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It’s interesting that “No Exit,” premiering today on Hulu, was once scheduled for a theatrical release by Fox because it feels like the kind of thing that doesn’t play in multiplexes anymore. It’s got a low budget and only a couple familiar faces. The market has pushed this kind of thriller out, moving them to streamers like Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu. So Fox changing their mind after the Disney merger and pushing this to their streaming service makes sense. Gone are the days when one could stumble into something like “No Exit” on a rainy day without really knowing what it’s about, startled by its twists and turns. It reminded me a great deal of 2003’s “ Identity ,” another single-setting thriller with a modest budget that made $90 million in a very different era, or the films that typically starred Angelina Jolie or Ashley Judd based on books that everyone read on a beach a few years earlier. "No Exit" is imperfect and struggles to get going, but it's a grisly piece of work that earns your suspension of disbelief. If you’re a fan of those ‘00s standalone thrillers, check out "No Exit" before it gets crushed in the next wave of streaming content.

Damien Power directs this adaptation of a thriller novel of the same name by Taylor Adams . It has the kind of beautifully simple set-up that this fan of Hitchcock and Christie loves. A woman named Darby Thorne ( Havana Rose Liu ) gets a call that her mother is in the hospital. She flees the rehab facility she’s in—a detail that adds to her vulnerability and sense of overall panic—to try and drive to get to her mother, despite the protestations of her sister. As he’s traveling through the treacherous Utah mountains, she hits a blizzard, forcing her off the road and into a rest stop to wait it out. There, she meets four other stranded travelers—Ash ( Danny Ramirez ), Lars ( David Rysdahl ), Ed ( Dennis Haysbert ), and Sandi ( Dale Dickey ). It seems mundane until Darby goes outside to get a signal and finds a kidnapped girl ( Mila Harris ) in a van. Whose van? One of the four people in the rest stop is a monster. Darby has to figure out who’s dangerous enough to kidnap a child and how she can save the girl in the middle of a snowstorm.

“No Exit” kind of blows up its premise early, revealing the kidnapper before the end of the first act, but don’t panic. This is the kind of script one would know is based on a novel without seeing the credits because it has about a half-dozen chapter-ending twists. Let’s just say there are a lot of secrets in that rest stop, and while some may be put off by the coincidences and contrivances, “No Exit” works better as it piles up the insanity. It’s one of those films that deftly teeters on the edge of utter nonsense, and the balancing act becomes part of the escapist fun. It helps that Power admirably holds it together in terms of craft, getting brutal enough to remind people that he made “ Killing Ground ” while also having a stronger eye than a lot of streaming original directors, especially in the chaotic final act.

He’s also strong with his ensemble, never allowing Liu to devolve into histrionics but keeping her grounded in a believable performance. Haysbert and Dickey are both incredibly welcome character actors who add significant weight as a couple who may not know everything about one another. Ramirez and Rysdahl have very different energies, but Power and writers Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari lean into that and challenge preconceptions.

It’s tempting to say that “No Exit” works best if you turn off your brain, and I feel like there’s a stronger version with sharper dialogue and a more pronounced sense of claustrophobic tension in terms of space. However, this is the kind of thing that’s harder to pull off than it looks. Trust me. I’ve seen so many forgettable thrillers on streaming services. And I have a feeling that’s where I’ll be watching a lot more.

Premieres on Hulu today.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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No Exit (2022)

Rated R for strong violence, language and some drug content.

Havana Rose Liu as Darby

Danny Ramirez as Ash

Dennis Haysbert as Ed

Dale Dickey as Sandi

David Rysdahl as Lars

Damien Power

Writer (novel)

Taylor Adams
Andrew Barrer
Gabriel Ferrari

Cinematographer

Marco Beltrami
Miles Hankins

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No Exit Reviews

It’s not a Hitchcockian masterpiece, but it is a fairly intense, claustrophobic roller-coaster ride. Liu gives a solid performance as Darby, a damaged and insecure pariah who is compelled by circumstances to face overwhelming odds to protect a stranger.

Full Review | Oct 31, 2023

Damien Power takes the simple premise of his screenwriters and builds an immersive atmosphere through single-location filmmaking, where the camera work and the score are technical highlights in a visually fascinating work.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 25, 2023

Damien Powers squeezes the most out of his resources. No Exit is a surprisingly effective white-knuckle type. A cold and claustrophobic nail-biter that’s more effective than most.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 4, 2023

No Exit has an interesting enough story, that it pulls you in to what to see where this goes. The first 30 minutes and some character choices feeling like a waste of time. As an engaging mystery thriller it can be very entertaining and engaging!

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 26, 2022

Taut and delightfully nasty, No Exit is a thriller with more than a few surprises up its sleeve.

Full Review | Dec 16, 2022

No Exit is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery thriller with layered characters, and unexpected twists. Director Damien Power seems to have fully understood the potential of his cast and script and deftly gets the most out of both.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 22, 2022

It may get a little carried away in its gnarly final 20 minutes or so, but it does such a good job keeping its audience locked into every crazy (and in some cases blood-soaked) new twist.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2022

It doesn’t do anything particularly ground-breaking or emotionally resonant, but this does do a stellar job of being “pretty damn good”, and that’s all you really need for a thriller like this.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 26, 2022

...improves considerably once it progresses into a surprising and impressively brutal midsection...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 23, 2022

Two blah movies in one, stirred together like peanut butter and glass cleaner. Consume at your own risk.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jun 10, 2022

So what we have here is a rarity: a nasty, borderline nihilistic, trashy single-location thriller with a tight script and strong performances. "No Exit" plays remarkably fair by the genre's standards

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | May 10, 2022

No Exit’s script ladles on the usual plot twists and body horror, introducing new, grisly ways to assault flesh and bone. But the tension is lukewarm.

Full Review | Apr 26, 2022

A rather generic thriller that spills its beans too quickly and never develops any genuine rising tension.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 4, 2022

This Hulu thriller is professionally constructed, with a few well-placed twists and turns, and it may be worth a look, but it somehow lacks a real pulse; it can't truly make the adrenaline flow.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 19, 2022

Latterly, however, as the violence and gore take unjustifiable precedence, the filmmakers find themselves unable to stem the flow, instead creating bloody set-piece after bloody set-piece, most of which you’ve seen before.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 16, 2022

A lean screenplay & a terrific performance by Havana Rose Liu help shape a compelling thriller as it subverts expectations & holds viewers' attention.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 15, 2022

This is an effective movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 12, 2022

It's got all of these wonderful thriller elements to it... Every single piece that is introduced has a role to play, and it's all orchestrated like a beautiful chess match.

Full Review | Mar 12, 2022

I love this movie... This is the kind of movie where a nail gun becomes a weapon, and all the right people get nailed.

No Exit is modest in scale, but it delivers very well within the parameters it sets for itself.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Mar 9, 2022

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‘No Exit’ Review: Who’s Bluffing?

In this diverting thriller, a young woman discovers a kidnapping in progress while snowed in at a rest stop

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By Beatrice Loayza

In “No Exit,” the director Damien Power gets straight to business: Darby (Havana Rose Liu) is stuck in rehab and groaning her way through another group therapy session when she gets a call about her mother, who has suffered a brain aneurysm. Darby — edgy and impetuous — hot-wires a nurse’s car and zooms off toward the hospital where her mother is. Unfortunately, Darby is foiled by a massive snowstorm, which keeps her stranded at a remote rest stop with four strangers and no cellphone service.

Then, Darby discovers a little girl chained up in the back seat of someone’s van.

Adapted from a 2017 novel by Taylor Adams — the kind of fast-burning read you might find in an airport newsstand — “No Exit” mostly comes across as a diverting boilerplate thriller. Imagine a compressed, significantly downgraded, true-crime-adjacent version of “The Hateful Eight,” another snowy chamber drama that devolves into gunplay and brutal bloodshed.

Early on, the five marooned characters sit down to play B.S., a card game built around bluffing that clumsily mirrors Darby’s big question: Who among her new companions is responsible for the kidnapping?

Most seemingly trustworthy is an older couple: Sandi (Dale Dickey), who is a retired nurse, and Ed (Dennis Haysbert), a former Marine. Lars (David Rysdahl), a twitchy Gollum-esque weirdo, would seem to fit the bill, but there’s also Ash (Danny Ramirez), a dashing jock, to consider.

