Never Let Go review – Halle Berry takes hold of uneven woodland horror

The Oscar winner is a sturdy presence in an intriguing post-apocalyptic puzzle that can’t quite find all of the pieces

There’s something nasty down in the woods again, just months after a deranged killer, some deranged fairies and a deranged attempt to resurrect IP all re-reminded us to steer well clear. In Alexandre Aja’s diverting yet overly derivative new horror Never Let Go, Halle Berry is a mother trying to keep her twin sons safe in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, hidden from whatever is left of the wider world. There are exhaustive rules told in an exhausting fashion, the most important of which is to never leave their remote shack without a rope attached, maintaining a connection with the holiness of home at all times. If they find themselves untethered then they’re at the mercy of a malevolent and inventive evil that will consume them.

But it’s an evil that only she can see, telling the boys that they will only see it when they get older, a caveat that starts to grow a seed of suspicion in the mind of Nolan (Percy Daggs IV, an excellent newcomer), the less unquestionably loyal of the pair, who faces opposition from brother Samuel (Anthony B Jenkins). As food starts to dwindle (a dinner of fried bark bits is an undeniable low point) and tensions starts to rise, the fraught family dynamic is put to the test.

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