By Troy Ribeiro

Sep 30: Film: 'No One Gets Out Alive' (Streaming on Netflix); Duration: 87 minutes; Director: Santiago Menghini. Cast: Cristina Rodlo, Marc Menchaca, David Figlioli and Cosmina Stratan; IANS Rating: ***

Director Santiago Menghini's 'No One Gets Out Alive' is an effective and measured horror thriller written by Jon Croker and Fernanda Coppel. This film is an adaptation of Adam Nevill's novel of the same name.

The hardworking Ambar (Cristina Rodlo), a Mexican immigrant in America, is trying to survive with very little money and unsuitable clothing for what is expected to be the coldest winter.

After finding cash-in-hand work at a local garment factory, she rents the cheapest room available from Red (Marc Menchaca) in a near-derelict and creepy boarding house for girls. But after experiencing strange and unearthly sounds from the basement, she questions Red, who does not give her a satisfactory answer. So, after a lot of anxiety, she decides to move out. But down on luck and after being cheated by her colleague Kinsi (Moronke Akinola), she is lured back to the boarding house by Red.

Soon, it becomes clear that Ambar has walked into a trap, one where she is introduced to Simona (Joana Borja) and Freja (Vala Noren), the two other girls living in the building along with the evil that has been lurking in the basement.

The dark, remote, and sparsely populated place with far away streetlights, the factory with migrant workers, and a nondescript, spooky boarding house with just a handful of female boarders along with candle-lights and butterflies, make the perfect scenery for this eerie tale.

The narrative is slow-paced and moves steadily to establish the third act that hits the ceiling, with horror both literal and metaphorical, especially with the supernatural element in the climactic scene.

Cristina Rodlo as Ambar is more than just a survivalist. She delivers a strong but perfunctory portrayal of an immigrant trying to have a better life. Marc Menchaca as Red is intense and subtly dazzling as the tender and endearing brother who goes all out to help his family, who has more than a few deep dark secrets.

David Figlioli as Red's violent and vicious brother Becker is unpredictable and menacing, mainly due to his size and the layers in his personality, which does not surface at all, that's because like all other characters, his character too is cardboard thin and flat.

David Barrera and Victoria Alcock as Ambar's uncle Beto and Aunt, who offer her a coat, add the touch of family bond to the narrative.

Overall, the film is suspenseful and keeps you glued to the screen till the last frame.