Warning: Major spoilers for Never Let Go ahead
Alexandre Aja’s latest horror thrillerNever Let Gomarks Halle Berry’s return to horror, and pits her and her two young sons against a post-apocalyptic evil that keeps them trapped in their house.Never Let Gois now showingin theaters nationwide, and features an anxiety-inducing story that keeps the audience engrossed with its ambiguity and an unreliable narrator. Reviews have been largely mixed, but so farNever Let Gohas given Halle Berry her highest Rotten Tomatoesscore in over five years.
Set in a forest that is oppressive in its tangles of trees and vines,Never Let Gostars Halle Berry as a character only recognized as Momma by her two young sons, played bynewcomers Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins. The three are isolated in their home in the woods after, as Momma describes it, “the world ended”, and are trapped there by a shapeshifting entity that roams the forest that only Momma can see. Whenever they leave the house, they must tether themselves to it with ropes, as the blessed nature of the house keeps them safe.
One of the boys, Nolan, begins to question whether or not what Momma tells them is real after multiple instances where the boys end up outside untethered and nothing happens to them. His brother Sam believes Momma entirely, and a rift grows between them over the movie’s events. After a brutal winter that depletes their food supply, Momma resolves to kill their dog Koda for food, which drives a furious Nolan to trap her in their greenhouse untethered to save Koda. In the greenhouse, Momma dies after an encounter with the evil entity, which takes the form of her mother.
The starving boys are left alone, and in short order a hiker stumbles upon their cabin, revealing that the world hasn’t ended and Momma was either lying or delusional. A starving and sickly Sam kills the hiker believing him to be a manifestation of the evil entity, and subsequently encounters the hiker’s daughter. However, it’s revealed that the girl is actually the evil entity, and Sam is possessed by it and attempts to kill his brother. The movie ends with Nolan confronting the evil in the form of his mother, and both boys are rescued by modern EMTs.
Never Let Go Review: Halle Berry Leads Anxiety-Inducing Horror That Makes For A Better Family Drama
It may not work on every level, but there’s intrigue & compelling character dynamics to carry it through to an ending that’ll start conversations.
Is The Evil In Never Let Go Real?
Alexandre Aja’s Unreliable Narrators Make It Unclear Throughout
For most ofNever Let Go,Aja never confirms whether the evil entity is actually realor simply a manifestation of Momma’s paranoia and possibly mental illness. Prior to her death, she is the only one able to see the shapeshifting entity, which takes the form of people from her past (her mother and former husband, most often), but in distorted, snake-life forms. Momma truly believes that the evil is attempting to possess her and her boys so that it can enter the house and force them to kill each other. However, Nolan’s skepticism casts doubt over her belief.
The audience is shown what Momma sees, and at one point Sam has what appears to be an encounter with the evil once he is accidentally untethered (he at least hears it and feels fear and dread wash over him).The final reveal that the evil may actually be real comes when Sam is possessedby the multi-handed creature masquerading as the hiker’s daughter. However, even that doesn’t answer the question, as Sam is a prisoner of his mother’s beliefs and in a near-death state from starvation; he may be hallucinating as well.
September 20th, 2024
$20 million
56%
Nolan’s final confrontation with the evil entity, which takes the form of his mother before finally revealing itself to be a scaly, humanoid snake monster doesn’t provide any more clarity, as he is also near starving and inhaling massive amounts of smoke.Aja casts doubt one final time by revealing the selfie that Sam takesas their house burns with Nolan inside, as the snake monster’s hand is shown on his shoulder, and in the final frames he appears to still be possessed as he repeats a line from earlier about his mother loving him more.
Never Let Go’s director Alexandre Aja’s ending is intended to be ambiguous, and leave the question whether the evil is real or not up to the audience to decide. It’s a matter of selecting which instances to believe as real occurrences, and which to believe are hallucinations or manifestations of mental and physical illness. It’s not a satisfying ending due to its lack of clarity and finality, but it is clearly intentional on Aja’s part given the ambiguity of the movie’s final scenes.
Why Momma Dies In Never Let Go’s Ending
She Finally Succumbs To The Fear That’s Controlled Her
Halle Berry’s Momma is depicted as a prisoner of her own fear throughoutNever Let Go, which manifests as the evil creature she sees periodically, which takes on the form of people from her past. She finally succumbs to the evil not via a direct encounter or possession, but via suicide.She cuts her own throat when she is cornered by the evil entityin the greenhouse so that it has no opportunity to possess her, and subsequently force her to kill her sons. Her suicide is a direct result of the evil finally getting to her.
Never Let Gomarks Halle Berry’s first horror movie since 2003’sGothika.
