Don't Move (Netflix-2024) ....arrives courtesy of producer (and celebrated fantasy master) Sam Raimi.
If anyone knows what makes a excruciating, make-you-cringe thriller it's Raimi, creator of the legendary "Evil Dead" trilogy and the first (and best) "Spiderman" trilogy. And for this film, he turned the reigns over to a talented team who deliver a Raimi-worthy wingding of a thriller.
A basic, compelling set-up establishes quickly. Iris (Kelsey Asbille) is a grieving young woman mourning the accidental death of her toddler son. She finds herself standing at the very cliff off which her child plunged, preparing to die herself.
But she's gently talked out of suicide by Richard (Finn Wittrorock), a seemingly friendly kindred spirit who just happened to wander up to the same cliff.
(Cue our evil cackling.....heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. heh...)
Richard, in the time honored tradition of thriller psychos, wastes no time dropping his fake 'normal human' persona. (You could consider him a fraternal twin of Josh Harnett's suburban girl-dad maniac from M. Night Shyamalan's "Trap - see our review of 8/14/24....)
Richard injects Iris with a paralyzing drug with the obvious intention of doing who-knows-what to her before making her disappear forever. And this ain't his first rodeo....
Yet Iris, despite her suicidal funk and rapidly increasing paralysis, finds all manner of desperate, ingenious ways to fight back and survive.
We'll not spoil all the expertly rendered suspenseful moments that follow, all of it designed to make you bite your nails in anxiety or smile in admiration of the film's cleverness (sometimes simultaneously....)
But at least allow us to bestow highest praise upon directors Brian Netto and Adam Schindler, as well as writers T.J. Cimfel and David White. This crew knows how to take you on one hell of a breathless ride.
Swift, primal and loaded with brilliant cinematic flourishes, "Don't Move" succeeded in keeping us immobile and riveted for its 92 minutes.....right up to the heartfelt and most satisfying ironic final line we've heard in a film this year.
Move this one up to your 'Don't Miss' list. 4 stars (****).
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