These memories of the past interleaved with the present turn the film exceedingly dark, dealing with isolation, depression, and grief in a very in-depth and intimate way. Richard learns that a witch is buried near the tree. Her story of being buried alive with nails and eyes comes from handyman Mike (Christopher Genovese), who visits him on the sly. One morning, the two shared a mutual trauma over soda bottles that had passed through a window. Richard begins to see manifestations of the witch: a burned-out doll that she carried around, a shuffling presence, and a locked room that kicked out a key when he tried to open it, culminating in the film’s title appearing above a fireplace.
“…The viewer will take delight in the horror of it all…”
Horror sometimes offers comic relief; however, in I Will Never Leave You Alone, there are no moments of levity. The plot becomes bleaker, darker, and more dangerous by the second, culminating in a shocking death. At the moment of Emma’s childbirth, she screams that she is not fit to be a mother. This is followed by a deep postpartum depression. The incident is truly frightening and handled brilliantly. The disintegration of their marriage into little moments of hate for that which was once love is a masterstroke of the screenplay—all the while doing this without the benefit (or hindrance) of a large budget or a tub of gore in a limited set with few actors. Towards the end, the supernatural rears its head, which blends in with the real-life horrors, turning the film into a supernatural exercise of retribution that will never end, involving nails and necrophilia.
I Will Never Leave You Alone does come with some well-placed jump scares, music, and exquisite claustrophobic photography within the home itself. As it gets going, it turns into a monster of a movie that will be unsettled with its very subtle paralysis of creeping fingers that wrap around Richard and maybe your heart. This is the horror genre at its best: topical, frighteningly direct at times, and lovingly acted with subtlety. The viewer will take delight in the horror of it all from the top of the tree in the garden all the way down.
"…this is the horror genre at its best..."