It’s a tragic ending for a character who was clearly traumatized to the point of mental illness, made worse by her continuous suffering and starvation. Her backstory is never revealed in detail, but it’s clear that her upbringing was heavily religious to the point of traumatizing her, after which she was exposed her to the evils of the world that she was likely warned about in her youth.Her past trauma shapes her broken mental state inNever Let Go, and makes her so unreliable as a narrator that it’s hard to believe anything she says or sees.
Was Cole The Hiker A Real Person Or Part Of The Evil?
There Are Subtle Clues As To His Real Identity
The audience sees what a possibly-delusional Sam sees in his encounter with the hiker’s daughter, which casts doubt over whether the hiker, Cole, was real or a manifestation of the evil. However, there are clues as to just how real he was. For one,Nolan sees Cole with an iPhone, which he would have never seen before and have no idea existed. Nolan also retrieves real food from Cole’s bag, complete with a Hormel Chili product placement. It appears that Cole was in fact real, and that Sam really did kill an innocent man in his paranoia.
Why Momma Lied About The State Of The World
Her Own History Played A Major Role
Momma’s backstory is never revealed in detail, but there are clues throughoutNever Let Gothat give the audience enough information to draw some conclusions about it. She grew up in the house they are trapped in, and it has blessings literally carved into its wood,pointing to just how fanatically religious her upbringing was. The crawlspace under the floor that she puts the boys in was clearly something she spent plenty of time in as a child, and contributed to her own past trauma.
The scars on her back may have also originated in her youth, asthey’re somewhat reminiscent of the marks from flogging or self-flagellation, which is a common religious punishment in more extreme Christian sects. That could have been a driving factor in her leaving her parents house, after which she appears to have immersed herself in the unsavory parts of the world. The one photo she keeps is of her in a decidedly non-conservative outfit, and she’s covered in tattoos of spiders and a massive snake.
Momma was likely lying to her boys about the state of the world at one pointin an effort to keep them isolated and away from the horrible things that she experiencedonce she was in it. Upon spending more time in her old house, that lie may have morphed into actual belief for her as a result of her past trauma and likely some form of mental illness. Her initial intentions were to keep her boys safe, but over time she became just as fanatical as her parents were in the isolated house.
The Religious Symbolism In Never Let Go Explained
Christian Symbolism Is Littered Throughout The Movie
Never Let Gois loaded with Christian symbols, with one massive metaphor at its center. The evil ultimately takes the form of a snake monster, and the manifestations that Momma sees all share snake-like traits including a forked tongue.This is a direct reference to the Book of Genesis from the Bible; Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden when Eve is tempted by Satan in the form of a snake.
The metaphor becomes more blunt when Momma kills herself, as she literally dies in her greenhouse when cornered by the evil appearing as a snake-like version of her mother.A snake invades her garden, just as Satan invaded the Garden of Edenin the form of a snake. Her snake tattoo is a further example of the metaphor, as it’s a representation of Momma’s past encounters with evil in the world, and it marks her as having been infected by that evil and fear during the events ofNever Let Go.
The Real Meaning Of Never Let Go’s Ending
It Explores Themes Of Fear, Grief, And Family
Never Let Gois a supernatural thriller, but like horror movies it explores some deeper themes via its horror elements.Never Let Gois driven by Halle Berry’s performance as Momma, and her perspective is where many of the movie’s most potent themes lie.She taps into the universal fear of all parents, which is how to protect their children from the evils of the world. Her character’s extreme actions in isolating her boys initially come from a place of love, but her fear and trauma warps the execution of her duties as a mother in protecting her children.
Momma’s parents tried to protect her from the evils of the world just as she did with her sons, but ultimately that trauma is passed down, becoming almost genetic in extreme cases.
Her hallucinations also touch on the potency of grief, as the evil she sees manifests itself as people from her past that she’s lost. She tells her boys that she killed both her parents and their father because the evil got to them, although it’s impossible to know if that’s what actually occurred or if it was just an extreme example to ensure her boys remain fearful and careful. Whether she killed them or they died from other causes, it’s clear she carries the grief and trauma of losing those loved ones, which further contributes to her unstable mental state.
The ending ofNever Let Goalso explores the damage that parents can do to their children, intentionally or otherwise. Momma was clearly damaged by her upbringing, and that in turn fueled the extremism with which she raised her sons. Her parents' intentions may have also been pure originally, as they tried to protect her from the evils of the world just as she did with her sons, but ultimately that trauma is passed down, becoming almost genetic in extreme cases.
Never Let Go
Cast
A mother and her twin sons are trapped in their house by a malevolent force, relying on their familial bond and physical connection for safety. When one son questions the reality of the evil, their unity unravels, leading to a terrifying battle for survival in this psychological thriller/horror.