“No Exit” drops an arsenal of twists and rug-pulls at a machine gun’s pace, though Power, the director, doesn’t quite know how to milk the tension, and the perfunctory script (written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari) tries and fails to give the events a greater resonance. For her part, Liu makes an unusually complex final girl when she’s the only one left standing in a closing act showdown that makes crafty use of Darby’s drug addiction. And at least Power knows how to end things — that is, in ridiculous, flame-swept fashion.

No Exit Rated R for bloody violence, drugs, kidnapping, strong language and forced intimacy. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Watch on Hulu.

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No Exit review – snowy killer thriller gets soggy fast

A group of strangers sheltering from a blizzard turn on each other when a kidnap victim is discovered in a reheated assemblage of schlocky cliches

I n the middle of an unforgiving snowstorm, a group of strangers find themselves stranded in a remote visitors’ centre, keeping warm until the weather allows them to leave. It could be the set-up for an off-Broadway play, a tight dialogue-heavy chamber piece, but in the far less lofty Disney thriller No Exit, it’s the jump-off for a schlocky sub-Agatha Christie whodunnit instead, one that lets us know who done it a little too fast.

Our unlikely detective is Darby (Havana Rose Liu), a young addict racing away from the rehab centre she just broke out of and toward the estranged mother whose brain aneurysm has sent her to the hospital. Inclement weather forces her off the road and into the aforementioned safe haven alongside four others (Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey, Danny Ramirez and David Rhysdahl), playing cards until the blizzard breaks. But Darby soon makes a horrifying discovery – a young girl kidnapped in the back of a van outside – and realises that one of her newfound friends is up to something sinister.

Wisely bypassing cinemas and landing straight-to-stream on Hulu (internationally, it will premiere on Disney’s Star platform), No Exit plays every bit like a Netflix-adjacent TV movie, one that seems ill-fitting of the grandiose 20th Century Studios logo that precedes it. Based on a 2017 book by Taylor Adams, it’s a thinly plotted potboiler that takes familiar elements and barely reheats them, the end result failing to insist itself as a worthy proposition amid such consistently intimidating competition.

There is some initial fun in watching Darby try to figure out who owns the van, a tense game of Bullshit peppered with inquisitive jabs, but it’s far too short-lived, an unease that isn’t stretched anywhere near far enough. Cards are shown too soon with a predictable reveal coming soon after, followed by a betrayal based on a dynamic far too under-developed to have any real impact and so a game of guessing evaporates into a repetitive one of survival. Performances are mostly unremarkable, with Dickey particularly underused, wasted in a role that mostly requires her to sit and look concerned.

What Australian director Damien Power struggles with, along with Ant-Man and the Wasp screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, is a confident mastering of tone, their film torn between two distinct target audiences. For the most part, No Exit plays like a sanitised YA thriller, softened for a PG-13 crowd, complete with a bumbling I-don’t-wanna-hurt-anyone henchman. But then when the frenzied third act comes crashing into view, suddenly so does some R-rated gore, a last ditch attempt to appeal to the horror crowd, most of whom would have lost interest a long time back. There’s a nifty reversal late in the day but it’s explained as an act of desperation rather than anything more nefarious and so a sharper bite is swapped out for something far more toothless, a development that’s indicative of the film at large. It’s an airport novel that’s now an airplane movie.

No Exit is now available on Hulu in the US and Star elsewhere

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‘no exit’: film review.

A young woman has to figure out which of the people trapped with her during a blizzard is a kidnapper in this thriller premiering on Hulu.

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Havana Rose Liu as Darby in 20th Century Studios' NO EXIT

Agatha Christie meets The Hateful Eight in Damien Power’s thriller about five people trapped in a snowbound shelter, with one or more of them being guilty of kidnapping a little girl. Adapted from Taylor Adams’ 2017 novel, No Exit was originally scheduled for theatrical release but is now making its domestic premiere on Hulu . There, the film’s absurd plot machinations and lack of star power should be less of a turn-off to streaming viewers endlessly hungry for new content.

Relative newcomer Havana Rose Liu ( Mayday ) plays the central role of Darby, a twentysomething recovering addict who discovers during a stint in rehab that her mother has suffered a brain aneurysm and is in the hospital. Making a break from the facility, she attempts to drive to Salt Lake City to see her mother before it’s too late, only to be forced to take shelter in a visitors center during a raging blizzard.

Full credits

Production company: 20 th Century Studios Distributor: Hulu Cast: Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris, Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey Director: Damien Power Screenwriters: Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari Producer: Scott Frank Director of photography: Simon Raby Production designer: Gary Mackay Editor: Andy Canny Composers: Marco Beltrami, Miles Hankins Casting: Rich Delia

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Screen Rant

No exit review: havana rose liu leads an effective, compelling thriller.

A lean screenplay & a terrific performance by Havana Rose Liu help shape a compelling thriller as it subverts expectations & holds viewers' attention.

No Exit , based on the novel of the same name by Taylor Adams, is an impressive survival thriller that doesn’t overexert itself by being too flashy. With the story unfolding in one location, a lean screenplay and a terrific lead performance by Havana Rose Liu help shape this compelling thriller as it subverts expectations and holds viewers' attention until the very end.

The story follows Darby (Liu), a college student undergoing rehab for drug addiction. Darby is obviously not thrilled by the experience and is eager to leave, but that’s when an earth-shattering call reaches her — her mother is in the hospital. Desperate to reach her mother in time, Darby escapes the facility but a blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a mountain rest stop. Darby enters thinking her family drama and personal demons were her biggest problems. Little does she know that to leave this shelter she will have to fight for her life.

Related: Hellbender Review: Coming-Of-Age Occult Horror Is Shocking, Impressive Triumph

In her feature film debut as a lead, Havana Rose Liu proves to be an impressive rising star. Liu carries No Exit with an emotive performance that needs little words, with the actress expertly utilizing her eyes to convey a range of emotions and thoughts. With a short window of time to set up who Darby is, Liu’s performance is layered, giving the character a complexity that will have the audience resonating with her. Viewers aren’t rooting for her to survive just because she's the protagonist, but because we want her to overcome her troubles. Joining Liu on this thrilling fight for survival are Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Dennis Haysbert and Dale Dickey, each of whom bring a little something to add to the suspense and drama.

With the film confined to one space, the film needs compelling characters to be invested in to uncover the bad guys. For the most part, No Exit does subvert expectations regarding the ensemble, but it could have used an extra person or two to really mess with the audience. The enjoyment is due, in large part, to Liu’s expressive performance. Marco Beltrami and Miles Hakins' pitch-perfect score elevates the film as well, never letting up on the tension. However, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari’s screenplay adaptation of Adams' book deserves a ton of credit. It is a lean, tight script that cuts out a lot of fat that normally botches book-to-film adaptations.

Damien Power’s directing follows the brisk pace of the script and is able to craft a film that does the unexpected, taking audiences on a roundabout journey that leaves one to wonder what could possibly happen next. Power does not do anything particularly fancy with his directing, but it is in that restraint that lets the narrative shine. The plot is expertly laid out to build the tension for Darby’s survival story and switches gears just when the excitement starts to sour. It would have been even better if it was about five minutes shorter — a 90-minute survival thriller would be a remarkable feat. No Exit doesn’t fall into usual the trappings that many whodunit thrillers usually lean on. It isn't overly indulgent when it comes to explaining what leads to this fateful night. By withholding the big-ticket moments, the acts of violence are far more effective and the danger Darby is in becomes even more real.

However, the screenwriters loosen their tight grip on the story when the dots begin to connect in the film's third act. Glimpses are given regarding what is going on, but the full picture comes together with a flashback. No Exit's revelatory scene is unneeded as it hits the brakes during a crucial part in the final act. The momentum comes to a screeching halt to answer questions about the how and why of it all. However, the action unfolding at the mountain rest stop is far more compelling and speaks for itself. It's a small thing that doesn't entirely derail the movie, but it does feel forced into the story for the sake of exposition and feels redundant. Despite this, No Exit is a gratifying thriller with a stellar lead performance by Liu. It is a concise and impactful piece of work, even when it stumbles in the third act. It is well worth a watch, especially for fans of the single-location thriller subgenre.

NEXT: Creation Stories Review: Uneven Alan McGee Biopic Is Trainspotting Lite

No Exit premieres on Hulu in the U.S. and will stream on Disney+ internationally beginning Friday, February 25. The film is 95 minutes long and rated R for strong violence, language and some drug content.

