegal chicks, some of which disappear pretty quickly. This can’t be good, and we soon learn Ambar is haunted by the death of her mother, which Ambar may have caused, and is actually haunted by Mother Dearest in her new digs. Unfortunately for our new American a bit of a haunting is the least of her problems as she runs into Red’s brother and the real secret the house is holding. This one isn’t for the faint hearted, get ready for the shiver!

Director Menghini gets his movie out of the blocks in a sort of weird fashion, yes we have seen this approach before but not quite in the way it is delivered in this movie. Back in 1963 Mexico an expedition into the jungles of chaos unearths a Pyramid, which houses a lot of skeletons and maybe more recent deaths. One thing you’ll notice in this movie is the Director leaves interpretation up to the viewer and doesn’t spoon feed anyone. Arthur Welles is overseeing things and for his troubles the expedition unearths a stone box, which strangely they pull up from a deep well, question there is how did they know there was anything down that particular stygian pit, but whatever. I’m a sucker for a horror flick that spouts from an ancient dig, so was locked and loaded for the flick from this point onwards.

We then fast forward to the now in what we later learn is Chicago. A Latino chick, this is important as things develop, is talking to her father I guess and wants to go back home to whatever South American hell hole she came from. Sorry, no offense to South Americans here, trying to build some atmosphere and probably failing miserably in the process. Anyways the Chick is seriously facing some mental issues, and this isn’t helped when the stone box appears and starts rocking and rolling. Queue the lightning and thunder, doesn’t happen but hey atmosphere, and as we pull back the obligatory scream announces things haven’t gone well for the chick we were focusing on.

So what has Menghini achieved here, well an ancient evil unearthed and transported to the new World in the modern age. Hold onto your knickers folks, the Director is moving at pace here. We are immediately introduced to central character Ambar who is an illegal immigrant; the Director is hardly taking a breath. We soon learn Ambar has to take a cash only low paid job, no papers, and is forced to take up residence in a grungy disgusting looking boarding house. The place looks like it hasn’t had a lick of exterior paint in the last half century or so, and if anything the interior is even worse. We want to believe this place is haunted, and heck it puts the Overlook Hotel to shame with a fine collection of ghosts, who’s residence gets explained by end of movie. Just saying the locations are excellent, the general atmosphere is depressing, and was this actually shot in colour? Cleveland overall looks to be constantly in decline under overcast skies. Could we be talking exterior atmosphere matching the internal feelings of Ambar, hey let’s not get too wine and cheese set here, okay! 

One of the themes the writers have going down in this movie is the bad situation illegal migrants find themselves in. Not only are they getting ripped off by unscrupulous employers, but they are forced into less than idyllic living conditions, and not pulling their writing punches are also victims of their fellow illegals. Don’t worry we aren’t talking the movie descending into a lecture, you can take on the theme or not, it won’t destroy your enjoyment of the movie overall. Nice to see horror still has the capacity to comment and reflect on societal issues. 

While No One Gets Out Alive is a stand-alone movie, there is at least one connection to Adam Nevill’s monsterverse, (okay made that name up, learn to live with new ideas before complaining like a little bitch). Anyways at one stage of proceedings a TV in the background is reporting the disappearance of four hikers in Sweden. As the bright eyed and bushy tailed will note this is a direct reference to a previous Adam Neville adaptation by Netflix The Ritual (2017). I’m always kind of happy with self-referencing in movies, and think this particular foray not only links the monsterverse but also exists as a sort of pre-emptive nod to the audience that we might just be getting a monster in the mix.

I’m not about to explain the horror mechanics on display in this movie, let’s simply say Director Santiago Menghini is across the requirements, but I think I should mention a couple of neato ideas. Yes, that’s a word Editor, hold back on the red marker already! Firstly, the whole box thing, you know the one they dug up in Mexico, appears the thing is a device to another world/reality/dimension/there be dragons and you really don’t want to meet what is using this particular gateway, it might just go to your head. Loved the monster’s announcement of imminent arrival via moths and butterflies, adding just the right amount of weirdness to a particular grungy atmosphere. Equally the boarding house is infested with ghosts, who we deduce are either victims of monster abuse of the hangovers of tenant’s previous life traumas. Oh and the ghosts for sure are not something you need to concerned yourself about in this house that dripped blood, there’s both human and paranormal dangers waiting for the unwary.  

So what more can I say about this movie, that the reader should discover for themselves, pretty much the perfect horror movie for mine. Naturally full recommendation, you really do need to check this flick out folks, you will not regret the time investment. I haven’t talked about the ending, because I respect my readers who are going to be right across what is going down, and because it really nails the situation in the house and doesn’t need any spoilers. If after a gritty horror movie, that avoids the standard tropes, then you are in the right place, this flick is going to grab you by the short and curlies, and isn’t about to let up or indeed let go. Can’t wait for the next adaptation of a Nevill novel, I’m in like it’s going out of fashion. No one is going to get out of this movie without being fully engrossed and entertained, hang onto your linen kids this is the real deal.