Alexandre Aja’s new film Never Let Go tells a bold story and is the filmmaker’s best work yet. Never Let Go stars Halle Berry as a mother struggling to save her children from unseen horrors. Throughout the film, an unsettling dread fills the screen making the audience second-guess everything they are seeing. Aja portrays this horror with the talent of a veteran filmmaker and the result is a film that is greater than the sum of its parts.

From the trailers Never Let Go looks to be just a standard monster movie. Alexander Aja has made a name for himself in the monster movie genre with films like the 2006 Hills Have Eyes remake and 2019’s Crawl. The inclusion of Oscar winner Halle Berry in a starring role though makes one think that there may be more going on in the script than just a standard monster of the month flick. Berry gives an incredible performance alongside newcomers Percy Daggs and Anthony B. Jenkins making Never Let Go one of the must-see horror films of the Halloween season.

The Rope Is Your Lifeline

Never Let Go starts with a simple enough premise. The film introduces us to Halle Berry as Momma. A mother who cares for her two twin boys in a dilapidated house deep in an unnamed forest. It’s revealed through exposition that the world has ended, being taken over by a strange evil that causes people to kill one another in their homes. The home occupied by Momma and her two sons, Nolan and Samuel, is protected from this darkness. A blessing made years ago by Momma’s father on the foundation protects the house from outside evils. Ropes tied to the homes foundation allow each member to walk outside of their home. Provided they keep the rope attached to themself and never let go.

Right from the jump we get the feeling that something may be amiss with the yarn Momma spins to her children. Several early monster encounters are shot in a way that makes everything feel like a nightmare, not reality. Further revelations continue to murky the narrative Momma tells. Until both us and the audience have no idea what is real and what has been made up.

Stay Close To Home And Never Let Go

Before any twists or reveals are laid out the imagery and themes of helicopter parenting are in full effect. Halle Berry as Momma is a fanatical religious zealot. The result of years of sinful living spent in the world before it was destroyed. The imagery of a rope tied around the house connected to her children anytime they exit her home is not subtle but acutely effective. We fully understand this isn’t just a tale of monsters, but one of an overbearing mother.

The film really starts to pick up towards the end of the second act. The two boys begin to drift further apart in their beliefs and trust in their mother. A stressful winter that has diminished all of their food and water only exasperate their differing viewpoints. It all comes to a head when Momma makes a shocking suggestion that causes her son Nolan to fully question her motivations.

Horror And Survival

Never Let Go is as much a survival film as it is a horror film. The family is completely isolated in a world destroyed by evil and can only depend on each other. Moments spent eating tree bark or scouring for water play out like an episode of Yellowjackets and add tension to the first half of the film. This tension though isn’t engaging enough for the hour plus where it’s the only conflict on screen. It becomes apparent pretty early on that there is something off about the family’s isolation. That conflict is finally explored in the third act but unfortunately, it takes just a few too many beats to get there.

The saving grace of the film’s first hour is the stellar performances from the Oscar winner and young newcomers. Halle Berry perfectly encapsulates an overbearing mother and her two sons do an excellent job of portraying both trust and fear in their ill mother. Each son embodies a different feeling, with one questioning his mother and the other doing all he can to appease her. Both roles are acted impeccably and each arc comes to a satisfying conclusion.

Escaping Evil

Despite a sluggish opening, Never Let Go tells a compelling narrative inside a fun genre movie. The themes of overprotective mothers, religious overcorrections, and childhood rebellion, are all fully realized in unique ways. Genre movies are at their best when they are about something deeper. Never Let Go delivers this in spades and does so in a compelling way that will keep you guessing until the end.

Like Speak No Evil, Never Let Go may be a victim of its own marketing. The movie has been marketed as a standard creature feature but at its core, the film is so much more. Hopefully, the film will find an audience during this pre-Halloween and Oscar submittal season. Never Let Go won’t be an Oscar contender, but it will probably end up being someones favorite horror movie of 2024.