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No Exit (I) (2022)

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Review: A woman gets stuck at a remote park with a criminal in the Hulu thriller ‘No Exit’

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Initially, “No Exit” looks like another iteration of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” with its group of stranded strangers and an unknown criminal in their midst. Darby (Havana Rose Liu) escapes from court-mandated drug rehab to visit her mother in the hospital, but a blizzard stops her progress at a remote park‘s visitor center. Darby is stuck there with four others: charming Ash (Danny Ramirez); squirrelly Lars (David Rysdahl); and married couple Ed (Dennis Haysbert) and Sandy (Dale Dickey). Darby discovers a young girl tied up in a van in the parking lot, and she isn’t sure which of the people she is snowed in with is a kidnapper.

“No Exit” reveals their (somewhat predictable) identity well before the climax, but there are several surprises still in store. Produced by Scott Frank, this film shares DNA with grim thrillers penned by the filmmaker like “The Lookout” and “A Walk Among the Tombstones,” though it’s never quite on that level. Director Damien Power occasionally tilts the movie into horror territory, with some particularly grisly violence that might shock viewers who think they know where it’s going.

Adapted from Taylor Adams’ novel, “No Exit” evinces no connection with Jean-Paul Sartre’s play of the same name, but both center on the idea that hell is other people. Between Darby’s fraught relationship with her family and her isolation with a violent criminal, human connection is largely absent here. There is a bit of Sartre’s trademark existentialism, with Darby taking charge of her own fate, but this “No Exit” reeks more of nihilism. As the film winds toward its bloody climax, it’s unclear what the point of it all was.

Rating : R, for strong violence, language and some drug content Running time : 1 hour, 35 minutes Playing : Available Feb. 25 on Hulu

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‘No Exit’ Review: A Tense, Thrilling Beginning Undone by a Ridiculous Third Act

What starts as a fun little thriller quickly turns into an absurd confluence of bad ideas.

Early in No Exit , a group of travelers that are left trapped by a blizzard gathers together at a rest stop to wait out the snowstorm. These five people confined until the weather eases up decide to play the card game "Bullshit." Each person lays down their card face down, stating what their card is, and if the person is caught bluffing, the other players can call “bullshit.” While the game is a way for the audience to get to know more about the characters, it’s also a foreshadowing to the audience’s reaction to No Exit , as the twists and turns in the film will undoubtedly leave the viewer frequently screaming “bullshit” at the cards No Exit is laying down.

The primary focus of these five confined characters is Darby ( Havana Rose Liu ), who has broken out of her seventh rehab stint in order to see her hospitalized mother. On the way, Darby gets stuck in the snowstorm and receives a text from her sister saying that Darby’s mother doesn’t want to see her anyway. Instead of going back the way she came or getting lost amongst the blizzard, Darby heads to the rest stop along with other stuck drivers until the storm dies down. Amongst the other travelers is Ed and Sandi ( Dennis Haysbert and Dale Dickey , respectively), a married couple heading to Reno, the shifty Lars (David Rysdahl), and the affable Ash ( Danny Ramirez ). When Darby discovers a little girl ( Mila Harris ) tied up in one of the traveler’s cars, Darby has to figure out who has kidnapped this child, while also trying to figure out how to help the kid without putting Darby and the kid in danger.

At times, No Exit almost feels like a mid-2000s thriller, akin to Identity or Vacancy , with director Damien Power putting all the characters and clues of this mystery on the table, before letting things go nuts. But what holds No Exit back from becoming an enthralling thriller is a tonal inconsistency that flies to various extremes throughout the film. What begins as a suspense film that feels like it was made for Freeform then wildly shifts into absurd violence and brutality that borders on hilarious. It’s one thing to make the audience feel the calm before the storm, but it’s another to make such a drastic switch that seems like little more than a way to have an exciting conclusion to your mostly slow-burn story.

RELATED: 'No Exit' Trailer Reveals a Chilling Search for Evil Featuring Havana Rose Liu

No Exit also relies too heavily on coincidences and leaps in logic that become silly instead of intense and shocking. For what it’s worth, No Exit— written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari , based on the Taylor Adams book of the same name—does knock its main mystery out fairly quickly, turning this into a story about how Darby will deal with her situation and not focused on the whodunit aspect. But again, it’s the third act where the twists and turns and aggressively ridiculous violence start to mess up the flow. The amount of curveballs, from character reveals to an extremely questionable use of drugs almost as an effective tool for escape, really drags down what the film has done up to this point.

But overall, No Exit just sort of feels like a bunch of disparate ideas thrown together in a film that is neither as thrilling nor as tense as it wants to be. Barrer and Ferrari’s screenplay never does anything worthwhile with Darby’s substance abuse, while the wooden script doesn’t do any of its characters any favors. It’s a shame to hear solid actors like Haysbert and Dickey try to make such clunky dialogue work, but the script is also detrimental to what could’ve worked as a solid little riddle of a film, making certain characters seem more suspicious and obvious as culprits than they probably should.

In the beginning, No Exit is a fine, slightly suspenseful, and occasionally claustrophobic story. Yet in its third act, No Exit throws caution to the wind and gets recklessly wild, with insane twists, over-the-top and laughable violence, and the dubious handling of Darby’s addiction story. No Exit stays on track at first, but Power’s film just can’t land No Exit ’s ludicrous conclusion.

No Exit is available on Hulu now.

Summary Darby (Havana Rose Liu), a young woman en route to a family emergency, is stranded by a blizzard and forced to find shelter at a highway rest area with a group of strangers. When she stumbles across an abducted girl in a van in the parking lot, it sets her on a terrifying life-or-death struggle to discover who among them is the kidnapper ... Read More

Directed By : Damien Power

Written By : Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, Taylor Adams

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Hulu’s ‘No Exit’ Review – Gripping Thriller Brings the Intensity

Bloody Disgusting’s No Exit review is spoiler-free.

The ingredients in Hulu Original No Exit suggest a recipe for a conventional paranoid thriller. An isolated setting where a handful of strangers wait out harsh blizzard conditions naturally breeds suspicion. A lead heroine fleeing from her rehabilitation center would typically make for a conventional unreliable narrator that can’t be trusted with reality. Except No Exit defies those norms and instead delivers a propulsive suspense thriller that focuses on intensity.

Darby Thorne ( Havana Rose Liu ) just received a call that her mother is gravely ill and in the hospital. It sends her into a panic, compounded by the fact that she’s under scrutiny in rehab, and most of her family wants nothing to do with her. Darby’s burned so many bridges before we even laid eyes on her. But the tough as nails Darby defies everyone, escapes the rehab center, and begins the road trip to see mom. A raging blizzard forces Darby to seek refuge for the night at a highway rest stop along with four other strangers. When she discovers a young girl ( Mila Harris ) bound and gagged in the back of a van, she realizes one of the strangers inside is the kidnapper, and it kickstarts a harrowing fight to survive.

There’s not an ounce of fat on Killing Ground director Damien Power ’s lean, mean thriller (you can watch the No Exit trailer here ). The screenplay by Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari ( Ant-Man and the Wasp ), based on Taylor Adams’ 2017 novel, cleverly establishes personalities, paranoia, and mistrust through a group poker game before Darby makes the shocking discovery. Once we get a firm sense of Darby’s complicated, messy life, we get introduced to the other key players. There’s the savvy retired veteran ( Dennis Haysbert ), a former nurse ( Dale Dickey ), the charismatic type ( Danny Ramirez ), and the volatile loner ( David Rysdahl ).

Power, Barrer, and Ferrari could’ve easily spun a paranoid chamber piece around the mystery of the kidnapper’s identity, using it to stretch and build suspense. Instead, the identity is merely the starting point of an increasingly intense survive-the-night thriller. Answers come at a steady clip, forming new obstacles and survival issues. Time is of the essence, and the more desperate the players become, the more they create agonizing situations and anxiety-inducing high stakes.

The straightforward approach to the story lets the thrills refreshingly take center stage. While some reveals are in store, Power finds thrilling ways to keep the momentum accelerating into an explosive finale thanks to well-crafted action sequences and set pieces, even for such a claustrophobic single setting. It’s constantly moving forward and always visually engaging, save for one murky wooded chase, bolstered by a fully committed supporting cast.

Hulu's 'No Exit' Leaves Five Strangers Stranded in a Blizzard [Trailer]

No Exit creates a propulsive thriller from a simple story with violence, breathless suspense, and nonstop thrills. A capable yet flawed lead lends emotional gravitas, bolstered by a talented supporting cast, and a pressure cooker scenario keeps the stakes high as things spiral out of control. It’s gripping and relentless in an exhilarating way.

