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In keeping with the spirit of its title, this latest film by Alexandre Aja is about never letting go – of any flimsy direction that the story can take us.
It begins from an isolated house in the woods, as these stories are wont to, full of creaking floors, creeping shadows and unknown dread about a highly strung mother (Berry) and her two young sons Samuel (Jenkins) and Nolan (Daggs IV). Winter is here, and the three of them are running out of food, clothes, soon water, and, in the case of Nolan, patience regarding the mother’s constant warnings to them about “the evil out there”, and “an extinct world”.
But where that house and the mother, who claims that the structure’s wooded walls and floor are a “blessed” structure which the evil “can’t touch”, are the most scary part of Never Let Go, the film keeps going out looking for more and more.
There are clear allegorical references here to Blacks and a world that is full of seen and unseen dangers for them – other films like Get Out have done it better. There are also parallels to obsessive parenting (ropes that the mother and sons wear at all times, tying them literally to the house as they go into the woods for hunting being the perfect umbilical cord example), and to blind faith, and to the line between love and abuse.
Aja though can’t seem to make up his mind about whether he wants to keep the evil real, or the real evil. Truly terrifying moments such as an indeterminable pair of hands scurrying up a tall tree are wasted, while not-so-scary ones like the children’s grandmother spouting blood and worms from her mouth keep getting repeated.
The egregious use of the family’s pet dog and the children though is Never Let Go’s worst crime. Apart from saddling the talented Halle Berry with a miserable wet rag of a scene towards the end.
Cast: Halle Berry, Anthony B Jenkins, Percy Daggs IV
Director: Alexandre Aja
Rating: 1.5 stars
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