For many parents, it’s a daunting challenge to convince their children to listen to their hard-won wisdom and not make the same mistakes themselves. Adults are entrusted with the rule of the world because they’ve lived long enough to experience the world’s dangers firsthand, but each new generation is born with the belief that there’s no harm in playing with matches or staying out past curfew. The conflicting desire to protect our offspring from the traumas that shaped us while allowing them enough independence to become full-fledged adults is often one of the defining questions of parenting.

Alexandre Aja’s Never Let Go illustrates this age-old challenge of raising children with a very literal metaphor. A woman known only as Mama (Halle Berry) lives with her sons Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) in a remote forest cabin, where mere survival is an all-encompassing task. Years have passed since the world was ravaged by an invisible, abstract form of evil that killed her husband and leveled society as we know it. This evil can take any form and alter your perception of reality to the point that you could kill your entire family without realizing what happened. It only affects adults, and their cabin seems to be the only place on Earth that evil can’t reach. Of course, Mama warns her children never to let go of the house.

While they must venture into the forest every day to find food, an ingenious rope system prevents them from becoming completely separated from the building. Miles of rope are attached to the foundation of the house via a pulley mechanism, and no one is allowed to lower their rope until they are safely back inside. This may avert disaster, but it is hardly a sustainable system once children begin to question what their parents tell them.

Samuel and Nolan have never known anything beyond this life, but they’re already beginning to wonder what else might be out there. As they spend their days eating maggots and tree bark, old Polaroid pictures pique their interest in a pre-apocalyptic world where their endeavors might be a little higher up on Maslow’s pyramid. Mama finds herself in a paradoxical position, for she enjoys reminiscing about the past, even though she knows that any information she provides could divert her sons’ attention from the unseen evils that keep them awake at night. Her fears are soon confirmed – and when the boys begin wandering into the woods alone, a lifetime of protectiveness is thrown out the window as they all face a monster that threatens to destroy their perception of reality.

KC Coughlin and Ryan Grassby’s script takes a clever (if sometimes underdeveloped) premise and turns it into a thrilling rollercoaster ride with plenty of twists and turns that doesn’t give the audience a second to get comfortable. The evil’s method of manipulating the characters’ view of reality creates an “Inception”-like effect, where we’re never quite sure if we’re seeing the real story or a deadly hallucination. But the narrative’s real strength lies in the parent-child relationships at its core. Berry is excellent as a suicidal mother struggling to prepare her children for an unforgiving world while trying to find moments of happiness that have long eluded her. The two child actors also deliver impressive performances, portraying a convincing sibling relationship while balancing the constant fear and tragic acceptance that comes with growing up in a dangerous place.

Aja’s off-the-shelf direction doesn’t do much to visually enhance the story, but the director of “Crawl” and the 2006 remake of “The Hills Have Eyes” hasn’t lost his talent for jump scares. Certain twists are left unsaid, but “Never Let Go” should resonate with horror junkies looking to escape the everyday this fall and parents who want to see their problems visualized. Much like in real life, the only way mom can guarantee her sons’ safety is to hold onto them forever — but in both cases, we must learn that letting go is a dangerous inevitability.

Grade: B

“Never Let Go,” a Lionsgate release, hits theaters Friday, September 20 after its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024.

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