The new horror film No One Will Save You has very little dialogue, and the director claims he had a clear reason behind this choice. No One Will Save You is a new film from sophomore director Brian Duffield. No One Will Save You takes an unconventional approach, merging the sci-fi and horror genres as a mildly agoraphobic woman named Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) decides to live alone in a secluded house, and is soon confronted by an unwelcome extraterrestrial guest. No One Will Save You is now available to stream on Hulu.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Duffield explains why No One Will Save You is dialogue-free, with Brynn barely speaking. According to Duffield, this decision came more gradually once he realized during the writing process that Brynn had not “talked in this movie yet.” Duffield decided to lean into this choice, feeling that not speaking “just amplified her character.” Check out the full quote from Duffield below:
“I knew there was a scene where Kaitlyn was going to try to get help at a police station. I wrote that scene and subsequent scenes of Brynn having a breakdown because no one would help her. Then I realized, I don’t think she’s talked in this movie yet. And sure enough she had not.”
“It was a character thing where this person really wants a community and doesn’t think she’s deserving of one. It felt like that device just amplified her character. Most of the movie there’s not really a good reason for her to talk because she’s trying so hard to not make a sound. She’s not going to say, ‘It’s an alien in my house!’ Also, when you have Kaitlyn Dever, she doesn’t need to say anything. She can monologue with her eyes in a really impressive way.”
“We talked endlessly [with 20th Century Stuidos] about many, many things on the movie, but that was always one where everyone was kind of like, ‘Yeah, it’s fun!'”
No One Will Save You’s Silence Is Uniquely Fascinating
No One Will Save You is far from the first horror film to take on non-speaking as a form of dramatic tension. The most notable example of this trend comes with the modern horror classic A Quiet Place, wherein making a sound can cause untimely, quick death via the hypersonic-hearing monsters that lurk all around the film’s dystopian world. As described by Duffield, No One Will Save You takes on a similar approach in that Brynn is “trying so hard to not make a sound.” The movie also may take inspiration from an unmade Steven Spielberg movie.
It is Brynn’s innate reclusiveness that separates her from other recent horror protagonists, however. Unlike a film like indie-horror gem Hush–where their character’s status as a deaf-mute necessitates the film’s quiet landscape–Brynn’s quiet comes from somewhere within. It is not merely the conditions of the sci-fi world that render Brynn mute, but the real one. That is, Brynn is quiet not just because of an extraterrestrial, but from the uniquely earthly horror of not feeling like “she’s deserving of” a community.
Duffield is also absolutely right to say that Dever “doesn’t need to say anything” to get her message across in the role. Ever since her breakout performance in Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12, Dever has been proving to the acting world that all viewers need to do is stare into her soulful, tragedy-ridden eyes to glimpse into the nuanced pain of the characters she portrays. She has gone on to prove this strength in multiple roles, playing a coal-miner-turned-drug-addict in Dopesick and a rape victim in Unbelievable, among other roles. No One Will Save You thankfully plays to these strengths, letting Dever shine even when she doesn’t make a sound.
