Horror Movie Blog > Horror Movie Reviews > Never Let Go Movie Review
In Alexandre Aja's new survival horror film Never Let Go, we have Halle Berry playing a mother trying to protect her twin sons in a post-apocalyptic world, where they live in isolation and must follow strict rules, the most important being to always stay connected to their home with a rope.
If they disconnect, they're vulnerable to an evil force that only she can see. She warns her sons that they won’t see it until they’re older, which makes one of them, Nolan, start to question her and tensions arise.
I will admit to not expecting much from this movie, but the trailer looked OK and gave me A Quiet Place vibes.
Mental Illness and Overbearing Parential Love
Like a lot of horror movies in recent years, such as The Babadook and Hereditary, the film leans on mental illness as a central theme.
In the film we see Momma (Halle Berry) may have inherited a mental illness that distorts her view of reality, as her mother also suffered from the same condition, believing the world was being taken over by an evil force, which led her to hide the family in a house deep in the woods.
When Momma begins to experience similar symptoms, she follows her mother's beliefs, bringing her young sons to the same house to escape the imagined danger, and this traps them in her distorted reality.
The film portrays mental illness to show how her mind creates misinformation, affecting how she sees and understands the world.
Strong Performances
I have to say, I was quite impressed with the small cast, as the performances are outstanding. Halle Berry brings a powerful portrayal of a mother struggling to care for her kids while dealing with the trauma from her past, and the two sons, Anthony B. Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV also shine, especially in the latter part of the movie.
Good Pacing To The Film
The pacing works quite well in the film, even though the ending drags on a bit.
The tension builds and eases with the threat of the lurking evil is always close, whether they explore the forest in daylight or at night, keeping it all pretty tense since danger could be hiding in the shadows anywhere, and the house itself, both inside and out, adds to the urgency and desperation as food starts to run out.
A Lot To Like, But Falls Short
I liked a lot about Never Let Go, but my expectations were low going in, but as the story unfolds, the movie does become a bit messy especially after a certain twist.
The mix of serious themes with horror elements doesn’t quite work, and leaves it all feeling uneven and the movie ultimately loses its way, making it hard to stay engaged by the end as it all becomes too messy as it tries to juggle too much.
It's a decent watchable movie though but ultimately falls short in the end for me, especially in the horror elements, but as said above, family drama in horror movies is all the rage right now, but it was better than I thought it would be. [Never Let Go on IMDB]
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