Ryuhei Kitamura made a film a little while called Midnight Meat Train it starred Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb and Brooke Shields amongst a few notable others, it was sensational and it is criminally under seen. And it showed just what he could do with a budget. Unfortunately the movie wasn't well received financially and has had a tough time finding it's way to an audience. His first feature Versus had a much better fortune but doomed with a low budget and shaky amateur direction it's a mixed bag at best. His second US feature No One lives falls into the middle. It sports a meaty, original concept a young couple find themselves abducted by a group of hoodlums. When the female captive dies the nameless male captive shows his true colors as he escapes and begins to murder them systematically. You see what they discover when examining his car is a young woman seemingly tortured whose been missing for the past year or so and whose picture is all over the news as she is an heiress to a large fortune. To say that the people have messed with the wrong guy is a huge understatement. And although the film is delightfully entertaining it also manages to somewhat explore the complex relationships between captives and the ones holding them. At times it feels a bit hokey and I'd be lying if I didn't say the acting wasn't mostly horrible and the dialogue needed some major work. Still Luke Evans makes for a sexy, delightful villain and although it falls into a few genre trappings and some failed attempts at low budget action it's a fun little gore flick with a surprising amount on it's mind. I do think it's important to realize how much the film has been affected by budgetary constraints and how influenced it is by Asian films. That being said he delivered an uber stylized, wonderfully stylish original horror flick with Midnight Meat Train and even though this may be some what of a step back ward it's still entertaining enough to merit a recommendation if you go in expecting exactly what is a sometimes silly, original, thought provoking, entertaining, slightly hammy horror flick thats equal parts awesome and unintentionally funny at the same time. 3/5
Review of No One Lives
