What we have here is a film that at first appears to be more of a traditional haunted house film. So there is this undocumented Mexican immigrant who moves into a run-down Cleveland boarding home only to discover it is haunted. That seems like a typical horror film, right?
But hold on! The twist occurs here when the film takes a different turn and plunges into a bizarre landscape. We are discussing Netflix’s release of No One Gets Out Alive, a British horror film from 2021. Based on Adam Nevill’s 2014 horror novel ‘No One Gets Out Alive,’ this film boasts direction by Santiago Menghini and a screenplay by Jon Croker and Fernanda Coppel, yes, the writer of ‘The Ritual.’
In today’s video, we will discuss Ītzpāpālōtl, the ancient mythological monster from No One Gets Out Alive, as well as go over the film in depth. Are you all set for this one?
No One Gets Out Alive (2021)
Starring Mexican actors Cristina Rodio and Marc Menchaca in the lead roles, the film opens with a montage. The year is 1963 in Mexico and a certain Professor Arthur Welles is seen venturing into a dense forest and recovering some kind of a box from what looks like an ancient ruin.
The audience is brought back to the current day. It is raining outside and we see a young woman called Simona having a telephonic conversation with a man. She appears to be inside what looks like an old, decrepit boarding house. By the looks of the conversation, her father seems to be miffed with her.
A distant rumbling is heard inside the house but Simona is unaware of it and keeps talking. She tells the man about the bad dreams she has been having off late, that she wants to leave her current place, and also tells him how she wishes things to go back- to how they were before. Suddenly, the television screen becomes distorted and the lights go out. The line also gets disconnected.
A distant thud is heard followed by a loud rumbling and Simona goes to investigate. She sees a stone box at a distance, which starts to move by itself. The viewers get to see the silhouette of a dark entity which grabs her from behind. She is heard screaming for a while, then suddenly it stops and the lights come back.
The next scene shows another young woman, who has come illegally to America and is striving to find a safe, long-lasting refuge post her arrival. The woman is introduced as Ambar, who is lucky to lay her hands on a factory job. One day, while working she chances upon an advertisement of a women-only boarding house put up by the proprietor Thomas ‘Red’ Welles and decides to give it a shot.
Ambar arrives at the same boarding house that was shown at the beginning of the movie. The landlord shows her around the dilapidated house and tells her that they have just taken over the place and are still in the process of fixing things. With the rent being favorable and Ambar in a desperate situation, she settles to pay a deposit of a month’s rent upfront.
We gradually learn about her past life; the death of her ailing mother and how she used to take care of her. Ambar never really had a chance to lead a regular life because her mother always wanted her by her side and her health kept deteriorating.
Very soon odd things start occurring to Ambar, initially inside the house with her having nightmares and then outside with the constant flickering of the street lights and the appearance of someone who looks like her dead mother. While coming back to the boarding house one night, Ambar encounters a guy inside banging his head on the door and muttering something. Red introduces him as his sick brother, Becker.
Ambar chances upon two Romanian women Petra and Maria, who have also moved into the boarding house. Later that night, while taking a quick peek inside Red’s private study room, she is startled to find books related to early Mesoamerican rituals.
The next morning, Ambar is devasted to learn that her co-worker Kinsi, whom she had given her savings to get a fake ID for her so as to continue being employed in America had betrayed her and quit the job. Later when she asks her boss to give her Kinsi’s home address, the latter tells her that it is against the company policy and also has her fired.
Ambar comes back to the boarding house and sees the ghost of two women, one by the name of Mary preparing the other for something. Ambar can clearly make out that the other woman is crying and she doesn’t want to do what Mary is asking her to do.
All of a sudden, the other woman gets dragged inside a room. Horrified, she calls up her relative Beto asking for his help but with him unable to aid her at the moment, she leaves the boarding house and wanders throughout the next day.
With no options left, she is forced to call Red who meets her at a café and tells her that the deposit money is back at the house. Red drives Ambar back and tells her that the money is in her room.
Upon not finding her deposit money anywhere inside the room, Ambar asks Red where the money is, to which the latter offers her a drink and tells her how his father used to dig up and collect the strangest of things. He addresses her as a ‘nutjob’ before confiding in her that his father killed his mother.
A terrified Ambar decides to leave but Red stops her and tells her how he wished she hadn’t rung him up in the first place, further telling her that it’s Becker who needs her. Next, the brothers are seen forcing her back into the room, one where she is shortly joined by Petra and Maria.
