Breathing fresh life into the frequently familiar haunted house sub-genre by implanting a fresh and fascinating metaphor, Santiago Menghini‘s No One Gets Out Alive plunges audiences into the core of Adam Nevill’s dark and stark imagination.
Drawn by the prospect of getting to turn the table on timeworn tropes, debut filmmaker Menghini didn’t deliberate when offered the chance to direct Netflix’s adaptation of Nevill’s novel of the same name.
Starring Cristina Rodlo (“The Terror”, Miss Bala) and Marc Menchaca (“Ozark”, “The Outsider), No One Gets Out Alive sees Ambar (Rodlo) finally embark on her American Dream after having dutifully tended to her terminally ill mother in Mexico for a number of years. On arriving in Cleveland illegally, she has to make do with renting the cheapest room available from Red (Menchaca) in a near derelict boarding house. As disturbing nightmares and strange unearthly noises begin tormenting her every night, Ambar soon realises that she has unwittingly been lured into a trap; one where she will soon be introduced to the evil that has been lurking in the basement.
With No One Gets Out Alive currently available globally on Netflix, SCREAM sat down with Rodlo to discuss the film’s timely allegories and how she identified with her character’s strong desire to belong and the constant feeling of alienation no matter how hard she tries to assimilate and fit in.
Words: Howard Gorman