Don't Move (2024 film)

Don't Move
Release poster
Directed by	Adam Schindler Brian Netto
Written by	TJ Cimfel David White
Produced by	Sam Raimi Zainab Azizi Alex Lebovici Christian Mercuri Sarah Sarandos
Starring	Kelsey Asbille Finn Wittrock Moray Treadwell Daniel Francis
Cinematography	Zach Kuperstein
Edited by	Josh Ethier
Music by	Mark Korven Michelle Osis
Production companies	Raimi Productions ZQ Entertainment Capstone Studios Hammerstone Studios
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	October 25, 2024 (2024-10-25)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Don't Move is a 2024 American thriller film starring Kelsey Asbille, Finn Wittrock, Moray Treadwell, and Daniel Francis. It was directed by Adam Schindler and Brian Netto, and written by TJ Cimfel and David White.

Grieving mother Iris inadvertantly comes across a serial killer, who injects her with a paralytic agent. She must escape by running, fighting and hiding before it takes full effect and her body shuts down.

Netflix released the film on October 25, 2024.

Plot

Iris is grieving for her young son Mateo, who died during a family hiking trip. She visits the site of his death and, inconsolable, considers jumping off a cliff. A man appears, who introduces himself as Richard. After talking to him for a few minutes, Iris changes her mind. She follows Richard back to their parked cars. There he attacks her with a stun device, ties her wrists and ankles with zip ties, and places her in the back of his car.

Iris recovers consciousness as Richard is driving them to a remote cabin, where he tells her they will have "all weekend" together. She uses her pocket knife to cut the tie on her wrists, and attacks Richard, causing him to crash the car. The two fight briefly, but Iris manages to get out of the car and cut her ankles free. But Richard then shows her a syringe and tells her that unbeknownst to her he injected her with a paralysing agent, which will gradually render her helpless over the next 20 minutes.

Iris runs off into the woods, with Richard following at a leisurely pace, as he knows the injection will soon take effect. But as she slowly loses the use of her limbs, she makes it to a river and floats downstream on her back. Washing up further down the shore, Iris uses the last of her mobility to drag herself onto dry land.

Iris has landed on an isolated property belonging to the elderly man Bill, who finds her as he is mowing his lawn. He and Iris manage to communicate with her blinking her eyes (once for yes, twice for no) in response to his questions. Bill takes her into his house and is about to call 911 when Richard turns up, this time introducing himself as "Andrew", and claiming to be looking for his wife.

Bill does not mention Iris (who is lying behind the couch) as he doesn't trust Richard. He calls 911, but is attacked and killed by Richard, who then sets the house on fire. Iris has begun to experience a return of mobility in her hands, and by pulling on the blind cord, she alerts Richard to her presence. He carries her out of the house and drives her away in Bill's truck, as a 911 response teams speed towards the house.

While driving away, Richard receives a phone call from his daughter, telling him about her good report card. She also says she and her mother will be visiting the cabin that weekend. After passing the phone to her mother, Richard and his wife argue about his family coming to the cabin. Eventually Richard agrees, and she says they will see him at 10:00, thus foiling Richard's plan for Iris.

Richard stops at a service station to refuel, and Iris - who is gradually recovering from the paralysis - unsuccessfully attempts to open the truck's door. Richard drives them back to his wrecked car to retrieve his property. While he is doing this, a police officer drives up and asks what's going on. Richard says his wife wrecked the car while drunk. The officer is unconvinced, and when he tries to talk to Iris, Richard kills him.

Richard transports himself and Iris to a small boat jetty, from where he intends to row Iris onto the lake where he has dumped the bodies of his earlier victims. But while in the boat, Iris is able to seize his knife, stab him through the neck, and push him overboard. He tries to climb back on to the boat, but Iris shoots him with his gun, piercing the hull of the boat in the process. Despite the boat sinking, Iris manages to surface and swim to the jetty.

Further down the shore, Richard has dragged himself on to the bank. Iris goes to stand over him as he dies, and thanks him, as during her struggle to escape from him she has rediscovered the will to go on living.

Cast

• Kelsey Asbille as Iris
• Finn Wittrock as Richard
• Moray Treadwell as Bill
• Daniel Francis as Dontrell, a police officer

Production

In December 2022, it was reported that Adam Schindler and Brian Netto would direct the thriller Don't Move, written by TJ Cimfel and David White. It was produced by Sam Raimi and Zainab Azizi of Raimi Productions, Christian Mercuri's Capstone Studios, Alex Lebovici of Hammerstone Studios, and Sarah Sarandos.

In May 2023, Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock were cast in lead roles. Principal photography took place in Bulgaria from June to late July 2023. Two days before completion, production was granted an interim agreement to continue filming during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Mark Korven and Michelle Osis scored the film.

Release

In November 2023, Signature Entertainment acquired the distribution rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland. In April 2024, Netflix bought worldwide rights. The film was released on Netflix on October 25, 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 74% of 42 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

External links

• Don't Move on Netflix
• Don't Move at IMDb