Despite the fact that Can’t Move seems to be a more appropriate title, Netflix’s Don’t Move is a decent, unassuming and utterly unpretentious little thriller perfect for those nights when you really can’t be bothered to engage your brain and just fancy something that will keep you entertained for 90 minutes or so. Iris (Kelsey Asbille) is grieving for her young son Mateo, who died during a family hiking trip. Inconsolable and unable to come to terms with her loss, she decides to take her own life. She visits the site of his death, sets up a memorial to him and prepares to jump over a cliff edge. Before she can do so, Richard (Finn Wittrock) arrives, and whilst he doesn’t try to explicitly talk her out of her course of action, she reconsiders and steps away from the cliff. She heads back to where they have both parked their cars and suddenly Richard attacks her with a stun device. He then ties her up and bundles her into the back of his car. Following a failed escape attempt by Iris, Richard tells her that he’s injected her with a fast-acting paralysing agent, and within twenty minutes, she will be utterly helpless. She will be unable to move!
You probably don’t need us to tell you what happens during the rest of the film’s taut, tight 92-minute running time (bearing in mind that running is actually one of the things Iris is unable to do). Suffice it to say that Don’t Move does pretty much exactly what you might expect of it; Iris escapes, meets up with someone who can help her and discovers that a bit like M Night Shyamalan’s Trap earlier this year, Richard is a serial killer hiding in plain sight, and then starts to fight back in a desperate attempt to save her life.
Don’t Move has fun with an interesting idea even if Iris’ levels of incapacitation tend to vary depending on what the story suddenly requires of her, and it rattles along agreeably thanks to energetic performances by its unknown cast and confident direction from Adam Schindler and Brian Netto who deftly crank up the tension. You probably won’t remember much about the film a couple of weeks on, but you’re guaranteed… er… not to move from your couch while you’re watching it. Sorry.
DON’T MOVE is currently streaming on Netflix.