No Exit debuts on February 25 exclusively as a Hulu Original.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

“Pretty Little Liars: Summer School” Review – A Hot Girl Summer Turned Final Girl Summer

When I previously wrote my review of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin , I mentioned that I was optimistic for the series to be renewed for another season, but questioned how the showrunners would be able to introduce a fresh batch of conflicts for our Millwood liars to tackle. After all, “A” had been apprehended! The main characters seemed to have found closure, and the future seemed bright and unobstructed for each of them.

And then came the summer. Summer School, that is.

As expected in any iteration of Pretty Little Liars , a new A has emerged to torment our five final girls who are stuck in Millwood attending summer school; this time in the form of Bloody Rose–a crimson soaked, knife brandishing antagonist that I would argue is much scarier than our season 1 stalker, Archie Waters. As things heat up with Bloody Rose, the summer brings a slew of new tribulations for the liars to face, including a mysterious new church group, and Milwood residents with nefarious intentions. It’s fresh, it’s campy, and while I wasn’t as blown away by the first half of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School as I was Original Sin , it still feels like a satisfying and seamless continuation of everything the first season had set up.

Editor’s Note: This review covers the first five episodes of ‘Summer School.’

For anyone craving a summer slasher romp in the vein of Fear Street or a Scream film, Summer School will satisfy. The new season feels like a love letter to horror classics similar to how Original Sin was–from a pool setting that looks straight out of the iconic scene from The Strangers: Prey At Night , to a Chuck E. Cheese-esque parlor full of animatronics that look straight from the recent Five Nights At Freddy’s movie. It continues the trend from season 1 of pivoting Pretty Little Liars completely into horror territory and proves that it can stand tall in the genre.

As previously mentioned, the new main antagonist donning the A moniker is Bloody Rose–a mysterious pursuer who lurks in the shadows of Millwood. Her design feels much more inspired than her predecessor: perpetually soaked in blood, donning what appears to be a crown of thorns, typically one eye exposed through what look like bandages on her face, the sight of her sends a chill down my spine as she pursues the liars. While her antics appear to be similar to Archie’s in terms of tormenting the girls, her influence seems to stretch further than just the five main characters, acting as a sort of Boogeyman in Millwood as its residents discuss the lore of who she is on “Spooky Spaghetti,” the PLL’s in-universe Creepypasta.

While the girls come to grips with the fact that a new stalker has emerged, they’re also still reconciling with the hurdles that they just surmounted. Having already come face-to-face with A–and on the brink of death by extension–they’ve each become hardened and cautious, embracing their identities as final girls. Without sounding too much like the meme of Jamie Lee Curtis, Summer School is an exploration of the baggage that comes with being a survivor of trauma. It’s a much more present story– Original Sin would often jump to flashbacks to show the mistakes of each of the girls’ mothers, whereas in Summer School , the mothers are essentially absent. This is now the girls’ story, and theirs alone.

The girls are constantly watching their backs and questioning the intentions of everyone around them, but have also toughened up and learned to lean on each other. It’s a refreshing expansion of what Original Sin had built–while the 1st season was tasked with providing exposition and introducing us to each character, Summer School settles in quickly and gives the characters much more breathing room. One of my critiques of Original Sin was that it felt like we didn’t get enough time with Mouse ( Malia Pyles ), Noa ( Maia Reficco ), and Faran ( Zaria ). We were treated to a lot of focus on Imogen ( Bailee Madison ) and Tabby ( Chandler Kinney ), who acted as the main duo of the group in that season while the others were a bit more on the backburner. Summer School quickly rectifies this: each of the main cast are given more time in the spotlight and come across as more dynamic characters as a result.

On the flipside, the pacing doesn’t feel quite as tight as the previous season. In the scenes where Bloody Rose is wreaking havoc on her chosen liar, the tension is palpable and gripping. But at times, the tension is weighed down by scenes that heavily detract from the main plot. I couldn’t help but think at times during the five episodes that I’ve watched that Mouse was the only character trying to get to the bottom of who Bloody Rose is while the focus of every other character was spending multiple scenes cozying up with their romantic interest. Romance is obviously an important facet of a summer slasher vibe, but more often than not I found my attention span wandering as the romance subplots seemed to take precedence over the murderer that was stalking the characters. Original Sin was effective at maintaining focus while knowing when to pump the brakes, while Summer School feels a bit bogged down at times.

Despite this, the mystery surrounding Bloody Rose has sunk its hook in me. Without spoiling too much, she clearly has some sort of vendetta against the liars that’s causing her to torture the group in a way specific to each of them. The introduction of a handful of new characters has me constantly rearranging my suspect list–by episode 5, I found that my main suspect up until that point had fallen completely off my radar of who the one stalking the girls could be. The essence of Pretty Little Liars has always been the audience’s participation in identifying clues throughout the show that indicate who the culprit is, and Summer School succeeds in beckoning you to do so episode by episode.

I’m also eager to see how a couple of subplots, specifically one that hints at religious fanaticism and the occult, will end up tying into the larger picture as well. Kelly Beasley ( Mallory Bechtel ) is a standout character–the unofficial 6th member of the main group, she’s undergone an intense character transformation and seems to be harboring some of the most complex secrets of the cast that I’m excited to see revealed. The predatory movie theater manager, Wes ( Derek Klena ), has also returned with seemingly nefarious ulterior motives, and it’s satisfying to see Tabby disillusioned with his friendly persona and butt heads with him.

While I don’t think the first five episodes pack as much of a punch as Original Sin , Summer School straddles the volatile line of a worthy slasher sequel for the most part. The characters feel like real teenagers (albeit with some clunky Gen-Z slang sprinkled in here and there); they’re fallible, act rashly, and make mistakes, and are endearing as a result. It’s a testament to the cast’s ability to embody final girls that are easy to root for, and I’ll be intently staying tuned to see how the mystery of Bloody Rose unfolds.

The first 2 episodes of Pretty Little Liars: Summer School will debut on Thursday, May 9, streaming on Max, with a new episode premiering weekly until June 20.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Violence, suspense, language in atmospheric thriller.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Do the right thing. Never give up. Recovery and re

Some characters show a lot of bravery, while other

The cast is diverse. A main character is in rehab

Significant tension, threats, blood, violence. Cha

Two characters kiss as a way to distract others.

"F--k," "bulls--t," "damnit," "goddammit," "idiot.

Characters are in rehab for substance abuse. Scene

Positive Messages

Do the right thing. Never give up. Recovery and redemption are possible. Family forgives. Sayings like "Thoughts and prayers" can feel empty.

Positive Role Models

Some characters show a lot of bravery, while others commit crimes and violent acts for personal gain. Some do both. Nobody is perfect.

Diverse Representations

The cast is diverse. A main character is in rehab for substance abuse. There's talk of military service and the PTSD some veterans suffer.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Significant tension, threats, blood, violence. Characters are shot at, chased, injured with a nail gun, knocked unconscious in a car crash, sent rolling down a hill and into trees, set on fire. Discussion of military combat and the suicide of a veteran. Discussion of child trafficking. A child has been kidnapped, tied up, left in the cold, and she suffers from a life-threatening illness.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k," "bulls--t," "damnit," "goddammit," "idiot."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters are in rehab for substance abuse. Scenes of group therapy and discussion of recovery. One dreams about or remembers an overdose. She sniffs a white powder she finds in a rehab facility worker's car. A nurse injects a shot of medicine into a child's shoulder.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that No Exit , based on the novel by Taylor Adams, is a suspenseful film with a diverse cast and a claustrophobic ambiance. The action is very violent for younger audiences. A child with a life-threatening illness has been kidnapped and is tied up in the back of a van, and there's discussion of child trafficking. Characters are shot at, chased, injured with a nail gun, knocked unconscious in a car crash, sent rolling down a hill and into trees, and set on fire. There's discussion of military combat and suicide, information a character sadistically uses to taunt another. People in rehab for substance abuse remember being on drugs, including an apparent overdose, and they are tempted by substances. Others have gambling addictions or financial troubles that prompt them to make morally questionable decisions. Two characters kiss as a diversion. Language includes "f--k," "bulls--t," "dammit," "goddammit," and "idiot." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (1)
Kids say (3)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

At the start of NO EXIT, Darby (Havana Rose Liu), in recovery from drug addiction, escapes rehab and steals a staffer's car after finding out her mom is in the hospital. As she's racing to her mom's hospital bedside in Salt Lake City, a winter storm descends. Local police tell her she needs to pull over at a visitor's center set up for stranded travelers. An odd collection of four other people are already at the place. When Darby goes out to the parking lot, she overhears muffled screams and finds a child tied and bound in the back of a van. Now she has to go back in and figure out who is holding the child and who she can and cannot trust.

Is It Any Good?

