He Never Left

This is a film I brought based on the description at the same time as heart eyes and hoped in a similer vein it would be just as good. Unfortunatly though I was very wrong. This woman called carley goes to a motel, but smuggles her boyfriend in the trunk because his on the run from the cops because of murder. The guy running the place seems a little creepy but not a whole lot really happens here in terms of horror. This becomes more of a thriller and any attmept at horror is null void. The mask however was creepy enough. Acting not the worst ive seen in these typs of films either. I was just overall let down by this one.

The best parts of the movie were the fall colors as the car drove through parts of Utah on the way to the motel. Carly has Gabe in the trunk of her car, as Gabe is a very wanted man. Carly pays for three nights at the motel. For almost the rest of the movie we are regaled with a very paranoid driven Gabe, who has to stay out of sight in the room. There are some flashbacks which fill in some of the background. There is some use of jump scares, and also seeing people that are not there. There is a scene where the motel manager tells Gabe that Carly's credit card didn't go through, something about the address being wrong. The last act seems a bit rushed and incoherent. But do stay for the credits, as much is revealed, and it also seems this movie got some crowdfunding. But this movie is best forgotten, and even not viewed.

This is not a slasher...it is something more. It is a fantastic character study, executed with a stylish sense of filmmaking whilst bathed in Halloweentime ambience. The writing and presentation recall a time when horror films (thrillers, if you prefer) were just as much about mystery and intrigue as they were about shock and schlock. He Never Left has all of this to offer in spades, plus a few surprises along the way. The wonderful Witching Season Films family never fails to impress, with James Morris masterfully manifesting the macabre mise-en-scène both behind and in front of the camera, beside Michael Ballif, who poignantly paints each frame in dual roles as cinematographer and editor and never allows the same motel setting to get stale. Randin Graves' score is composed with as much compelling, calculating complexity as the performances from Jessica Staples and Colin Cunningham who evoke unrelenting empathy as David McMahon and Charla Bocchicchio meanwhile offer quiet quirkiness to round out a truly classy cast. Also true is that this film may not go the way you want or expect, but it stands currently as an antithetical to so many of its contemporaries in the zeitgeist and if it doesn't find massive success now, it will certainly find a cult of its own in due time.

While I had never heard about this 2023 horror movie titled "He Never Left", from director James Morris, of course I had to watch it as I stumbled upon it here in 2025, given my love of all things horror.

From the movie's synopsis, I was figuring that I would be in for a masked slasher type of horror movie, but instead I found myself in for a supernatural horror movie I guess, as there was a lot of imaginary things going on apparently. And truth be told, the writers James Morris, Michael Ballif and Colin Cunningham, with the latter also starring in the movie, failed to pen down a properly entertaining script. I found the narrative boring and uneventful, and I struggled to keep feigning an interest in it, but it was a losing uphill battle.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and that was actually a nice thing, as I enjoy watching unfamiliar talents and faces on the screen. And despite of the script being a swing and a miss, then I will say that the acting performances were fair.

As for "He Never Left" being a horror movie, well, don't get your hopes up. Perhaps if you are a newcomer to the horror genre then you might find this movie scary. But I have been watching horror movies for more than 40 years, so this was a mere walk in the park. And a boring one at that.

Semi-watchable, sure, but "He Never Left" was not a great movie, not even by a longshot. It was a struggle to sit through, and it is definitely not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I will recommend to horror fans.

My rating of director James Morris's 2023 horror movie "He Never Left" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

He Never Left is a smaller film, and in some ways, I appreciate what it is trying to do. Production is decent. Acting is okay if a bit grating. Plot tries to be intriguing, but it comes across a bit to simplistic, even if everything isn't known up front. The plot combines two storylines that are unconnected but by the barest of a thread. And this connection doesn't make a difference in the overall story, just a weird coincidence. So why bother?

I wanted to like this more than I did. The bleak ending didn't help as I don't appreciate evil winning just to make for a "cute" ending. Hopefully, they won't make a sequal anytime soon. Tired characters didn't help as they just became lame tropes of standard wrong doers. But, the parts didn't add up to much. Oh well.