Previously posted on blog and written by S. Kess
“Let Her Out” is a horror film released in 2016 and was directed by Cody Calahan. It stars Alanna LeVierge as Helen, a young bike courier that was born of tragedy. Her mother was a call girl that was raped one night and impregnated. Unable to live with giving birth she stabbed her stomach repeatedly with a pair of scissors killing herself but leaving her child alive. Cut to 23 years later as Helen and her “sister from another mister” Molly (Nina Kiri) celebrate her birthday by hanging out in the drained pool at the motel her mom killed herself in. The pity party winds down and they go their separate ways. Helen is then hit by a car driving entirely too fast for a small motel parking lot. She bonks her head and wrecks her arm. After being released from the hospital Helen starts behaving strangely. She is losing chunks of time, seeing things, hearing a voice, and just isn’t herself. Her friends, of course, throw a rager with bumpin’ music for the woman fresh from the hospital with a head injury and to make her feel better some skeevy dude is all up in Helen’s Kool-Aid trying to get him some. We see disjointed imagery and there is a time skip. One night Helen shows up to her and Molly’s apartment in nothing but a towel and bloody feet which surprised the shit out of Molly’s room full of friends. After dropping her towel to give the guests a show, Helen retreats to her room as Molly gives chase and is an absolutely useless friend saying they will go to the doctor tomorrow.
After receiving an MRI it turns out that Helen had absorbed a twin in the womb and it is in her brain. Her Wonder Twin powers “activated” by the bump to her head. So yes, this is basically Stephen King’s “The Dark Half” for sexy singles.
Its obvious influence isn’t a knock against it though, they do something different and interesting with the concept. While the rest of the film follows mostly predictable beats it also has a pretty intense and enjoyable ending with some completely gnarly body horror that looks absolutely vile and fun.
The use of lighting and color is standout as it is often split down the middle between two colors mimicking the duality of our lead character while also being beautiful. It reminded me of Oz Perkins’s film “Gretel & Hansel” which is a huge compliment. “Let Her Out” isn’t as gorgeous but it certainly looks nice.
The makeup was a bit of a mess for continuity as each time it would cut back the blood would be in different places and different intensities. It got very distracting at one point as the application already looked very unnatural only for it to look completely different and more natural later. The body horror on the other hand was fantastic and disgusting.
The broad strokes of the story are engaging and interesting, however, the nitty-gritty has some problems. The worst offender is how Molly is written. We are lead to believe she is a wonderful friend and sister but she constantly ignores the fact Helen is in distress and needs help, she even bails on her at the hospital at one point. It all drags down the film and impacts the ending since believing in the relationship plays a major part in the climax.
The batshit ending, color and lighting, and LeVierge are the reasons to watch “Let Her Out” as they outweigh the negatives enough to make it all worthwhile. It could have been a special film with some script changes, but it couldn’t quite get there.
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