Naty's Spooky Corner

No One Gets Out Alive

★★★★★

Sunday, November 21, 2021, 11:11 PM

No One Gets Out Alive is a 2021 British horror film directed by Santiago Menghini and based on a 2014 novel by the same name, but much like an earlier post there have been several changes made to the film adaptation so maybe no spoilers? The film stars Cristina Rodlo as Ambar and Marc Menchaca as Red as the main characters of a very intimate cast.

The film follows our dear protagonist, Ambar as she struggles to survive her fresh move to Cleveland (I mean it is Cleveland) as an undocumented immigrant after the death of her ill mother. Desperate to find cheap housing that she can afford from her sweatshop income, she decides to rent out a room in a dilapidated boarding house run by a mysterious man named Red. Ambar reluctantly agrees knowing that there are many rules associated with the housing situation and a hefty upfront fee. To make matters worse, Ambar quickly notices that there are several things in the house that go bump in the night and is constantly plagued by the sound of a woman weeping and calling out for help.

Driven by her need to quickly forge papers for a better job so that she can escape from her nightmarish hellscape of a home, Ambar unfortunately chooses to trust a fellow coworker only for her to disappear the next day with all her money and her only hope for survival. Now even with her situation seeming even more desperate than ever Ambar tries to flee her ghost-ridden home only to be tricked by Red by his offer of a sweet, sweet return of her deposit.

Crawl into the steel box for the following spoilers.

Through some mixed exposition, we the audience learn that Red and his brother Becker have been trapping women in the house for god knows how many years in order to sacrifice them to the being that lives in the steel box that has been following Ambar since the first time she stepped foot into the house. Tied and gagged, Ambar is then prepared for the ritual and placed on a stone slab so that she may be sacrificed to Itzpapalotl, an Aztec Goddess who’s nesting box had been brought to the home. The ritual however, does not go as planned since the Goddess sees that Ambar had in fact murdered her own mother in order to stop being her keeper. Ambar is then able to escape, sacrifices Red, and is shown in a euphoric trance after the Goddess accepts her sacrifice and floods her body with power.

That was a super long film breakdown right? Well, don’t say that I didn’t warn you! I chose to provide the entire film plot for the following breakdown. While there are clearly many awful things that happen during this film, it seems to me that the true tragedy is that no matter what Ambar does she is trapped. Trapped to take care of her ailing mother, trapped to deal with abusive employers because of her citizenship status, and finally most likely trapped now to serve a very powerful goddess with sacrificial offerings. It’s a rather depressing tale that shows how some systems, from familial expectations to governmental policies, are impossible to break out of.

As a response to a different review of this film that I had read prior to writing my own review, I want to offer the following statement (that’s right y'all it’s Naty Rant Time™) - Itzpapalotl is not a demon, but a very powerful Aztec Goddess. Anyone who tries to diminish her power and motivations by labeling her as nothing more than a demon clearly does not understand what makes this film so unique nor the cultural importance behind it. As a Latina, it was incredibly refreshing to see a horror movie that explores the genre from a Mesoamerican, pre-Hispanic perspective. It’s entirely too often that we see films that center around a very Christian perspective of horror, i.e. The Exorcist, The Conjuring universe, Hereditary, and any other big name film that invokes protection through the Church. And not to say that these films are flawed by their Christian roots, but rather that these stories have dominated the horror genre for an incredibly long time.

Ultimately, was this film perfect? Definitely not, but I will always be open to engaging with media that uses indigenous traditions and stories as it’s baseline.

Cool Ass Aztec Goddess: 5/5

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