"You Won't Be Alone" Review: A Beautiful Poem Written By Witches

Platform: Peacock

Release Date: April 1, 2022

The horror genre has ever evolved to find new and odd ways to share its dark tales. Over the past decade or so, the term “elevated horror” has garnered a larger platform of interest. Rather than push the boundaries of typical horror tropes, films under this label use horror elements within the lens of a drama, usually to evoke emotions about a deeper theme or commentary. Adored by critics, these movies tend to leave the horror audience a bit divided, myself included. I have found more duds than not within the subgenre and am frequently left pondering whether some of these films really meet the mark of being horror. Nevertheless, I was very hesitant about starting “You Won't Be Alone” and during the majority of this film, I thought again that this was not much of a horror film. Even at its conclusion, I was unsure of how I would classify this film, but that does not put any weight on the more important question: is this film worth watching? Well, it is not very scary, does not build much tension, and is pretty artful about its use of blood. What it is, though, is hauntingly beautiful.

After being visited by a shape-shifting witch (or a Wolf-Eatress) who demands her newborn daughter, a mother makes a deal to turn the child, Nevena, over to the witch as long as she can raise her until her sixteenth birthday. The witch agrees and seals the deal by branding the baby a witch and removing her vocal chords. For the next sixteen years, Nevena was raised in isolation within a cave, with her mother hoping that the witch would not find them. When the witch arrives and takes Nevena with her, she hopes to teach her the witches way, but Nevena rejects it, while also attempting to learn and navigate a world from which she had been hidden. Rejected by the witch and sent to be on her own, Nevena begins a journey through her shape-shifting abilities to experience the world through a small village she comes across. Cycling through various members of the village, Nevena uses the knowledge learned through the different perspectives to carve out her own path in life. As she starts to find what it means to belong, Nevena also learns that the witch is always watching and has not succumbed to letting her go.

The movie carries a lot of horror elements and does so in a non-chalant manner. Outside of the Freddy Krueger-like appearance of the witch, for which there is an in-story reason, the movie focuses much of its horror clout on the visually grotesque. Drinking blood from dead animal carcasses, for example, strengthens and rejuvenates a witches abilities and is shown frequently without censorship. The shapeshifting plot device, while evoking bone-crackling sound effects, is not visually distressing at all. The way in which the witches shapeshift, though, involves inserting and removing body organs, which comes with its own disturbing sense of body horror. At first, these happenings can be shocking, but they are never self-indulgent. These horror tropes quickly blend smoothly into the story without much spotlight. Rather, these instances are treated as a matter of fact, day in the life event of these characters. This lack of focus on the horrors is what begins to set this film apart, as following Nevena's journey feels less like a tense bloodfest and more like a documentary on the human condition.

This cinematography for this movie is very also lends to the documentary-like feeling. Mostly focused on Nevena, the camera typically keeps her front and center, even when the story is dealing with its darker moments. There are both close-up shots of animal and plant life, as well as wide shots of the landscapes of this 19th century area. A number of these shots occur in accordance with Nevena's introduction to the world, having the audience experience all of the new things she has to focus on. That focus on her new visual experiences is also adapted to the focus on Nevena's primary character arc of establishing her own life. Although, even that comes with a contradictory caveat. Nevena is not truly living her own life throughout this journey, she is taking and living others' lives. Through the unique experiences of the different skins she wears, she provides a narrative to the audience through her inner dialogue of all that she is learning. This method of information sharing, too, exaggerates the tone of this movie's presentation as documentary like.

While the film could be experienced as exemplifying many themes, I think I found it most enjoyable as a tale of dichotomies. As Nevena informs us of her new social ineptitudes, she also captures her opinions of the world. She is plagued with so many unknown and scary experiences and she recognizes the horrors in life, but many of these observations are followed by “but yet,” where she provides that silver-lining for her experiences. The divisions between man and woman, married and a child, hopeful and resentful, being alive and living, and, perhaps most importantly, ignorance versus the drive to learn, there is so much that this movie seeks to explore. Doing that with such a unique character (mute, socially inept, and a witch), leads to such an interesting emotional journey. To find myself cheering for her every success, regardless of the cost, and being devestated when she struggles is a testament to the character work that all of the actors and actresses played, especially when considering the language/subtitle barrier.

It feels odd and a bit slow when it first begins, but the poetic nature of this film will sweep you up into the lead character's perspective. Her curiousity for the world becomes as strong as the audiences curiosity of what will become of this child who has been weighed with so many unfair obstacles. The witch is an easy villain to root against considering she is not the prototypical horror antagonist. Rather, she is a very natural force to which anyone can relate: jealousy, tragedy, the seed of doubt. There are many reflections to be evoked while walking the road this film paves, for some it may be a reflection on motherhood, for others, on the struggle to fit in. The sheer fact that this film can capture so much real life and common human struggle under the guise of a witch's tale should offer enough intrigue to give this one its due diligence. For what I thought would be just another attempt to make horror more stylish, I was surely left surprised.

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RATING: 🧙🏻 🧙🏻 🧙🏻 🧙🏻 / 5

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