‘Don’t Move’ Review – Netflix’s Inert Survival Thriller Plays It Safe and Bland

The hook for Netflix’s high-concept thriller Don’t Move, produced by Sam Raimi, dangles the potential for a breathless thrill ride. A suicidal woman finds herself at the mercy of a killer who’s injected her with a paralytic, lending a new twist to the conventional cat-and-mouse thriller scenario. The scant 90-minute runtime only furthers the expectation of an adrenaline-pumping genre film. But it quickly becomes clear that there’s nothing here beyond its high concept, not even suspense, resulting in another paper-thin genre exercise in grief.

Iris (Kelsey Asbille) wakes early in the morning next to her sleeping husband and slips out of bed without notice. She doesn’t say a word as she heads into the wilderness to visit the spot where her son Mateo tragically slipped off a cliff. She plans to follow suit until a stranger who calls himself Richard (Finn Wittrock) happens by and talks her off the proverbial ledge. As the pair head back down to their cars to leave, though, Richard drops the nice guy act and injects her with a paralytic. He’s a serial killer with nefarious designs for Iris, but the suicidal woman’s survival instincts kick into high gear, even if she can’t move.

Directors Brian Netto and Adam Schindler (“50 States of Fright“) keep Iris’s bid for survival moving at a steady clip, finding inventive ways to cover a lot of ground despite a protagonist who’s immobile for most of the runtime. The scenic setting lends visual interest as Richard chases his paralyzed prey across various set pieces, though the preposterousness of that sentence underscores the biggest issue with T.J. Cimfel & David White‘s script. Don’t Move is such a high concept that there’s really not much to it, leaving its flaws all the more pronounced.

Extensive character development isn’t typically required for a high-concept thriller, but Don’t Move doesn’t flesh out its leads in any way. Iris is defined solely by her grief for the sake of a heavy-handed catharsis journey toward embracing life. Asbille makes great work of the role’s physical demands, doing much with as little as a pinky finger twitching as a blazing fire erupts around her. But her arc feels emotionally flat, further overshadowed by a villain prone to constant rookie mistakes that give her the advantage far too often. This is a serial killer we’re meant to believe has amassed a body count and established his heinous modus operandi before crossing paths with Iris. Don’t Move only tiptoes around those details, as if nodding to the audience to fill in whatever blanks they want to make Richard more intimidating in their mind.

As written, Wittrock’s serial killer is rather milquetoast and never as clever as he thinks. Not even a late character reveal can inject menace; Richard simply seems like an entitled wannabe lucking his way into murderous success. When faced with much smarter good samaritans along the way, their demise at this loser’s hands frustrates rather than chills. It becomes apparent that this killer needs his paralytic agent to achieve his goals, diminishing a lot of the tension as obstacles continue to buy Iris time. Wittrock does his best to create an icy foe worthy of his resilient prey, but there’s no depth or even distinguishing features for this villain.

It results in a thriller that never leaves the safety of its well-trodden path. Much like its paralyzed lead, Don’t Move is inert. A suicidal woman gets disrupted by a serial killer, only to discover a strong will to live. It’s a concept that should yield intense moments and claustrophobic tension or even catharsis for the mother coping with grief. Instead, it’s a rather bland and superficial survival thriller where survival odds never get as dangerous as they should.

Don’t Move is available on Netflix now.

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