Plot twists, ambiance, and impressive acting, particularly from lead Liu, make this film a suspenseful watch, though the latter act devolves into mostly gory violence. There's a scene early in No Exit when Darby has discovered the tied-up child in the back of a van and doesn't yet know who the car belongs to. The group of stranded travelers starts a card game of BS, and the camera closes in on the characters' eyes as the moments becomes more and more tense. Who is lying? Who can Darby trust? This is where the film is at its strongest. Once the owner of the van is revealed, the action turns increasingly violent (expect a lot of blood), with a couple of surprise twists.

Liu plays pain masterfully, and her frightened stares and general discomfort, starting from the moment she escapes rehab and pockets a white substance for later, are haunting. She proves herself stronger and more resilient than anyone seems to expect. The ensemble cast was well selected, and although we're given some tantalizing hints about their lives, they deserved even more backstory. Dennis Haysbert brings gravitas to every role. The setting adds to the suspense: The visitor's center on a mountain pass socked in during a nighttime snowstorm creates an atmosphere of claustrophobia, if not dread. There's also some memorable cinematography that makes evocative use of the snowy environment, such as a lonely car shot from above, headlights beaming ahead, or falling flakes flashing red, white, and blue in the lights of a police car.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the setting of No Exit . What feelings do you think the location, the snowstorm, and the darkness are meant to evoke?

How does the film weave in background information about the different characters through conversations? What more would you have liked to know about them?

Even though Darby is an imperfect role model due to her history of substance abuse, how does she demonstrate strength, courage , and resilience?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : February 25, 2022
Cast : Havana Rose Liu , Danny Ramirez , Dennis Haysbert
Director : Damien Power
Inclusion Information : Female actors, Pansexual actors, Queer actors, Asian actors, Multiracial actors, Latino actors, Black actors
Studio : Hulu
Genre : Thriller
Topics : Book Characters
Run time : 95 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : R for strong violence, language and some drug content
Last updated : June 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Where to Watch

Havana Rose Liu (Darby) Danny Ramirez (Ash) David Rysdahl (Lars) Mila Harris (Jay) Dennis Haysbert (Ed) Dale Dickey (Sandi) Benedict Wall (Cpl. Ron Hill) Nomi Cohen (Jade) James Gaylyn (Dr. Bill) Lisa Zhang (Devon)

Damien Power

During a blizzard and stranded at an isolated highway rest stop in the mountains, a college student discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘No Exit’ on Hulu, a Head-Spinning Suspense Thriller That’s Like Ultraviolent Agatha Christie

Where to Stream:

No Exit (2022)

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Stream it or skip it: 'deliver me' on netflix, about two teens whose friendship is literally blown apart by a small-time gang leader, is 'baby reindeer' based on a true story, stream it or skip it: 'the grimm variations' on netflix, an anime that turns the classic grimms' fairy tales on their head.

No, Hulu exclusive No Exit isn’t based on Jean-Paul Sartre’s classic play, so you rabid existentialists out there should temper any joie de vivre you may be directing toward the movie. But despair not, hell-is-other-people people, because Damien Power’s film adaptation of Taylor Adams’ suspense novel at least seems conceptually inspired by the French philosopher’s story of three post-life souls trapped in a room, where they can drive each other mad for all eternity. How so, you may ask, and does it work? That’s what I’m here for, folks.

‘NO EXIT’ : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Rehab. Group therapy time. Darby (Havana Rose Liu) is bored, or weary, or restless, or cynical, or all of the above. She’s in the middle of sharing that she’s 11 days sober and in her seventh rehab stint when she gets a phone call. Her mother had an aneurysm and is in the hospital. It’s a prickly development on two fronts: One, her myriad drug escapades have made her an unwelcome member of the family. And two, she not only can’t make any outgoing calls at this point in her stay, she’s not allowed to leave. Not even if her mother is close to death, apparently. That doesn’t stop Darby, though – she steals a fellow patient’s contraband cell phone, jimmies the janitor closet, steals some tools, runs out the door and, as the alarm blares, hotwires a car and is outta there.

Outta there, headlong into a nasty snowstorm derailing her long drive to Salt Lake City. The roads are closed, stranding her at a rest stop where a few others also pulled off to wait out the storm. There’s married couple Ed (Dennis Haysbert) and Sandi (Dale Dickey), a greasy squirrelly weasel named Lars (David Rysdahl), and Ash (Danny Ramirez), who’s asleep on a bench at first but seems to be an earnest and charming fellow when he’s awake. Cell service is nil in this remote location, of course, so maybe if Darby wanders around outside with her phone outstretched in front of her, she’ll get a bar and be able to respond to the text from her sister saying Darby isn’t wanted at the hospital with Mom, because she’ll only make it worse. It stings.

Just as we’re wondering, hey, is this movie a character melodrama or what, a thump and a muffled squeal come from inside a parked van. Darby peers in and there’s a little girl (Mila Harris) bound and gagged with duct tape. She dials 911 and there’s no service and takes a photo of the license plate and texts it to the police but it doesn’t go through and did someone just look out the rest stop window and spot her? UGH. She jimmies the door and comforts the girl then goes back inside the rest stop and plays a game of Bullshit with Ed, Sandi, Lars and Ash, masking her anxiety, frequently glancing out the window at the van. Who’s the kidnapper? Is it the obvious guy or the nice guy or the chill older gent or his sweet wife? This is only the beginning, people, because it gets so much more bananas from here.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: No Exit takes an Agatha Christie-style mystery ( Murder on the Orient Express , Death on the Nile ) and crosses it with a gruelingly violent suspense film like Jeremy Saulnier’s put-ya-through-the-meat-grinder-ers Green Room and Blue Ruin .

Performance Worth Watching: We just saw Liu in small roles in Mayday and The Sky is Everywhere , and here, she more than ably takes the lead, playing a young woman who fights to survive a journey through the ringer a la Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Alison Lohman in Drag Me to Hell .

Memorable Dialogue: Ed and Sandi side-eye creepy Lars:

Ed: I don’t like that guy.

Sandi: Ed, you don’t know that guy.

Ed: I’ve known plenty of that guy. Weird little white boys with a chip on their shoulder.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: No Exit is a real nailbiter, a hair-raising, crazy-tense white-knuckler with several OH F— moments to keep us on our toes. Is hell other people for Darby? In this case, in this single-location thriller, absolutely. Power winds it tight, enough so we can push past some of its less-credible that’s-a-stretch plot developments and mostly stay in the moment, in its suspenseful grip. Even as we shout common-sense advice at the screen – you know, JUST SHOOT HIM ALREADY and DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE NAIL GUN, stuff like that – we remain invested in our protagonist’s attempts to rescue the girl and survive the ordeal.

And it sure is an ordeal, one that routinely escalates, takes a few ultraviolent turns and comes extremely close to being a sadistic bloodbath. But it’s inspiring to watch Liu grit her teeth and summon the resolve to find a path through a tangled psychological briar patch rife with the pitfalls of her recovery, scads of guilt and the desire to do the right thing in this situation even if it means having a gun pointed at her head. Despite Darby facing one damn thing after another – to the point where you just have to laugh to relieve the stress of watching this thing – we never feel divorced from her emotional journey. That’s the high-wire act that No Exit pulls off pretty damn well.

Our Call: You’ll find No Exit is full of surprises. STREAM IT.

Will you stream or skip the head-spinning suspense thriller #NoExit on @hulu ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) February 26, 2022

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com .

Stream No Exit on Hulu

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DVD & Streaming
Drama , Mystery/Suspense , Thriller

Content Caution

In Theaters

Havana Rose Liu as Darby Thorne; Mila Harris as Jay; Danny Ramirez as Ash; David Rysdahl as Lars; Dennis Haysbert as Ed; Dale Dickey as Sandi

Home Release Date

February 25, 2022
Damien Power

Distributor

Movie review.

She had a good reason to leave. Really.

It’s not as if it was the first time Darby had ditched rehab. She’d been in and out of clinics for years now. They didn’t work. They never worked. She didn’t think this one would be any different.

But still, Darby was willing to give it a chance. One big last fat chance.

But then, during yet another interminable and pointless group session, she gets a call: Her mother’s in the hospital. Brain aneurism , they said. She might die .

Darby had to see her.

Never mind that her sister told Darby not to come to Salt Lake—that no one even wanted her there. No matter that the clinic told her she had to stay put. No matter that she didn’t have a car, or even bus fare. Darby needed to see her mom. It might be the last time.

