This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Jacob’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
“How The Need To Belong Has Eclipsed Time”
You Won’t Be Alone is one of the most captivating modern horror pieces of media I have viewed in my lifetime. The use of the word “horror” to label its genre doesn’t do it credit enough, the film isn’t just a teenage slasher movie with sleazy sex scenes and excessive fake blood, instead, it uses different avenues to avoid common horror tropes, and nearly makes it a drama film. Don’t be fooled though, writer and director Goran Stolevski is an expert on combining these two genres to make a masterclass wonder that imposes fear into the viewer while also keeping said viewer intrigued just like a drama movie.
The film is set in 19th-century Macedonia and starts with a mother pleading for the life of her newborn baby from the clutches of Maria, who is a disfigured shape-shifting witch. The mother begs and implores to spare the baby’s life and instead of taking her now, Maria can have the baby once she reaches the age of 16. Maria proceeds to agree but deprives the girl of speech before exiting, this is a very big factor throughout the movie because instead of copious amounts of dialogue you are stuck with the child’s thoughts instead of their words. The mother proceeds to take the child named Nevena to a sacred cave and raises her inside the cave without the knowledge of the outside world. This action from Nevena’s mother immensely stunts Nevena’s growth as a person, she is practically a 4-year-old trapped in a 16-year-old’s body. But this story continues to grow darker periodically, on Nevena’s 16th birthday Maria takes the form of an eagle and flies around the cave surrounding Nevena. Nevena’s mother shoos away Maria out of Nevena’s sight, but unbeknownst to Nevena, Maria proceeds to murder her mother and takes her form then encourages Nevena to exit the cave. Nevena agrees but soon outside Maria slaughters a donkey and then claws at Nevena’s chest and proceeds to spit the blood of the donkey onto Nevena’s chest before burning her injury with fire. This action converts Nevena into a witch which causes her to grow sheath able black talons on her fingers.
Because of Nevena’s childlike state of mind, she believes that Maria is still her mother, Maria then murders a man who is intrigued by Nevena and then tells her how humans are filth and will try their hardest to hurt her. Maria shows Nevena her witch-shapeshifting powers by consuming a wolf and encouraging her to catch and consume the rabbits so Nevena can get back energy. But like previously stated Nevena has this naive and pure mindset so she would rather play with the rabbits. Angered by her foolishness Maria ridicules Nevena and then abandons her to protect herself after Nevena chucks a stone at her. Nevena, after spending 16 years of her life alone and only interacting with her mother, is once again alone.
Nevena then continues to wander the forest before stumbling upon an active village. Nevena then sees a young girl, but when Nevena tries to interact with the girl, the young girl screams in terror because of Nevena’s talons. Nevena flees the scene and stumbles upon a crying child, intrigued by these cries she finds the baby in a crib located inside a barn-like area. But before Nevena can continue her gaze, she is interrupted by the mother Bosilka, who proceeds to attack her and try to protect her baby. Nevena shocked by this sudden reaction accidentally kills Bosilka, remembering what Maria did earlier, Nevena takes Bosilka’s innards and puts them inside her chest cavity which then turns Nevena into a replica of Bosilka. Nevena then tries to continue Bosilka’s life but is still ultimately mute and unable to speak. Through these next scenes you see Nevena try and learn how to live as a human like learning how to cook and wash while also learning how to communicate non-verbally, while this is happening Maria watches her from a distance. The film shows us this character with the mindset and mentality of a child thrust into adulthood who wanted to be connected to others. Nevena never got to experience real bonds; all she wants to do is belong. All of this comes to a head when Bosilka’s abusive husband returns and tries to have sex with Nevena, this unaccustomed procedure causes her to panic and murder him. After the slaying of Bosilka’s husband, Nevena removes Bosilka’s entrails from her chest and returns to her old form, and flees from the village. The film isn’t stringed through with plentiful quantities of discourse between the people, so you have to make do with their actions and expressions. Using this method of viewing the movie you can see that playing the façade of Bosilka and after the murder of Bosilka’s husband she is struggling to cope with being an outsider, Nevena just wants to “fit in” and belong.
Throughout the rest of the film, Nevena would then takes on the forms of a man and a young child, experiencing life through others and proceeding to create a life for herself that she never got to engross in. But after transforming into a young child Nevena finally gets to experience life at all 3 levels and decides to grow up as a young child. While disguised as the child she meets a boy who is also seemingly mute, many years pass, and we see that Nevena has decided to marry the boy from her adolescence. They become closer to each other, even after Nevena reveals her witch talons, they then have sex and Nevena falls pregnant. But soon misfortune occurs when Nevena’s husband is murdered by a boar who is believed to be Maria in disguise. Nevena later gives birth to a girl and confines herself from the world afraid that Maria will strike again and take away her newborn.
Sadly, catastrophe happens again, and Nevena discovers her midwife to have been slain and her newborn confiscated by Maria. Maria then insults Nevena before slicing the baby's throat with her sharp talon, without hesitation, Nevena kills a nearby goat, consumes a mouthful of blood, and performs the “Wolf-Eateress Spell” a spell that creates witches, Nevena once again without reluctance performs this spell on her child, turning the child into a witch and saving their life. Maria stands amazed that Nevena could possess such love for the child that she would use her one chance to make a witch without faltering thought. Nevena then lays the child down and kills Maria. Nevena looks at her baby once more and retails all of the lives she has lived and commanded. Finally, Nevena does belong.
In conclusion, You Won’t Be Alone is a wonderful take on the modern horror genre and breathes new life into these categories of films. It’s an extremely powerful and beautifully shot picture that uses nature as its character and has the actors’ emotions be the vocal point rather than verbal expression. The constructs of this film all connect in a way to hold it up in all of its glory, from the soundtrack to the pacing and the general ambiance of nature, all of these forms take shape and form support beams in a way to help support the film. The need and desire to feel wanted and fit in a society is a still to this day a huge part of what makes humans themselves, it was wonderful seeing this film adapt that in the 19th century.