You have about 20 minutes before you’re completely paralyzed.
Main Cast: Kelsey Asbille, Finn Whitrock
Directors: Brian Netto and Adam Schinlder
Where do we draw the line on genres? When does a horror movie become more a suspense thriller? I looked up the top 5 horror movies on Netflix and got a list of likely candidates. Then I picked the shortest one, which was also the one that sounded the most interesting. I love a good premise, and this one was a winner. For me, a good premise is one I am dying to see how the writer worked their way out of it, and 2024’s DON’T MOVE had one I couldn’t wait to see play out.
Written by T.J. Cimfel and David White (both of THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE CHILDREN) and directed by Brian Netto and Adam Schindler (SUNDOWN and INTRUDERS respectively), DON’T MOVE centers around Iris (Kelsey Asbille) who is mourning the death of her young son Mateo, who fell from the edge of a cliff. She starts her day by going up to that same spot and peering over the edge, but before she can jump (which she fully intends to do) her moment is interrupted by Richard (Finn Whitrock), a fellow hiker who’s just there to enjoy the scenery. Understanding what’s about to happen, Richard talks Iris off the ledge, literally, and together they walk back down the mountain to the parking area where it seems Richard has blocked Iris’s car so she can’t get in. Not to worry; Richard had no intention of letting her back in her car. He shocks her unconscious and when she wakes up again, Richard had zip-tied her wrists, and is taking her to his cabin where he will most likely murder her.
He didn’t check her pocket, though, and Iris had a small pocketknife she can use to cut the zip tie and try to escape. But what she didn’t know, and this was the part of the premise that most intrigued me, is that Richard is a planner and he likes redundancies in his plans. To that effect, he’s already injected Iris with a muscle relaxer that, in about 20 minutes, will render her paralyzed for at least an hour.
Now we’re cooking, I thought. What a set-up. How the hell are the writers going to get their character through this situation in a believable enough manner that the viewers don’t call bullshit and we are still satisfied with the ending?
I won’t spoil the details, but I was very pleased with how they pulled it off, and pulled it off they did. DON’T MOVE reminded me of so many old pulp adventure stories where it’s just one thing after another, one more weight on the shoulders of the main character, one more twist, one more turn, one more moment of triumph ripped away from them at the last possible second. And the audience can’t look away.
I really dug this movie.
Asbille and Whitrock were excellent from start to finish. I’ve seen Whitrock play some pretty bad characters on various seasons of American Horror Story, but it’s nice to see that wasn’t just good writing; he’s a really great actor. I’m unfamiliar with Asbille, but she carried most of this movie without moving a muscle or uttering a word. That’s talent.
I don’t have a lot to say about this one; it’s always the really good ones that leave me scrambling for words other than, “I loved it, I recommended it.” But in this case, those words are just so fitting. DON’T MOVE, I loved it, I recommend it!
I will say, however, in an effort to wrap back around to the beginning, that I don’t know if I qualify this as a HORROR movie. Sure, there are horrible elements, but that’s true of MOST stories with a conflict. I guess it’s as much a horror movie as SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, which is psychological horror, sure, but we all know it’s more a thriller or a crime drama. And that’s where I’d put DON’T MOVE, square in the middle of the thriller genre. The scenario is horror fodder for sure, but in the end, I really feel this is more thriller and less horror movie. Still worth a watch, though.
C. Dennis Moore is the author of over 60 published short stories and novellas in the speculative fiction genre. Most recent appearances are in the Dark Highlands 2, What Fears Become, Dead Bait 3 and Dark Highways anthologies. His novels are Revelations, and the Angel Hill stories, The Man in the Window, The Third Floor, and The Flip.
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