She bolts through the alarm-rigged doors, hotwires a clinician’s car and speeds away toward the Sierra Nevadas—the mountains she’ll need to cross to reach Salt Lake City.

But while Darby might’ve outfoxed the clinic, there’s no way around the weather. She heads straight into a howling blizzard which closes down the road.

“No one’s getting through until the storm passes,” a police officer tells her. She can either turn around and head back down the pass—back to wherever she came from—or she can spend the night in a visitor’s center a few hundred yards ahead.

Darby picks the visitor’s center, where a few other stranded souls are staying: Ed and Sandi, a husband and wife who’d been on their way to Reno. Handsome Ash, asleep on a bench. And a strange, nervous man named Lars, who says he’s headed back home to Battle Mountain.

But when Darby heads outside to see if she can get a few bars on her phone, she hears something—a bang, a muffled scream—and she sees that there’s a sixth person at the center: A little girl in the back of a van, hands tied, mouth taped shut.

Darby doesn’t know who owns the van: It could be any of the four people inside.

No bars on the phone means no 911, no one to call. If that little girl’s going to be rescued, Darby will have to do it—with help, if she can find someone to trust.

Darby had a good reason to leave. Now she has a good reason to stay—stay just long enough to rescue that little girl. And to do that, she’ll need to stay alive.

Positive Elements

Darby’s clearly No Exit’ s hero. She’s determined to save the girl, even if it means risking both life and limb. (We also see a glimmer of hope that she just might shake free of her drug addiction, too.)

The other “guests” in the visitor’s center land on a broader spectrum—from being willing to help, to being willing to kill everyone there. The best of the bunch—we won’t say who—is an ex-Marine who does what he can to help Darby. And when a bad guy says that it’s stupid to risk your own life for a total stranger, he says, “I’m a Marine, idiot. It’s what we do.”

The police officer also seems like a kindly sort—though the goings on at that visitor’s center get a bit too serious for one cop to deal with on his own.

Spiritual Elements

When a traveler thanks the Marine for his service, Sandi replies that those sorts of clichés mean just about as much as “thoughts and prayers.” (Later, the phrase “thoughts and prayers” is used with bitter irony.) Someone sardonically shouts “hallelujah.” In a flashback, we hear someone beg God for help.

Sexual Content

Darby settles on one prime suspect and takes another traveler in her confidence. When the suspect walks in on the two of them discussing rescue options for the girl, Darby smooches the traveler (to make it look as though the two of them wanted to be alone for other reasons). Later, the man and Darby play-act again.

We learn that the kidnapped girl—Jay—is meant to be trafficked.

Violent Content

I’ll be non-specific here to avoid spoilers, which’ll make this section shorter than it probably should be.

Several people are shot—sometimes with traditional guns, other times with nail guns. Most die, though not always right away. One guy suffers a nail wound in his forehead: It’s not lethal, but when he slips in a pool of (someone else’s) blood, he falls and his forehead smacks the floor—sending the nail strait into his cerebrum. (He dies, of course.)

Another person gets nailed, by the wrist, to a wall. We see the victim try to escape from the nail in a handful of painful, bloody ways. Jay, the little girl, is threatened with the nail gun in the same way. A victim is shot several times with the nail gun until the body is completely lifeless. Someone’s stabbed in the throat with a screwdriver. Characters get into less weapon-y fights, too, and someone is nearly choked to death. At least one person runs into the storm, only to tumble down a hill. Those who go outside face threat of death by hypothermia.

Duct tape gets ripped off Jay’s face, which clearly hurts. Jay also suffers from Addison’s disease—a condition where excess adrenaline can kill: The kidnapping and time at the visitor’s center are obviously not good for her, and she nearly dies from the combined ordeal.

A man asks the Marine if he ever killed anyone in action. “I lost count,” the Marine deadpans. A car crashes. A building gets set on fire and burns spectacularly. In flashback, we see Darby, unconscious, in a car as her family hammers on the car window to get her out. High-strung Lars mutters, after a card game, that he should really kill someone who made fun of him.

We learn that Darby’s father committed suicide. A villain taunts her with that knowledge—repeatedly asking her just how he died and insinuating that she’ll die in the same way.

Crude or Profane Language

The f-word is used more than 25 times, and the s-word nearly 35 times. We also hear “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ssed.” God’s name is misused a half-dozen times, most of those with the word “d–n.” Jesus’ name is also abused six times.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Jay is given a drug to keep her disease at bay. In flashback, we learn that someone was blackmailed for smoking marijuana.

As mentioned, Darby is a drug addict: She confesses to Ash that she’d take just about every drug she could get her hands on. At the clinic, she mentions that she’s been clean for 11 days, and she listens without enthusiasm as another patient details her struggles with drug use. (Darby snipes that she heard that same patient tell the same story two years ago at another drug recovery clinic.) And when she discovers a drug stash in the clinician’s car, she considers taking it before reaching the visitor’s center.

[ Spoiler Warning ] Darby eventually does consume the drug: She uses it to numb the pain (which she knows’ll be horrific) as she plots a situational escape.

Other Negative Elements

Ed is an enthusiastic gambler. As the travelers settle in to play a card game (named after a popular, profane exclamation), he tells the players, “the trick is to play the man, not the hand.” He says he likes Reno because it has “all the action of Vegas, [but] half the noise.”

As mentioned, Darby steals a car, and she probably swipes a phone, too. A few travelers have secrets, and they lie to keep them hidden.

No Exit, which is being released on Hulu, is a simple story with simple stakes: A handful of travelers discover that one (or more) of them is a child trafficker and potential killer. And it’s not just the kidnapped girl’s life that’s at stake: It’s pretty much everyone’s.

So let’s make this conclusion simple, too.

No Exit is quite bloody and sometimes sadistic. While certainly blood and death is to be expected in R-rated thrillers, this movie sometimes crosses the line from dramatizing tense, threatening situations and into becoming something more akin to torture. Bodies pile up as the snow comes down.

And even if you shut your eyes throughout the whole thing, your ears would still be exposed to plenty of profanities. The movie’s obligatory semi-happy ending doesn’t ameliorate all the badness that came before. And the fact that ingesting an illegal drug saves the day? Well, that seems like a mixed message.

Whenever a nail gun becomes part of a movie’s supporting cast, you know you’re in for trouble.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Movie Review – No Exit (2022)

February 25, 2022 by Robert Kojder

No Exit , 2022.

Directed by Damien Power. Starring Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris, Benedict Wall, and Kirsty Hamilton.

During a blizzard and stranded at an isolated highway rest stop in the mountains, a college student discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside.

The press release for No Exit asks critics to keep plot details to a minimum, which is something I usually roll my eyes at, but in this case, it’s an understandable request. Twists are all No Exit is really about. Unfortunately, they aren’t exciting or logical revelations, but the kind that trash up the joint with characters and situations so patently stupid that when it’s all over, it’s tough to imagine a dumber movie releasing throughout the remainder of 2022.

Essentially, No Exit is a whodunnit set inside a visitor’s center during a snowstorm, where protagonist Darby (Havana Rose Liu, offering up a convincingly resilient and determined performance) stumbles across a tied up young girl in the back of a van parked outside the visitor center. Why she doesn’t just get the girl out of the van right away will always remain a mystery to me, even if there is potential danger inside the building and no cell phone service. The first bafflingly insulting gap in logic comes with Darby going back inside to try and figure out which of the four individuals could be responsible for something so reprehensible.

And because director Damien Power’s thriller (it’s also an adaptation of Taylor Adams’ novel, turned into a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari) is loaded with contrivances, this small sheltered group laying low during the storm decide to play a card game called “Bullshit” that grants Darby a chance to ask some questions and learn some bluffing tells. Packed into the space are a traveling couple on the way to Vegas, a man on his way home, and an unhinged sore loser that quickly becomes the prime suspect. There are some valuable tidbits we learn about each character, such as Dennis Haysbert’s Ed having served in the Marines and his wife Sandy (Dale Dickey with an awful role here that makes me glad the movie is being dumped before someone distributes her potential awards vehicle from Sundance, Love Song ) was a nurse. David Ramirez’ Ash is the handsome type that we can only assume will assist Darby, whereas David Rysdahl’s Lars appears as such a fit for the culprit that it would be a shock if there weren’t any misdirection going on.

Darby also has a backstory that is so tacked on and overlooked throughout No Exit that it’s frankly embarrassing that it’s used for character motivation. The story tries to tie her past into the situation during one last act of survival, but it’s all hollow and becomes extra-insulting during the ending. The rest of No Exit is so incredibly dopey that it doesn’t register as necessarily offputting or making light of serious character flaws. As for the four characters she is stuck with, they also have their stupid moments. Although it should be said that Dennis Haysbert is given one compelling scene regarding what to do about the situation, and that young Mila Harris is doing is trying her best as the kidnapped Jay. The survival aspect also has a few clever callbacks to earlier developments in the story.

