No Exit

No Exit has nothing new to see, but it's still entertaining. The scenario of being stranded at a rest stop overnight with a kidnapper is suspenseful. Not knowing at first who the kidnapper is creates a nice element of mystery and let's us play detective for a little while. The story is pretty predictable as it tries to be unpredictable with some twists. It's full of clichés and the stereotypical characters are not extremely interesting but they serve their purpose. Though this horror/thriller contains some blood and violence, it shouldn't be more than the average thriller fan can handle. While nothing feels fresh here, it's not a hard movie to sit through. It's a simple, low budget thriller that moves fast enough to keep us entertained. It holds an obvious low opinion of white people which doesn't do it any favors.

It's like one of those 2000's thrillers with twisty plots and ensemble casts. The kind of movies that would have starred Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Angelina Jolie and similar but these days can be find on your average streamer. Average and basic but keeps you entertained. If you have seen many movies like this you will easily figure out all the twists in advance and be able to guess where the plot goes. But there are far worse choices out there..

During a blizzard, college girl stuck in this cabin with some strangers and find a kidnapped girl in a van. Then the college girl (and all the character) starts to made a string of poor choices. Shocking, i know. The general premise of No Exit though not groundbreaking, sounds interesting. At first glance, it seems like it's gonna be a whodunit mystery-thriller, but then things takes turns, and another turn and another, and another... you get what i'm saying. Good on paper, bad on practice. Though some of these turns are fun and bold, it makes this film messy.

You would think with all these 'plot twist' that the ending would be somewhat unpredictable, right? Wrong. The ending is as generic as it can get. Overall, No Exit has a very weak script, dull-cringeworthy-professional poor-decision-maker characters. I guess the highlight of this film is some of the gore are pretty gory... (ba dum tss), the acting is decent, the run time and the pace are adequate.

It's a mindless insomnia watch, but definitely skippable 5.8/10.

What was supposed to be a horror movie turned into a crime scene pretty quick. The typical "don't judge a book by it's cover" is the theme of the movie.

With a 1.5 hour runtime, the movie doesn't beat around the bush and gets to the point pretty quick - another pro.

As "No Exit" (2022 release; 95 min.) opens, we are introduced to Darby, a young woman who is in rehab. When Darby learns that her mother has gone to the hospital, Darby makes her escape and steals a car. Alas, there is a blizzard coming and Darby must shelter in a remote visitors center with 4 other stranded people... At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is directed by Damien Power (in just his 2nd feature length). Here he brings Taylor Adams' novel of the same name onto the screen. I can't tell for sure, but this has all the feelings of a COVID-19 production: almost the entire movie plays out in a single location (the Visitors Center), and with a small cast. The initial 30 minutes are a bit slow, but then the movie finds a second gear, so to speak, and really kicks in. This movie is super plot-heavy so the less said, the better. All but one of the cast were no-names to me. The only one I recognized was Dennis Haysbert. Bottom line: this isn't going to get any awards nominations, but I quite enjoyed my time with this.

"No Exit" was originally intended to be released in theaters, but resulting from the COVID mess, it got delayed and delayed and then finally pulled from the schedule altogether. It recently started airing on Hulu, where I caught it the other night. If you are in the mood for a scary kidnapping drama/thriller, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.