Main cast: Luke Evans (The Driver), Adelaide Clemens (Emma Ward), Lee Tergesen (Hoag), Derek Magyar (Flynn), America Olivo (Tamara), Beau Knapp (Denny), Lindsey Shaw (Amber), Brodus Clay (Ethan), Laura Ramsey (Betty), and Gary Grubbs (Harris)
Director: Ryûhei Kitamura
Hoag leads a family that earn their bread by breaking into homes, et cetera – generally things that will put them under the category “criminals”. There are his brother Ethan, his girlfriend Tamara, Lee’s daughter Amber who is the black sheep of sorts because she wants little to do with her family’s antics, Amber’s boyfriend Denny, and a violent and mentally unstable Flynn who often botches things up by going too far or acting without thinking. It is Flynn who decides that it’d be a great idea to rob a tourist couple.
Only, the viewer knows from early on and the clan only realize too late that the man, whose name is never revealed here, is psychopath who makes it a habit to groom a young woman, often picked after he’s slaughtered the people around her, into being intoxicated by his brand of violence. The young lady, Betty, is not entirely sanguine with her infatuation with her lover, especially when she knows that he is already grooming another young woman (the missing heiress Emma Ward, currently stashed like a captive animal in the trunk of his vehicle) – no doubt her replacement. When Ethan presses a knife against her throat in an effort to get the man – called the Driver in the credits, so I’ll call him that too – to spill where their valuables are, she commits suicide by pressing her throat into that blade. The Driver, furious, breaks free and kills Ethan, before proceeding to pick out the rest of the clan in all kinds of charming, gory ways.
Don’t look for deep meaning or story in No One Lives: it’s just murder porn. And I have to admit, it’s a pretty good one, mostly because Luke Evans excels at playing smarmy, sleazy guys that nonetheless still ooze a disturbing kind of raw sexuality, and his character here is the epitome of that kind of character with the psychopath factor ramped up to a delirious degree. Make no mistake, the Driver is no hero, but at the same time, the way he toys with his victims is kind of… sexy. The way he kills them is… anyway, let’s just say that he’s hot. Especially when he’s soaked in gore and blood. You guys are going to call the men in white coats on me now, aren’t you?
Oh, and there is some nudity here (America Olivo goes topless and Mr Evans shows off his rear end) but when it comes to Mr Evans, I say he looks hotter clothed than not. Ahem.
The rest of the movie isn’t that amazing, really, and the characters often drop all kinds of clichéd phrases and buzzwords in what is passed off as conversations here. Still, the glee displayed in the movie in killing off its cast, and the way Luke Evans plays his role like a boss all go a long way in making No One Lives a delicious kind of torture and gore porn. If that’s your thing, then this one is certainly worth a look.
