The Stream: Confusing and unoriginal

The Big Screen: Gives you the chills or was the theater just really cold?

The Final Bill: A random movie that isn’t scary but will have you checking your blind spots

– S2S: Movie Review
Director: Alexandre Aja
Writers: KC Coughlin, Ryan Grassby
Stars: Halle Berry, Anthony B. Jenkins, William Catlett
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rating: R (Language, gore, and violence)
Runtime: 1 hour and 38 minutes
Production Companies: 21 Laps Entertainment, HalleHolly, Lionsgate Films
Platform: Released in theaters September 20, 2024
Notable Trailers: A Complete Unknown, Joker 2, The Monkey, Wolf Man, Den of Thieves 2, Megalopolis

Stream to big SCREAM, Streamers! You know what time of year it is, Halloween Season. This weekend we were able to see a movie that helps kickstart the spooky season in Never Let Go. This movie depicts a family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years. Their only safety is the 4 walls of their home and the ropes attached to them. With an ever-uncertain environment, diet, and presence about them, the children question what’s true and not about the life they live. Creepy following ensues.

Never Let Go is in that rare air of a movie that is so original that it’s exactly like every other movie similar to it. I don’t even want to start naming the movies it’s stolen from; but, Halle, I’m watching you but I ain’t no snitch. Either way, the plot is unoriginal, and the execution is confusing. Confusion on purpose is a positive. This confusion is just the result of poor execution on the parts of the director, editing, writing. They want you to keep guessing until the end of the movie, but by time the end comes, you’re so exhausted that you can’t think of why this movie doesn’t make sense. And we’re talking about horror, it only barely needs to make sense. Never Let Go makes sense somewhat but also it isn’t explained in the slightest! I mean throw the viewer a bone for their sanity.

Now, as far as acting goes, we know Halle isn’t the best, but she plays the heck out of a desperate crazy mother! This movie has very few bright spots and Halle’s crazy eyes are two of them. The boys to some extent also are pretty great as well. They didn’t have much to work with in this script but they did their thing. The only other character in the movie is the bad guy. The faces change but they all do their minimal thing to creep out the viewer. With that said, the big bad lurking, feels exactly like the TV show, From, or even the movie from earlier this year, The Watchers.  This mysterious thing of the woods is creepy but overdone.  At least in The Watchers there’s an explanation but this movie just says forget the illusion of reality.

Long story short, Halle Berry strikes again with another interesting concept of a movie with poor execution in Never Let Go.  The movie isn’t fully scary, but it will have your goosebumps raised.   Unfortunately, the movie ultimately leaves you with only a handful of popcorn to try to sort through the randomness of this movie.