Don't Move

Directors: Adam Schindler and Brian Netto
Starring: Kelsey Asbille, Finn Wittrock, Moray Treadwell, Daniel Francis
Running Time: 92 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)    

You'd figure the lesson to extract from directors Adam Schindler and Brian Netto's efficiently suspenseful Netflix thriller Don't Move is that traveling alone to a secluded park early in the morning isn't the best idea. But after the unimaginable loss this film's heroin suffers, personal safety wouldn't be a priority. She's there to kill herself, or at least that's the plan. And once we know the details of her pain, the motivation is clearer, regardless of our feelings about the choice. What happens instead not only gives her an incentive to live, but fight, much to her assailant's frustration. 

Calculated in certain ways but immensely sloppy in others, her abductor has a plan, but as one mistake leads to another, he'll have to contend with a resourceful protagonist who won't give in. That she contemplated suicide only minutes earlier is the cruel irony of a script that wrings tension out of how helplessly insulting it is to have a psychotic stranger decide your fate. Produced by Sam Raimi, it seems like the type of project you'd see him tackling in his early days, which isn't to say it's flawless by any stretch. But with a premise keeps you engaged for a tight, pulse pounding hour and a half, it wisely utilizes its ticking clock to raise the stakes and generate suspense.

Still grieving the accidental death of her son Mateo during a family hike, Iris (Kelsey Asbille) gets up early to drive to a California state park while her husband sleeps in bed. After placing Mateo's toy boat at his memorial under a tree, she approaches the edge of the cliff and prepares to jump before being interrupted by Richard (Finn Wittrock), a seemingly concerned passerby out for a walk.

When the two converse over the shared pain of losing a loved one, Iris has second thoughts, only to have Richard taze and kidnap her. Zip tied in the back of his car, she struggles to escape before discovering his backup plan. Earlier, he injected her with a paralyzing agent, its effects now just starting to take hold as she desperately crawls through the woods. Losing all muscle control and the ability to speak, Iris's breathing rapidly slows while a deranged Richard closes in, looking to finish her for good.

Much of the setup takes place before its title credits, but once this stranger reveals his true colors, he immediately starts making errors. Either he's playing mind games or the mental stress of leading a Dexter-like double life stand as the only feasible explanations for his carelessness. Luckily, Wittrock (who resembles a crazed Johnny Knoxville) injects some life into the somewhat tired trope of normal family man with a dark side, ensuring his character's instability accounts for any logic gaps. And while he could still use about five more contingency plans, his biggest problem is assuming he'll have all the time in the world to kill Iris. Though her paralysis comes on fast, the drug's effects will eventually wear off, if she can make it that long.

Those familiar with Asbille through TV's Yellowstone are in for a surprise when they see what she does in a more challenging role that requires her to go long, motionless stretches in total silence, using only her eyes and breathing to communicate the escalating severity of this life and death predicament. It's especially noticeable in an extended cabin sequence where her mute, incapacitated character hides in plain sight, watching in horror as Richard manipulates the residence's owner. Or a tension-filled stop at a gas station where she competes against her own failing body in a last ditch effort to seek help. 

The longer this goes the lower Iris's survival odds drop, and while it's a stretch to call Don't Move unpredictable, it does have some clever tricks up its sleeve in how she manages to turn the tables. So while you could still pick it apart, this has less issues than most in the genre, as well as a high concept carrying it through. The closest comparison is 2024's acclaimed cult hit Strange Darling, minus the twisty, non-linear storytelling. What does unfold is a similar cat-and-mouse game between a killer and their prey, as this sadistic control freak terrorizes a woman with nothing left to lose.