I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE (2023)

New On Demand and digital download from Dark Sky Films!
Directed/Written by DW Medoff.
Check out the trailer here!!

Recently released from prison, Richard (Kenneth Trujillo) attempts to return to society by taking a job watching over a house. What Richard is told later is that this house is haunted and he must be locked in the house for six days. Still haunted by neglecting his mentally unstable wife which lead to his imprisonment, Richard must also combat the horrors within the house.

I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU seems to exist in a world that accepts that ghosts, witches, and demons exist. They are talked about in a nonchalant manner and while this is established earlier on, I wish this attitude towards the supernatural would have been elaborated on a bit further in the story itself. It seems to exist simply to get Richard into the house and stuck there, but I think a little more world-building would have really sold this concept.

On top of that, Richard hasn’t spoken since the tragic incident that led him to jail. It might have been convenient for the actor to not have to learn a lot of lines and no dialog makes for some spooky scenes, but I think had the lead spoken, it would have helped in the aforementioned world-building.

That said I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE is a fun little ghost story. There are quite a few well-timed jump and bump scares. There is a lot of tension and atmosphere established in this old, haunted house. And I really liked the design of some of the ghosts, witches, and monsters. I especially liked the one creature design that shows up later in the film.

I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE gets pretty gnarly in the last twenty or so minutes as we are made privy to what happened with Richard and his wife. There is also some extremely rough violence towards the end when everything starts going sideways in the haunted house.

While I had issues with some of the shortcuts the filmmaker DW Medoff took with the world this film lives in, I do acknowledge that I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE is a ghastly little number worth a look-see from those who appreciate gruesome violence and spooky atmosphere.