No Exit would have worked if the script (and presumably the book is based on) weren’t so obsessed with tricking the viewer to the point where none of it is even remotely credible anymore. There is competent craftsmanship to some of the chases and violent struggles with a small ensemble trying to elevate the material (aside from maybe David Rysdahl, who plays creepy dialed up to 11 from beginning to end), all of which gives the proceedings a sheen of dumb fun. The problem is that the dumb far outweighs the joy. At one point, No Exit trots out a reveal that is not only laughably convenient and lazily explained but cements that it’s the only thing the script is trying to do. And it can’t even do that with a smidge of intelligence.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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‘no exit’ review: gripping thriller.

While it never reaches anywhere close to the source material’s greatness, ‘No Exit’ still makes for a fun and gripping thriller.

On Friday, Hulu released the film adaptation of No Exit , a film adaptation of Taylor’s Adam’s brilliant 2018 novel of the same name .

The story revolves around a young woman (Darby) who ends up getting stuck at a remote rest stop in the middle of a snow storm with four strangers. What begins as a major roadblock to visiting her dying mother becomes something much more deadly/harrowing when she sees that one of the people has a little girl bound and gagged inside their car.

Both the novel and the film have a number of huge twists, so this review won’t be able to go into much detail without spoiling things. That said, we’ll still dig into whether or not the film adaptation for one of my all time favorite novels is worth watching–both a fan of the book or someone who’d never even heard of it until now.

No Exit (20th Century Studios)

As great as No Exit ‘s premise is, it can’t work without the characters. Luckily, this is one area where the film absolutely nailed it. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way they changed Darby’s backstory into her being a drug addict (more on that in a bit), but Hannah Rose Liu portrays the character brilliantly. Even when it involved the parts I didn’t like, Liu sold those additional aspects of Darby’s backstory to create a tragically flawed and believable hero.

Her brilliant performance is only rivaled by the film’s primary antagonist. Once again, I can’t really say who that is (to preserve the mystery), but the character is absolutely terrifying without ever devolving into a supervillain territory. In fact, the character’s humanity makes the fear they instill even worse after their sociopathic walls are tested as the night’s events escalate into chaos.

That being said, the entire cast is as good as any fan of the book could ask for. Each one plays a part that never allows you be comfortable or certain about who they are or what they’re capable of–even the good ones.

From a production standpoint, everything looks great. That might seem like odd praise for a story that takes place primarily is one bleak location, but the cinematography consistently works to enhance the claustrophobic fear marinating within its setting.

One of the few areas that improved upon the book was in the movie’s score by Marco Beltrami and Miles Hankins. As much as I support movies directly to streaming formats (and argue against the snobbish criticisms they face), I’ve noticed that for whatever reason, the score quality for theatrical releases continues to be consistently better. In the case of No Exit , however, Beltrami and Hankins’ work was appropriately dramatic without ever imposing on or distracting from the drama unfolding in front of us.

It was also good enough that I’m adding the No Exit album to my soundtrack playlist on Spotify. Obviously my seal of approval as a middle school music teacher carries nowhere near the same weight or an Oscar or Grammy (or any number of infinitely more qualified opinions). But there are normally only one or two incidental music scores a year that effect me enough that I want them to be part of my background while I write.

Story-wise, No Exit starts out as what feels like a slow burn. By the time we reach the film’s halfway point, the narrative is a full blown fire.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially with how great the characters are. As the narrative hurtles toward its explosive climax, it’s impossible to keep your eyes off the screen. Despite being a phone addict who already had a very good idea of what was going to happen, I found myself device free excited/nervous all over again as Darby made her final stand.

What Didn’t Work

I understand the decision to make Darby a drug addict for the film adaptation of Taylor Adam’s novel. A movie isn’t going to have the space and internal dialogue to up her flawed character the way Adams did. It’s basically a much more efficient way to get us to roughly the same point when she arrives at the rest stop.

That said, it still didn’t sit right with me–especially when her addiction ends up playing a critical role is overcoming one of the story’s most harrowing scenes.

Another area where Darby’s character didn’t quite live up to my expectations was her bond with Jay, the young girl she’s attempting to rescue. Once again, much of this was due to the film not having the time or space to delve into that the way a book can. But there were also a few major cuts from the original narrative that probably could have helped.

Even more disappointing was how sparse Jay’s development is. Mila Harris does a superb job of portraying the distressed child’s terror, but the script ends up relegating her character to little more than a plot device.

The most disappointing cuts, however, came courtesy of the story’s main antagonist (who I once again will not name). That’s no fault of the actor/actress who portrayed them, by the way. They were even better than I could have hope for. But part of what made them such a terrifying villain in the novel was what we learned over the course of the evening. The No Exit film, on the other hand, doesn’t even scratch the surface, relying instead of a few bits of world building and relying on the phenomenal performance by the actor/actress portraying them.

While a movie obviously can’t delve into those sort of aspects in the same manner, No Exit ‘s pacing shuttles the narrative along at breakneck speed. Much of this is due to the change in storytelling mediums, but some of it is due to cuts in the story, as well.

For context, I read the novel in a little over a day, both from not being able to put the book down and how each chapter rocketed you into the next one. I full expected a brisk story in the film adaptation and was still taken aback at how quickly it moved.

This could be due to my bias making me want to see one of my favorite books spend more time on the all the things I loved about it. But I also genuinely believe there was at least 15-20 more minutes of story that could have taken things to another level.

The Verdict

A few years ago, an acquaintance of mine (who will never be mistaken for a genius) asked me what the point of books were when we have movies and television. After taking a moment to make sure I didn’t suffer an aneurism, I explained that written stories can delve into their characters’ inner workings and motivations better than even the best movies and TV shows can. It’s a big reason why Stephen Kings’s psychological dense tales often don’t translate well on screen.

And I say that as someone who loves movies and television.

In the case of No Exit , it might be completely unfair of me to expect a film adaptation to dig into the characters with the same brilliant and gripping insight as the book. I could make the argument that No Exit deserved to be a TV mini-series instead, but that’s not what we got…and what we got was still pretty damn good.

I decided to wait a day to write my review until I’d heard from some friends who watched No Exit without having ever read the book. I also might have fallen asleep on the couch after a super heavy meal, but that’s besides the point.

What I’ve heard thus far sounds very similar to the effusive praise I had after turning the last page of Taylor Adam’s novel. I’ve also found myself continually returning to the on screen characters and wanting to see them again–just like I continue to feel about the book I read four years ago.

I still maintain that the film adaptation moved too quickly through some of its most interesting aspects. I also feel that the admittedly great characters still got shortchanged in a lot of areas, especially Jay. That being said, my loft (and likely unreasonable) expectations don’t negate the film’s success as a fun and gripping thriller that I’ll likely watch again.

No matter what your opinion ends up being, however, I highly recommend reading the book, as well.

Read our interview with ‘No Exit’ author Taylor Adams here .

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No Exit Movie Review: A Gripping Thriller With Some Narrative Flaws

February 25, 2022

No Exit is a suspense thriller from 20th Century Studios and Hulu. It is based on the 2017 novel of the same name and follows a recovering drug addict who becomes trapped at a mountain rest. Things turn south as she discovers a young child hidden in a van belonging to one of the people inside.

Warning, this article will contain massive spoilers for No Exit . If you have not yet seen the film, you have been warned.

Havana Rose Liu plays the lead role of Darby and does a fantastic job in the role. Throughout the film, I found myself rooting for her and Jay, the girl who was kidnapped. Often in thrillers like this the main characters come off as incompetent, which makes it hard to root for them. However, in No Exit , the main characters not involved with the kidnapping were actually capable individuals which made it easier to root for.

RELATED: NO EXIT CAST AND CREW DISCUSS WORKING WITH CHILD ACTOR MILA HARRIS

Mila Harris plays Jay and is perhaps one of the best child performances I have ever seen. Never once does it feel that Harris is just some cheap child actor they hired for the movie. Harris puts on a performance that is just as good, if not even better than some of her fellow castmates. She is without a doubt one of the highlights of the film.

Dennis Haysbert portrays Ed, a former marine and the sensible hero of the group. He becomes a father figure of sorts to Darby throughout the film as he has much in similar with her own father. He is the one who puts his life on the line for the other characters, his death being the event that truly spirals everything out of control.

