Review: ‘Never Let Go’ (2024), starring Halle Berry

September 30, 2024

by Carla Hay

Anthony B. Jenkins, Halle Berry and Percy Daggs IV in “Never Let Go” (Photo by Liane Hentscher/Lionsgate)

“Never Let Go” (2024)

Directed by Alexandre Aja

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed part of the U.S., the horror film “Never Let Go” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A single mother and her 10-year-old twin sons live in isolation in a wooded area, where she has taught them that they will be in danger or killed if they let go of the rope that ties them together when they go outside.

Culture Audience: “Never Let Go” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Halle Berry and movies that are mildly suspenseful but leave too many questions unanswered.

Halle Berry in “Never Let Go” (Photo by Liane Hentscher/Lionsgate)

“Never Let Go” is marketed as a horror movie, but it’s more of a bleak psychological drama about mental illness. Although it’s oddly intriguing about what will happen next, the story becomes repetitive and clumsy, with an ending that falls flat. The performances from the principal cast members are solid, but “Never Let Go” seems it would have been much better a short film.

Directed by Alexandra Aja, “Never Let Go” was written by Kevin Coughlin and Ryan Grassby. It’s one of those movies that looks like it’s trying to be a like Stephen King short story. However, the characters just become a bit one-note after a while. It’s a movie that focuses mainly on a family of three people, but by the end of the movie, there isn’t much that’s revealed about these three people since when the movie starts.

In “Never Let Go” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. state but was actually filmed in the Canadian province of British Columbia), the family of three at the center of the story live in an isolated wooded area. The family members are a widow who is only identified in the end credits as Momma (played by Halle Berry) and her 10-year-old fraternal twin sons Samuel (played by Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (played by Percy Daggs IV).

Samuel is the quieter, more obedient twin. Nolan is the more extroverted and rebellious twin. Samuel likes to remind Nolan that he’s three minutes older than Nolan, as if somehow that gives Samuel more authority over Nolan. Samuel is always worried about following their mother’s rules. Nolan is more interested in breaking the rules, especially when he’s very curious about something.

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, viewers see that this is a very strange family. Momma is extremely paranoid and has taught her sons that when they go outside, they all have to be tied together by a long rope. And they can never let go of this rope or let the rope become untied when they’re outside. Momma tells Samuel and Nolan that if they get separated from each other, then a shapeshifting demon call The Evil will get them. Momma says that The Evil will infect their souls and make them want to kill each other. Nolan and Samuel also do a ritualistic chant that includes the words “never let go.”

Momma, Samuel and Nolan all live in a ramshackle cabin with no electricity. The cabin was built by Momma’s father, who is now deceased. This family doesn’t have any vehicles. Momma wants to keep herself and her sons from other people and from the modern world. In other words, they don’t go grocery shopping. Instead, Momma, Samuel and Nolan hunt for food in the woods. They use a crossbow for some of this hunting. The family has a dog named Coda that helps in the hunting and foraging and is an all-around loyal pet.

The animals they eat include squirrels, frogs, insects and bird eggs. The forest doesn’t have any fruit trees but they will occasionally eat leaves. And if they’re really hungry, which becomes more often as the story goes along, they might eat tree bark. Momma tells her sons that they can’t eat anything without her permission first. The boys’ existence revolves around looking for food and doing what their mother says. She’s not homeschooling them or doing anything to teach them to be intelligent and independent.

When the inevitable happens, and the rope unravels, The Evil (played by Stephanie Lavigne) appears. It turns out to that almost every time Momma sees The Evil, it looks like a zombie version of Momma’s mother, who appears as a bloated corpse that has black bile coming from her in her mouth and hisses when she’s about to attack. The ghost of Momma’s father (played by Georges Gracieuse) also occasionally appears. And so does Momma’s dead husband (played by William Catlett), who just is seen suddenly showing up in the woods, saying nothing, and then disappearing again. It’s as underwhelming as it sounds.

What is the point of all these ghostly sightings or hallucinations? Momma is haunted by some childhood trauma. She tells incoherent stories about being abused by a horrible mother, who is dead but Momma thinks her mother is still out to get her and shows up as The Evil. And only Momma can see these demons. “Never Let Go” is not subtle at all in its obvious and trite symbolism.

Samuel is all too willing to believe everything that Momma says. By contrast, Nolan becomes more skeptical, especially when he begins to suspect that nothing bad will really happen if they untie the rope from each other. “Never Let Go” then becomes a bit tiresome as it repeats any of these four scenarious: Facing starvation, the family goes outside to look for food. The rope gets untied. Momma sees The Evil and gets even more anxious. Nolan wants to test the boundaries of going in the woods without the rope tied to him.

“Never Let Go” drops vague hints that The Evil and plays mind games and is still around even when it can’t be seen. In a scene where Samuel and Nolan are walking together in the woods, Samuel thinks Nolan has loudly whispered, “She loves me more.” However, Nolan denies ever saying that comment. This line is later used in the movie to make some type of statement, but it’s just not effective enough, especially if viewers didn’t notice the first time that this line was uttered.

Not much is revealed about Momma’s personal background. At one point in the movie, she shows a Polaroid camera to her sons and a photo of herself as a blonde party girl. She says she brought the camera with her from the “old world” from her previous life. What does that mean? And why bring it up if the movie doesn’t do anything else with this information? Don’t expect this movie to give you those answers.

The most disturbing part of “Never Let Go” doesn’t have to do with The Evil but when Momma becomes desperately hungry and decides she has no choice but to shoot Coda and feed him to her family. The movie has a very intense and suspenseful scene where a distraught Nolan vigorously tries to stop his mother from shooting the family dog. After this scene is over, “Never Let Go” just becomes a bland survival story.

Berry gives a capable performance, even though she’s not in the movie as much as the marketing would have you believe. The real star of the movie is the character of Nolan, who goes through a predictable series of dilemmas. Daggs gives the movie’s standout performance as the spirited Nolan, who is the closest thing this movie has to a character with an interesting personality. With too many unanswered questions and a last-ditch attempt to turn this ghost story into a crime drama, “Never Let Go” is a muddled movie that stumbles around but never seems to find its way.

Lionsgate released “Never Let Go” in U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024.

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