"No One Gets Out Alive" (2021, Santiago Menghini, The Imaginarium, Netflix).
Ambar (Cristina Rodlo) moves to Cleveland after her mother dies. As an undocumented immigrant, she finds herself at the mercy of some devious and exploitative characters, including Red (Marc Menchaca), the owner of an old boarding house who demands rent in cash up-front in exchange for not asking Ambar any questions. The boarding house is large, run-down and apparently, only accepts female tenants. Ambar experiences some odd things in the house, but chalks it up to other tenants' behaviour. Besides, she has bigger concerns like finding a job.
After a co-worker scams her out of most of her savings and the spooky happenings in the house become more intense, Ambar seeks help from a distant cousin, Beto (David Barrera), but when he is unable to help her, she is forced to ask Red instead and this plays right into his and his brother Becker's (David Figlioli) grim plans...
A fairly serviceable haunted house story with a cast of interesting characters and exploration of some very real life horrors. The effects are good and Rodlo cuts a sympathetic protagonist who is also very resourceful.
The film doesn't go into much detail of the history behind the spookiness and it feels a little unexplored which robs the ending of a bit of oomph. An impressive creature is present, but we don't get too much time with them and it feels less like a 'less is more' approach and more of an 'out of the blue' approach as a viewer.
Currently available on Netflix.
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