While traveling cross country, couple Betty and an unidentified man, referred to as "Driver," encounter a gang of robbers led by dedicated criminal Hoag, his daughter Amber, girlfriend Tamara, Amber's boyfriend Denny, and the psychopathic Flynn. Suspecting the couple to be wealthy and wanting to redeem himself for a robbery he botched, Flynn has them kidnapped and interrogated about accessing their money by Ethan in a gas station. However, Betty commits suicide by cutting her throat on a knife Ethan had against her neck, which leads to the Driver breaking out of his handcuffs and killing Ethan. Meanwhile, Flynn, having brought the Driver's car to the group's hideout, finds a girl in the trunk of the vehicle. Amber realizes the girl is Emma Ward, a wealthy heiress who disappeared after 14 of her friends were murdered at a party, and the kidnapped man is the one responsible for the massacre. Amber attempts to be kind toward Emma; however, Emma angrily spits in her face. Following Hoag's orders, Denny and Tamara head to the gas station to contact Ethan, only to find his and Betty's bodies and the Driver missing. They bring Ethan's corpse back to their hideout and inadvertently bring the Driver, who had been hiding in Ethan's body, along with them. The Driver begins his assault on the robbers by first destroying their van and capturing Hoag, whom he later kills by dropping him into a meat grinder. After the group argues over what to do next, Denny volunteers to get their old jeep working so they can escape. Though he succeeds, the Driver shoves him into the open car engine, badly mangling his face. The Driver then chases and injures Amber, but lets her live when he realizes the surviving gang members are leaving. Nevertheless, Flynn accidentally hits Amber with the jeep when she stumbles onto the road. Emma comments on how the only one of them with a soul was killed. After dropping Denny off at the hospital, Flynn, Tamara, and Emma head to a motel to stay the night. When Flynn uses the Driver's credit card to pay for a room, he inadvertently causes Harris, the motel owner, to call the police, as the Driver had previously checked himself into the same motel earlier in the day. The Driver himself also arrives at the motel and nearly strangles Tamara to death in the bathroom, but stops when he hears Flynn shoot the sheriff responding to Harris' call. Flynn and Emma find Tamara crucified by the shower-curtain, seemingly dead; Flynn accidentally shoots Tamara when she moves suddenly, which leads to Emma attempting to escape. Though Flynn manages to stop her, he is promptly run over by the Driver in a police car. Emma tries to shoot the Driver with a gun she got from Tamara but runs out of bullets and flees into a nearby junkyard. When the Driver confronts Emma, she states she is done running and she beats him with a metal pipe until Flynn appears with a shotgun. The Driver notices the danger and throws Emma out of harm's way after which Flynn shoots the Driver in the chest. The Driver survives due to his Kevlar vest and the two engage in a brutal fight. Ultimately, Flynn manages to grab his weapon, but is knocked out by Emma before he can fire it. The Driver states his amazement over this turn but Emma explains she wants to be one who finally kills him and manages to aim the shotgun at him. The Driver then urges her to take the shot. However, because a new shell had not been pumped into the chamber, the firearm fails to operate. Impressed, the Driver cuts out a tracking device he placed inside her stomach and announces that she is free. He then finishes Flynn off with a shotgun blast to the face and also shoots Harris for knowing his real name. The next day, the Driver murders Denny in his hospital bed with a clipboard while disguised as a doctor, and says "No One Lives", the last line of dialogue in the film. As he leaves, he notices Emma being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher. He touches her arm before finally departing.
Cast
Luke Evans as Driver
Adelaide Clemens as Emma Ward
Lee Tergesen as Hoag
Derek Magyar as Flynn
America Olivo as Tamara
Beau Knapp as Denny
Lindsey Shaw as Amber
Brodus Clay as Ethan
Laura Ramsey as Betty
Gary Grubbs as Harris
Dalton E. Gray as son
Release
The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2012. It was planned for a worldwide release in January 2013, however that release date was scrapped when Anchor Bay Films picked up the distribution rights to the film, they will release the film theatrically in North America, the U.K, and Australia and handle the home video release across various platforms. The film will have a limited theatrical release in those countries and the new release date will be May 10, 2013. The film is Rated R for strong bloody violence, disturbing images, pervasive language, and some sexuality/nudity. On April 13, 2013, a red band trailer for the film was released. In the United States the film will be released in select cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, Miami, Boston, Detroit, Houston and Baltimore.
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes has a 47% approval rating based on 36 reviews with an average score of 4.3/10. The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2012 and has received early mixed reviews. One review from William Brownridge states "Completely pointless and full of terrible dialogue, No One Lives still manages to be one of the most entertaining films around. This is a film that is best enjoyed among a crowd of genre fans. Extremely violent and bloody, audiences will cheer as Driver eliminates the gang one after another. The title isn’t just a suggestion, it’s a rule, and watching the madness that explodes from the screen is sure to please crowds looking for non-stop action and bloody violence." Another review from the Toronto Star states "While parts of it are deliberately campy, the low-budget production veers onto the amateurish and some of the jump cuts make it look like it was edited with a switchblade. Or make that a butter knife." Another review from Shocktillyoudrop.com states "Even if it’s nothing to write home about, at 78 minutes sans credits and with plenty of over-the-top carnage that will have you squirming, this is mindless entertainment done right. It gets the job done quickly and effectively before calling it a day. Sometimes that’s all one can ask for", and it gives the shock score a 6.
Box office
No One Lives opened on May 10, 2013 in 53 theatres and in its opening weekend grossed $47,800 for an average of $902 per theatre. As of May 19, 2013 the film has grossed $74,918. The budget for the film was an estimated $2,900,000. However, it has performed much better than other past WWE studios limited releases including The Day, Legendary, The Reunion and The Chaperone.
Home media
The film was released on DVD/Blu-ray on August 20, 2013.
