No One Lives

I wasn't expecting much based on all the recent horror movies I have seen that are lacking that special something, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. Some of the acting could have been better, but overall I thought this was a fun, gory thriller. Definitely worth a watch.

One of those modern-day 'grindhouse' style movies, full of unpleasant violence meted out to innocent people and even more unpleasant violence meted out to those who deserve it. This one is a fast-paced, action packed tale of small-time gangsters, kidnappers and serial killers, and the title is an apt one; it's the kind of nihilistic fare where nobody is likely to make it out alive and gruesome death is just around the corner.

It's also an incredibly gory movie, where the bloodshed is taken to a gratuitous level. People are fed into meat chippers and tortured and murdered in increasingly nasty ways, and it's all handled with a certain level of skill and professionalism by Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura, who brings the same level to insanity to this as he did to VERSUS and AZUMI back in the day.

British star Luke Evans is very good in the main role while the bad guys are all suitably sleazy and the victims all suitably victimised. Those looking for depth or a profound exploration on the nature of death and violence will be disappointed; this is superficial stuff through and through, packed with incident and plot twist after plot twist and little else. It's a perfect piece of popcorn entertainment for those who can handle the copious bloodshed.

When I am in the mood for a horror movie I usually want something with a non confusing plot, decent acting , and good pacing. Thankfully this had all 3. Yes there are some little small nit picks here and there but as a whole this is a good end of the working week Friday night movie. The story is pretty good but cannot be fully explained without spoiling it which I do not want to do. I will start with the gore level, this movie has gore but it is never over used to the point it is laughable unlike so many recent horror movies. The performances are pretty good I was only disappointed with a few line deliveries but I let them blow over my head. The pace was perfect in my opinion it sets up a good steady start, gets you asking questions and then the middle flows perfectly into the end you are never left sitting tempted to forward it onto the next death scene. All in all I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to be entertained for an hour an a half it is a movie you can switch your brain off and relax, If anyone has any trouble following the basic story then perhaps there at the age they shouldn't be watching it. Give it a try put your feet up and prepare to be entertained and satisfied as No One Lives does not disappoint!!

This movie is not what you think. Yes it is a horror (thats for sure), but it has a huge twist right near the start. I was watching this thinking "This is pretty good, story is going well". Then all of a sudden I was thinking "Wait! What the??". I don't want to give too much away, but the story changes tact about 10 or so minutes into the film, and I LIKED that a lot. The blood and gore factor in this is quite high too, which again I LIKED a lot. The movie was better than I was expecting for another WWE made horror, the last horror they made (Barricade) was below average in my opinion, but they've redeemed themselves a bit with this film. The characters were actually played well, especially the part of "Driver" played by Luke Evans. There were a couple of parts in the film that were cliché, but overall the film is quite good. So I give it a good 7.5 out of 10.

No One Lives is the type of movie that starts as many others and suddenly becomes something unexpected.

It is difficult to tell what happens without spoiling; but as in others Ryûhei Kitamura movies, there is no Good vs Evil but Evil vs Evil. If you never see any of his movies; get VERSUS before looking at this one.

Performances varies; Luke Evans is perfect; totally charismatic and captivating. Derek Magyar is terrifying as a psycho meeting his match. Laura Ramsey is pretty good as the other female characters; but Adelaide Clemens disappoints in a complex character far above her acting skills.

There is strong violence and gore but it never gets too disgusting (or at least too realistic) and are lots of dark funny moments.