Written and directed by DW Medoff (Pollen, Visitants), I Will Never Leave You Alone is a horror that blends psychological and the supernatural together into one whole. Featuring mainly just the one character, and a mute one at that, I was surprised that this kept my attention for as long as it did, though I did feel the final twenty minutes lost me a bit.
Richard (Kenneth Trujillo - Fear Street: Part Two - 1978) has recently been released from prison where he had spent the past five years due to involuntary manslaughter. As part of his early release, he is part of a work release scheme, and to fulfil this role, he has been hired by a strange company who deal in house 'clearances'. The man (who is unable to speak) is told that he needs to spend six days in a remote home near some woodland, in order to perform rites that clients of the business believe will cleanse the place of any ghosts who may reside there. He is told that should he leave before the six days are up that he would have broken the terms of his release and will be sent back to prison. Already facing demons of his own, he soon comes to suspect that there is something in the house with him that doesn't has his best interests at heart.
Horror films in which the protagonist are pretty much alone for the whole runtime can often be a lesson in patience. I also find the amount they talk to themselves (mainly it feels to keep the viewers from boredom) unrealistic. In that respect, giving Richard a reason not to talk does actually work, and having a reason for him not to flee at the first sign of danger also makes sense. This is both due to him having to go back to prison should he leave, but also that the troubled man has frequent unsettling audial and visual hallucinations of his likely deceased wife, Emma (Katerina Eichenberger) even before he leaves prison, so hearing strange noises and seeing strange sights in the house probably feels business as usual for him!
Due to the protagonist not talking it is hard to get a read on what he is really feeling. There are frequent enough flashbacks to when Richard was married to provide a decent amount of backstory for him, as he is able to talk in these flashbacks. You get glimpses into an unhappy marriage, Richard an alcoholic with a gambling addiction, his wife Emma suffering severe postpartum depression. As if those things were not bad enough, you then get the boiling point moment that was very shocking, making The Coffee Table incident feel almost tame by comparison!
Richard is joined by a small handful of other characters, best of which was handyman Mike (Christopher Genovese), a likeable fellow who provides the lead with the backstory of the house's troubled past. Allegedly based around an old woman who had been tortured and killed by superstitious locals hundreds of years in the past, as she had been suspected of being a witch. With Richard already hallucinating prior to arriving at the house, it could be seen that his frequent sightings of a ghostly witch creature were also all in his mind, though other characters react to strange noises that occur in and around the house so who knows? The design of the witch ghost was fine, but it did have a bit of a generic look to it, even if it was striking with its crown of thorns, stitched up mouth and nails that had been hammered into the eyes of the ghost. There was a creepy atmosphere in the house, and an unsettling feeling, but the fear never really got to anything more than a small bubble. What fear there was dissipated in the bizarre final twenty minutes. I actually liked this final part of the hundred minute movie, but it was real odd, and ended on bit of a silly note.
I Will Never Leave You Alone certainly had its moments, from the twisted final flashback sequence, lovely gruesome special effects, and the constant oppressive feeling of the house. I can't say I was really there for that last part, as enjoyable as it was, and I found Richard hard to really root for due to his morose and silent character. I Will Never Leave You Alone came to ARROW on 10th March, and is due to come out on limited edition Blu-ray on 5th May.
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