Spoilers ahead for horror fans who haven't seen it yet. Never let it goSo be careful!
A movie that seems like it would fit perfectly M. Night Shyamalan FilmographyThe latest from Alexandre Aja horror movie Never let it go It's a trip into the woods that may traumatize some viewers, while leaving others scratching their heads at what they just witnessed. Horror movie of 2024 tells the trauma-filled story of a mother whose desperate attempts to keep her two children safe may or may not cause them further harm, but are Mom's fears about the mysterious Evil legitimate or mere madness?
Halle Berry shares candid insight into her mother's psychological struggles
Throughout the duration of Never let it goThe audience is fully aware that Mama is the only character who at first sees all the supposed corpses and ghosts that are out there waiting for Nolan or Sam to wander off without a rope. That changes later in the film, when Nolan begins to spiral out of control in the darkness following Mama's self-inflicted death, and when Sam appears to be taken over by Evil as they fly towards civilization. We're left to believe that at least one of them is possessed, but is that the case?
In a Q&A at the horror film's premiere at Fantastic Fest, Halle Berry didn't specify whether or not the film might feature supernatural threats, but she did share her take on how Mama was feeling throughout the course of the film, tying things back to the unmentioned, but clearly shocking, events of her past. She began by saying:
This mother was a unique mother, and she was dealing with her own traumas from her past and, I think, her own psychological issues. I mean, imagine. As if our mom didn't have enough psychological issues poured out on her. Because I think as parents, we pour out on our children and then we pour out on our children—and so this mother already had so much poured out on her from her family of origin, from her own mother, and from her own father's dysfunction.
Berry and Alexandre Aja seem to have been on the same page when it comes to what Mama had to deal with as a young woman raised by her parents, and what she may have suffered after meeting and marrying her husband. The film's narrative holds that Mama murdered all three, but without offering clear motivations beyond underlying mental issues. And her sad reflections on her husband give the impression that she didn't necessarily want him to die.
While she doesn't go into any depth about what those early years of her character's life were like before she became Mama proper, Berry notes that regardless of the potential for supernatural entities, no one should have any doubts about whether or not Mama suffers from mental disorders, as she has definitely been torn apart by the life situation she imposed on herself. The Oscar winner continued:
But imagine raising two children, having given birth in a house and never leaving it for ten years, and then feeling an evil outside the house, whether that evil was created by her, because she is really schizophrenic, or whether that evil was really real. If we want to go into our cinematic world and say that the evil was really real, because in our movie, our kids say that mom killed their mother, their father, and her husband, so maybe that evil that she created, that she brought into the world—she said that in the movie, too—has kidnapped her in this house. Whatever you believe to be true after watching the movie, raising two children in a house in the middle of the woods all alone, has driven you crazy. That's driving you crazy, right? That's driving you crazy as hell. So at the end of the day, why she's crazy is not the question, I think. It's undeniable: she's crazy, she's been driven crazy for some reason, in that way, or she's been driven crazy in that way. She's struggling to keep it all under control, but at the end of the day, she loves these guys, right?
Berry’s interpretation of the film’s events seems to lean more toward the idea that Evil is more of a contagious product of Mama’s traumatized brain, potentially as a form of schizophrenia, rather than a full-blown paranormal presence. But it still allows for something darker and more malicious to be the root cause of the last decade of this family’s sordid existence, for any horror fan who chooses to go that route. Which I had until I heard that answer.
Halle Berry's explanation gives the film a more horrifying and depressing tone
Most of the time, I feel completely comfortable putting aside all my doubts when watching genre films, and I admit that I love it when a project like this leaves things open for the audience to interpret as they wish. Never let it goGiven the specific story, it is almost imperative to believe that Evil is real as a means to justify a mother raising two children without access to supermarkets, medical professionals, formal education, entertainment, etc.
Because if I sit there and think that mental illness is the only factor that inspired Mama's greatest concerns, her strict forms of discipline, woodcuts and rituals, and refusal to seek other ways of life… then it becomes one of the saddest horror movies of all time. Halle Berry's performance was praised by critics Alongside his equally excellent co-stars Percy Daggs IV and Anthony B. Jenkins, they really convey how dire their situation is, and it breaks my brain to believe it was all for nothing.
Especially when I think about the dinner scene on the tree bark, where the two boys struggle in different ways with their grim reality, as well as the emotionally debilitating debate about killing the dog that sent everything spiraling out of control, I have to believe that was a conversation born out of necessity rather than unhealthy circumstances.
If taken at face value (and as a phantom limb), the final shot of the film, which focuses on Sam's Polaroid selfie, seems to be definitive proof that the Evil that scared Mom all those years was indeed genuine. And if everyone else is okay with that, I'll be sitting here feeling good about thinking Evil exists in the most literal sense.
Never let it go It is currently in theaters and was in fourth place at the box office after its opening weekend, though it only grossed $4.5 million on over 2,600 screens. Let's hope it continues to make money to keep mid-sized horror films on the map, even if it's in the wooded part of the map, away from the suburbs and cities.