Summary
- "No One Will Save You" is a movie that explores themes of grief, trauma, and acceptance while featuring an alien invasion storyline.
- The movie shares similarities with M. Night Shyamalan's "Split," including traumatic pasts for the main characters and a twist ending.
- Both movies delve into the dark repercussions of childhood trauma and the strength of those who have endured it.
No One Will Save You premiered on September 22, 2023 for Hulu. It follows the young woman Brynn as she discovers an alien invader exploring her home, who eventually learns of her presence. While the movie shows her running from several aliens, even killing a few of them, it's primarily a movie about grief, trauma, and acceptance. That happens to be the same premise for an M. Night Shyamalan movie that came out in 2017. No, it's not Signs.
Fans know M. Night Shyamalan for his horror/thriller movies that frequently end with a twist that either leaves audiences with questions or a dropped jaw. Coincidentally, No One Will Save You has its own kind of twist ending that left a lot of fans scratching their head. However, that's not the only feature it shares with Shyamalan's Split. These two movies share so many characteristics it's difficult to believe it wasn't intentional.
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What is Split About?
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Director |
M. Night Shyamalan |
|---|---|
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Writer(s) |
M. Night Shyamalan |
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Cast |
James McAvaoy, Anya Taylor Joy, Haley Lu Richardson |
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Premiere Date |
January 20, 2017 |
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Runtime |
1 hour 57 minutes |
After Shyamalan's After Earth failure in 2013, he took a step back and found his roots. He first returned with 2015's The Visit, but Split firmly planted him and his audience in familiar Shyamalan territory. More so than anyone thought at the start of the film. Split follows a young man named Kevin Wendell Crumb and a young woman named Casey who are each dealing with their own emotional baggage. Childhood trauma, to be more exact.
Kevin had a rather turbulent childhood and repressed his past so deep within his psyche as a form of protection that he manifested multiple personalities who believed they were protecting Kevin as well. The prominent personalities the audience meets are Dennis, Patricia, Hedwig, and Barry. However, these are just four of the 23 personalities living within Kevin's mind. These personalities collectively refer to themselves as the Horde. Throughout the movie, Dennis and Patricia prepare for the arrival of a 24th identity they call the Beast, which leads to the kidnapping of Casey and two of her school acquaintances.
The film ostensibly reveals more about Kevin's rough upbringing, where his mother abused him, but it goes more in-depth with Casey and her past. Through periodic flashbacks, the audience learns of the sexual abuse she endured from her uncle, adding a darker and more terrifying layer to the overall movie on top of a kidnapping and preparation for a murderous entity.
Split's third act reveals the Beast as a personality with an altered physiology from the host personality. He has skin as tough as a rhino's and fingers strong enough to dig into stone. The personalities see the Beast as their protector, keeping them safe from the harshness of those who judge people for being different and taking advantage of the weak. He murders two of the kidnapped girls because they were "impure" and never suffered in their short life. He saw them as the kind of people who would judge those who are different from the majority of the population. It's a movie about childhood scars, grief, trauma, not judging those who are different, and overcoming trauma.
How is Split Similar to No One Will Save You?
By the end of Split, the Beast gives chase to Casey after she manages to escape. She discovers she's in a zoo and ends up locking herself in a vacant cage with the Beast not far behind. The Beast shows off his incredible strength and nearly breaks the bars to get to Casey when he notices self-inflicted scars on her abdomen. This stops him in his tracks, and he allows her to live, deeming her one of the people he would protect because she has a troubled past just like Kevin.
Brynn from No One Will Save You shares many similar character traits to Casey. Audiences learn that Casey intentionally got herself thrown in detention as a way to be alone. Brynn lives as a pariah outside of town in a little cottage without interacting with anyone. Quite literally. No One Will Save You features zero dialogue, with Brynn speaking a total of three words in the entire movie.
Both Casey and Brynn underwent traumatic events in their childhood. Casey's uncle repeatedly abused her and eventually gained full custody after Casey's father passed away from a heart attack. Brynn accidentally killed her best friend Maude in the heat of an argument, forcing Brynn to live in exile for the remainder of her life on the outskirts of the town she grew up in.
Brynn ends up running for her life and facing off against extraterrestrials. The Beast might not be an extraterrestrial, but he's an otherworldly figure manifested from the fractured mind of Kevin Wendell Crumb. Brynn's pursuers eventually capture her and beam her onto their ship, where they look into her mind to see her past. They see all that she went through and decide she underwent enough trauma for one lifetime. This earns her a place amongst the society they create, mirroring the Beast deeming Casey worthy of survival for all the trauma she endured.
While it's true that there's no such thing as an original story anymore, especially when it comes to cinema, it's hard to believe that director Brian Duffield didn't take inspiration from M. Night Shyamalan's Split. To top it off, the two films have their own twist endings. No, No One Will Save You didn't reveal it's connected to Bruce Willis' Unbreakable universe, but it had a twist nonetheless.