As for the individuals involved in the plot, each actor does a good job playing a menacing role in this film. Danny Ramirez’s character, Ash, was a fantastic fakeout in this film. He initially came off as the nice guy so I automatically assumed that he was the perpetrator. However, David Rysdahl’s character, Lars was initially shown to be the main suspect which can throw the audience off. Later it is revealed that Ash and Lars are adopted, brothers who are both involved in the kidnapping.

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Dale Dickey plays Sandi who is revealed to be a housekeeper for Jay’s wealthy family and wife to Ed. Jay doesn’t treat Sandi well, harassing her for her own personal gain. Sandi is the one who calls the kidnappers (unbeknownst to Ed) to take Jay for the ransom money and bring her back. However the kidnappers don’t hold up to their end of the bargain as they plan to bring her to a better home. Sandi is the true reveal character of this film which, to be frank, I did not see coming. So, kudos to the writers on that.

No Exit’s Narrative Problems

While No Exit does a somewhat decent job with the film’s various reveals through the short 90-minute runtime, some details seem to have been lost in the shuffle.

The main aspect being, how in the world did the kidnappers and Sandi just happen to be stranded at the same Cabin? Clearly, she and Ed weren’t involved in the kidnapper’s real intentions, so this doesn’t make any sense. Obviously, the characters need to come together for the movie to exist, but the story doesn’t give a good enough reason for the characters to be together besides “there was a snowstorm”.

Also, Darby’s text to 911 somehow goes through despite the message being deleted by Ash before the service came back. Unless I am mistaken, I’m pretty sure that’s not how text messages work so this just seems like some plot convenience for the protagonists.

While every actor does a good job portraying their respective roles, some of the writing can come off as extremely hokey. This is especially the case with the character of Lars who has ridiculously stereotypical dialogue for the “kidnapper freak” type. Meanwhile, Ash is a much more interesting character who has much more depth.

Overall, No Exi t is a good movie to watch for those who are just looking for something to pass the time. However, if you are looking for something revolutionary in the thriller genre this film probably isn’t for you.

No Exit premieres on Hulu on February 25th. The film is directed by Damien Power and stars Danny Ramirez, Dennis Haysbert, Havana Rose Liu, Mila Harris, David Rysdahl, Dale Dickey, and Kirsty Hamilton. What are your thoughts on No Exit ? Do you plan to check it out on Hulu? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow The Illuminerdi on social media to be notified of more news and updates like this in the future!

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REVIEW: “No Exit” (2022)
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COMMENTS

No Exit movie review & film summary (2022)
A woman named Darby Thorne ( Havana Rose Liu) gets a call that her mother is in the hospital. She flees the rehab facility she's in—a detail that adds to her vulnerability and sense of overall panic—to try and drive to get to her mother, despite the protestations of her sister. As he's traveling through the treacherous Utah mountains ...
No Exit
Rated: 3/5 • Jan 4, 2023. In "No Exit," Havana Rose Liu ("Mayday") makes her feature film leading role debut as Darby, a young woman en route to a family emergency who is stranded by a blizzard ...
No Exit
No Exit's script ladles on the usual plot twists and body horror, introducing new, grisly ways to assault flesh and bone. But the tension is lukewarm. Full Review | Apr 26, 2022
'No Exit' Review: Who's Bluffing?
By Beatrice Loayza. Feb. 25, 2022. No Exit. Directed by Damien Power. Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller. R. Find Tickets. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our ...
No Exit review
No Exit review - snowy killer thriller gets soggy fast . This article is more than 2 years old. ... No Exit plays every bit like a Netflix-adjacent TV movie, one that seems ill-fitting of the ...
No Exit (2022)
No Exit: Directed by Damien Power. With Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris. During a blizzard and stranded at an isolated highway rest stop in the mountains, a college student discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside.
'No Exit' Review: Dennis Haysbert & Dale Dickey in Hulu Thriller
No Exit. The Bottom Line You'll feel trapped watching this claustrophobic thriller. Release date: Friday, February 25 (Hulu) Cast: Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris ...
No Exit Review: Havana Rose Liu Leads An Effective Thriller
By Ferdosa. Published Feb 25, 2022. A lean screenplay & a terrific performance by Havana Rose Liu help shape a compelling thriller as it subverts expectations & holds viewers' attention. No Exit, based on the novel of the same name by Taylor Adams, is an impressive survival thriller that doesn't overexert itself by being too flashy.
No Exit (2022)
Permalink. 7/10. A quick thriller with a game performance from Havana Rose Liu. adotson-98233 26 February 2022. "No Exit" is a quick, fast paced 95 minutes that features a good story and a great lead performance. What I liked about this movie is of course as I said the lead. Havana Rose Liu is great in this movie.
Review: Hulu thriller 'No Exit'
Review: A woman gets stuck at a remote park with a criminal in the Hulu thriller 'No Exit'. Initially, "No Exit" looks like another iteration of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were ...
No Exit (2022 film)
No Exit is a 2022 American thriller film directed by Damien Power from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Taylor Adams. It stars Havana Rose Liu as a recovering drug addict who discovers a kidnapping in progress while stranded at a rest stop during a blizzard. Danny Ramirez, David Rysdahl, Dale Dickey, and Dennis Haysbert co-star as ...
No Exit Review: A Tense Beginning Is Undone by a Wild Third Act
Movie Reviews; No Exit; About The Author. Ross Bonaime (624 Articles Published) Ross Bonaime is the Senior Film Editor at Collider. He is a Virginia-based critic, writer, and editor who has ...
No Exit
No Exit - Metacritic. Summary Darby (Havana Rose Liu), a young woman en route to a family emergency, is stranded by a blizzard and forced to find shelter at a highway rest area with a group of strangers. When she stumbles across an abducted girl in a van in the parking lot, it sets her on a terrifying life-or-death struggle to discover who ...
No Exit Review
A capable yet flawed lead lends emotional gravitas, bolstered by a talented supporting cast, and a pressure cooker scenario keeps the stakes high as things spiral out of control. It's gripping ...
No Exit Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 1 ): Kids say ( 3 ): Plot twists, ambiance, and impressive acting, particularly from lead Liu, make this film a suspenseful watch, though the latter act devolves into mostly gory violence. There's a scene early in No Exit when Darby has discovered the tied-up child in the back of a van and doesn't yet know who the car ...
No Exit (2022) Movie Review
A Surprisingly Effective Thriller. No Exit is a decent little thriller. It's not a particularly original or deep film, but it does effectively build tension and does so with a tight-knit ensemble and a simple but engaging story. There are a fair few twists in here too and although the final act perhaps turns once too many, causing a slight ...
No Exit (2022)
Synopsis. During a blizzard and stranded at an isolated highway rest stop in the mountains, a college student discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside.
'No Exit' Hulu Review: Stream It or Skip It?
Stream It Or Skip It: 'No Exit' on Hulu, a Head-Spinning Suspense Thriller That's Like Ultraviolent Agatha Christie. By John Serba. Published Feb. 25, 2022, 4:30 p.m. ET. No, Hulu exclusive ...
No Exit
Movie Review. She had a good reason to leave. Really. It's not as if it was the first time Darby had ditched rehab. She'd been in and out of clinics for years now. ... No Exit, which is being released on Hulu, is a simple story with simple stakes: A handful of travelers discover that one (or more) of them is a child trafficker and potential ...
Movie Review
No Exit, 2022. Directed by Damien Power. Starring Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez, Dennis Haysbert, Dale Dickey, David Rysdahl, Mila Harris, Benedict Wall, and Kirsty Hamilton. SYNOPSIS: During a ...
'No Exit' review: Gripping thriller • AIPT
While it never reaches anywhere close to the source material's greatness, 'No Exit' still makes for a fun and gripping thriller. Nick Nafpliotis. February 26, 2022. On Friday, Hulu released the film adaptation of No Exit, a film adaptation of Taylor's Adam's brilliant 2018 novel of the same name. The story revolves around a young ...
No Exit Movie Review: A Gripping Thriller With Some Narrative Flaws
February 25, 2022. Written By Bryce West. No Exit is a suspense thriller from 20th Century Studios and Hulu. It is based on the 2017 novel of the same name and follows a recovering drug addict who becomes trapped at a mountain rest. Things turn south as she discovers a young child hidden in a van belonging to one of the people inside.
No Exit
Trust no one. #NoExit starts streaming on @Hulu February 25.In "No Exit," Havana Rose Liu ("Mayday") makes her feature film leading role debut as Darby, a yo...

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