Although the upcomingHalle BerryvehicleNever Let Golooks promising, the post-apocalyptic horror movie also seems like it might revisit a 21-year-old slasher movie’s terrible twist. Broadly speaking, 2003’sHaute Tensionwas a pretty perfect calling card for French horror director Alexandre Aja. Within three years of the French indie horror movie’s release, Aja was directing a big-budget remake of Wes Craven’sThe Hills Have Eyes. 2009’sPiranha 3Dfollowed, as well as 2013’s fantasy horrorHorns. However, whileAlexandre Aja’s horror movieswere mostly financial successes, it is important to noteHaute Tension’s limitations.
Thetwist ending ofHaute Tensionnever sat right with critics, as many reviewers felt that its outlandish revelations undid a lot of the movie’s effective tension and suspense. Since then, Aja has consistently struggled to win over critics, with 2007’sP2,Horns, and 2016’sThe 9th of Louis Draxall earning less than 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. Aja has improved his critical standing in recent years, with 2021’sOxygenand 2019’sCrawlboth earning 89% and 84% from the critical aggregator respectively. However, Aja’s next project runs the risk of repeating his worst twist.
Halle Berry’s 10 Best Movies, Ranked
Halle Berry has starred in dozens of films and television shows, becoming a pivotal character in the X-Men franchise and winning numerous awards.
Never Let Go’s Post-Apocalyptic Horror Story Could Be In The Heroine’s Head
Halle Berry’s Survivalist Could Fall Victim To A Classic Silly Twist
Aja’s new movie, the Halle Berry vehicleNever Let Go, stars the celebrated actor as a mother who raises her young sons in an isolated woodland. The movie’s trailer sets up a simple premise wherein the two boys live in the woods with their mother sometime after an unspecified off-screen apocalypse. They are tethered to their home to avoid encounters with monsters, but this system eventually breaks down. This simple storyline clearly needs a big twist, and this revelation could be that there are no monsters and Berry’s character is delusional.
If this is the case,Never Let Gocould end up repeatingHaute Tension’s widely derided twist ending21 years after the horror movie earned the ire of critics. Even the movie’s most vocal detractors admitted thatHaute Tensionis a queasily effective home invasion thriller in its opening acts, but its intense, terrifying atmosphere is thoroughly ruined by its absurd final twist.Never Let Go’sBird Box-style premiseseems like it could set up some effective scares, but there is a very real possibility that this will all be in service of the same goofy punchline.
Never Let Go’s Director Infamously Used This Twist Before
Alexandre Aja’s Acclaimed 2003 Debut Haute Tension Featured A Similar Reveal
There are a handful of movies that successfully pulled off the revelation that the POV character has actually been the villain all along. These tend to be noir movies and thrillers, since the twist is a little more obvious in the horror genre. However, what makesNever Let Go’s potential use of this reveal so risky is the fact that Alexandre Aja already unsuccessfully utilized this horror movie twist. InHaute Tension, the heroine Marie sincerely believed she was saving her friend from the killer who murdered her family, only for the ending to reveal that Marie is their killer.
Never Let Go’s twist could be marginally different, as the ending may reveal that the apocalypse never really took place.
Bizarrely, Halle Berry already starred in anothermovie where the main character is the killeryears ago, although this thriller was not a critical hit.Never Let Go’s twist could be marginally different, as the ending may reveal that the apocalypse never really took place and the monsters inhabiting the outside world were really ordinary people. However, the central premise would still be very close toHaute Tension’s big twist ending, as both stories would revolve around heroines who believe they are protecting their loved ones but are secretly dangerously deluded.
The movie’s premise and its trailer look a lot like A Quiet Place, Bird Box, Arcadian, and The Silence.
Never Let Go Needs A Big Twist To Stand Out
The Upcoming Horror Movie’s Story Is Very Familiar
What makes the setup of Aja’s new movie tricky is thatNever Let Godoes need a big twist to stand out in the overcrowded post-apocalyptic horror subgenre. Already, the movie’s premise and its trailer look a lot likeA Quiet Place,Bird Box,Arcadian, andThe Silence, soNever Let Goneeds some sort of unexpected twist. However, Aja’s movie should not go with the hackneyed reveal already seen inHaute Tension. Particularly whenSamara Weaving’s post-apocalyptic horror movieAzraelarrives so close toNever Let Go’s release, the bigger movie needs a way to distinguish itself.
Never Let Gois set to be released on July 08, 2025.
This leaves Aja in an unfortunate catch-22. His debut movie was praised for its artful, genuinely tense horror sequences, but criticized for its silly twist ending.Never Let Go’s overly familiar premise means the movie needs some sort of big twist, but the most obvious one is the same revelation that dragged down the director’s first major hit in the eyes of critics. It is tough to see howNever Let Gowill navigate this issue, but theHalle Berrymovie’s release will reveal everything.
