A young blonde, heiress Emma (Adelaide Clemens), runs screaming through the woods. As she approaches a busy road and is within reach of possibly escaping her pursuer, she steps into a booby trap and is propelled upside-down into the air, hanging from a tree.
Local police have never given up their search for Emma, due to a more recent carving on a tree in the woods which comes complete with traces of her blood. It reads, simply: "Emma's Alive".
Elsewhere, close by: hoodlums Hoag (Lee Tergesen), Flynn (Derek Maygar), Ethan (George Murdoch) and their pals are looking for their next big rip-off. They've chosen the estate of a wealthy businessman and things seem to be going well until Flynn goes typically psycho and prematurely instigates a bloodbath. The crew leave empty-handed, and with Hoag fuming at the consequences of his right-hand man's trigger happy temperament.
Meanwhile, a young man (Luke Evans) drives through redneck country in the process of "relocating" with the pretty Betty (Laura Ramsey) at his side. They chat for a while, and it becomes apparent that she's miffed at the man - who's never named - for some reason. It also appears to be the reason they're on the move.
The couple stop at a cheap motel and have sex, before venturing out to a diner recommended by the receptionist. Unfortunately, it also happens to be a regular haunt for Hoag and his gang. With total disregard for their privacy at the dinner table, Flynn swiftly moves in on the couple and makes advances towards Betty. Hoag pulls him away before things turn ugly - but you just know there are going to repercussions following this tense initial meeting.
What follows brings all of the above action together, but is impossible to discuss here without divulging a pretty major twist that occurs 21 minutes into play. Believe me, NO ONE LIVES works better if that element of surprise is intact when you go into it.
What I can tell you is that Hoag and his gang really have bitten off more than they bargained for when the cross 'the man' - and Emma, who of course is going to feature in all of this at some point, is one of the surliest heroines in quite some time.
NO ONE LIVES comes with a co-production credit being afforded to WWE. Okay, alarm bells rang from the offset. But it's actually a slick, well-oiled and good-looking horror piece with an unflagging pace and effective use of a simple, TERMINATOR-style score.
I've no doubt, what with the WWE connection, that this was originally intended as a vehicle for some oversized wrestling 'star'. But Evans is better cast, with a smaller physique and more 'everyman' persona which fits his unexpectedly resourceful character well. I didn't quite warm to him (was I meant to? Genuine question), mainly because he reminded me a little too much of Orlando Bloom. Still, his performance here is decent without being remarkable enough to suggest he's Hollywood's "next big thing" (per Anchor Bay's press release blurb).
A few deliberately OTT performances, a bit of nudity here and there ... some cringingly bad one-liners, and a whole lot of shouting. None of which is disagreeable, but I wonder would NO ONE LIVES be memorable without its most distinctive feature: the gore!
Hardly surprising, seeing as though this comes from director Ryuhei Kitamura - director of VERSUS and THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN - this film is punctuated by some righteous scenes of bloody violence. Stabbings, decapitations, shootings, harpoonings ... NO ONE LIVES relishes in its gory action. Best of all, the FX are good and - for the most part - eschew Kitamura's preferred method of CGI.
There's scope for a sequel, but I'm not sure where this premise could be taken. The element of surprise would be gone, and with it goes the expectation-subverting nature of David Cohen's screenplay. We shall see.
Anchor Bay UK's blu-ray presents NO ONE LIVES as an MPEG4-AVC file, uncut and in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The picture is 16x9 enhanced and looks pretty good in this 1080p HD presentation.
There's a very fine layer of natural grain to be witnessed upon closer inspection of the picture. Also, flesh-tones appear accurate throughout. Despite these factors positively suggesting a lack of ugly DNR, there is a lack of sharpness and finer detail to proceedings that's not in keeping with HD presentations of such recently produced films.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad transfer as such. Blacks hold up remarkably well with no compression issues whatsoever. Colours are strikingly bold and warm. But I expected something a tad sharper, more vivid, given the film's lack of age and stylish delivery.
English audio is provided in 5.1 True HD. It's a raucous mix with finely tuned balance and agreeably clean quieter passages. Optional English subtitles are well-written and easy to read.
A lively animated main menu page takes delight in hinting at the gore to come. From there, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to NO ONE LIVES via 12 chapters.
The only extra is a 27-minute featurette which takes an extremely polished, slickly edited look at the making of the film. Kitamura and Evans are understandably the most vocal of the talking head-style interviews, though most of the cast and crew get a say at some point. A wealth of behind-the-scenes footage is included in-between.
NO ONE LIVES is an enjoyable 86-minute ride. It demonstrates Kitamura's growth as a storyteller, and thankfully sees him step away from the CGI bloodletting that marred THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN. Some neat twists, credible performances and enthusiastic gore make this one a decent night's viewing for all but the seriously jaded.
Review by Stuart Willis
Released by Anchor Bay UK |
Region B |
Rated 18 |
Extras : |
see main review |