An Average Movie-Goer’s Review
No spoilers! If you would like spoilers – check out the Spoiler post
I love horror movies and if I’m going to watch them anyway, why not write an entertaining/funny review from the POV of an average movie-goer and not a professional critic.
Today we’re looking at 2021’s Netflix exclusive No One Gets Out Alive based on Adam Nevill’s 2014 book of the same name.
After arriving to Cleveland from Mexico, Ambar (Cristina Roldo) takes a room at a boarding house where she’s haunted by various ghosts.
Is it Scary?
Nah, there are a few jump scares that don’t feel cheap but the overall atmosphere of the movie never reaches a nail-biting level. No One Gets Out Alive almost reaches a slow-burn level of horror but the quick pace of other aspects in the story prevents that from happening. Also despite being Rated R, the movie feels more like PG-13 until the last 15 minutes.
You might be jumping a bit at the beginning but overall you won’t leave the movie scared unless you recently moved into a random boarding house in Cleveland.
Review:
I enjoyed No One Gets Out Alive, it’s not terribly scary, if at all, but all the other aspects of it are pretty good. The acting by most of the cast is a highlight, in particular Cristina Rodlo and Marc Menchaca. You definitely feel for their characters at various moments and they feel like real people.
Overall the story is easy to follow and entertaining, playing out like a good by-the-books horror movie. But, that’s where it stays, it doesn’t do anything mind-blowing or drastically unique that elevates it to a great movie. It’s an okay to good horror movie and there’s nothign wrong with that.
A big positive, for me, was the unique reasoning for the hauntings as opposed to the movie being a standard haunted house flick. It’s always nice to see a horror movie rely on a different mythology for its scares instead of using the old same tropes.
A minor negative was none of the characters really have a full character arc. There are hints of some side characters having one but we don’t spend enough time with them to see it play out fully.
Overall the movie is still good and I would recommend it if you’re looking for a light horror movie.
Cast IMDB