It becomes pretty clear to the trio that something really is wrong with the house when each of them tells each other about their visions regarding the stone box and the dead woman crying. The three women come to the conclusion that the box is inside the boarding house in the basement.
The brothers come back to the room to take the women down into the basement but get interrupted when Beto comes to the boarding house looking for Ambar. Red opens the door and when questioned about Ambar, he simply tells Beto that he doesn’t know anybody by that name. While questioning him further, Beto sees Ambar’s coat lying on the floor and recognizes it.
By then, Ambar’s able to signal him from above and Beto rushes inside to save her only to get bludgeoned to death by Becker. Later, when Maria is taken downstairs, Ambar asks Red what is it that the brothers plan to do with them. Red tells her that he is just trying to help his sick brother and that there are benefits directly proportional to their actions.
Next, he tells her about his father who was an archaeologist, the one shown recovering the stone box right at the beginning of the movie tricking and killing girls, taking the aid of his own wife, and then ultimately killing her as well. He calls it a favor to the world when he and his brother finally managed to get rid of him.
Red further tells Ambar that he wanted to leave right after but Becker didn’t want to. With his brother spending more time with the stone box, he started going crazy thinking things to the extent that somehow the box had selected him to do what was required and that’s carrying forward the actions of his father.
Somehow by doing this, the ailing Becker also started to improve health-wise. Red apologizes to Ambar and has Becker come to take her to the basement. While Becker forcibly carries Ambar down the basement, she sees the ghosts of all the girls that have been sacrificed before. Upon reaching the basement, Ambar is beyond horrified to see a decapitated Maria. Becker removes her body, places Ambar on top of a stone slab, chains her up, and opens the stone box. Before leaving her alone in the basement, Becker tells her that she should feel honored.
A thudding sound is heard and something is seen approaching her. Suddenly, Beto arrives, unshackles her and the duo tries to escape. But alas, it is all a dream. Next, she sees a vision of her along with her mother at the hospital but soon realizes that she has been dreaming again after she hears raspy breathing.
A grotesque-looking monster is seen coming out of the box and it places its hands on Ambar in order to read her mind. Meanwhile, in the dream, Ambar’s mother asks her to stay with her a little longer to which Ambar fights back and ends up strangling her mother. Somehow, this leads the monster back into the box and Ambar is able to find her way above back in the house.
Petra is heard screaming and the brothers are seen preparing her for the final sacrifice. However, Becker observes that he is not healing anymore. With Red opening the door to check, Ambar appears right in front of him and hits him hard with some kind of an ancient weapon that she picked up from his study room. Ambar is able to injure Becker as well but he is too strong for her.
He pushes her to the ground and breaks her ankle. With Petra trying to help Ambar, Becker pushes her to her death from the third floor. Becker comes back for Ambar and starts choking her but the latter is finally able to subdue him by slashing his jugular vein with a piece of the weapon.
Next, she crushes his head with the weapon. No points for guessing what happens to Red when Ambar hears him groaning inside the room. For those who are still thinking, she gets him to the basement, chains him up on the very stone slab and offers him to the monster, who bites off his head.
The final scene shows Ambar about to leave the house when suddenly, her broken ankle gets miraculously healed up all by itself.
Ītzpāpālōtl Ancient Mythology Monster Explored
Origin
According to Aztec mythology, Ītzpāpālōtl also known as Clawed Butterfly or Obsidian Butterfly was a formidable skeletal warrior goddess, one who had absolute authority over the paradise world of Tamoanchan. Predominantly related to the moth Rothschildia orizaba from the family Saturniidae, more commonly known as saturniids. While it is true that some of her associations are birds and fire, she mainly appears in the form of the Obsidian Butterfly.
If we look at the Aztec calendar, Ītzpāpālōtl as the patron of the day Cozcuauhtli and Trecena 1 House was herself regarded as one of the Cihuateteo or in layman’s terms women who had died during childbirth. Besides this, she happened to be one of the Tzitzimime, as in star demons who put humans at risk, threatening to consume humans, especially during solar eclipses.
You will be fascinated to know that the goddess was also known as the Clouded Apollo because of the huge butterfly wings that grew from her shoulders. Mind you, they weren’t just wings; they were what one would like to call blades of sharp obsidian knives. Now imagine these knives around the edges. You get the picture, right?
Now, we did a little bit more digging, and here is what we came to know. Apparently, Ītzpāpālōtl fell from heaven along with Tzitzimime and numerous other shapes such as scorpions and toads.
Just so that no one could see her, Ītzpāpālōtl donned an invisible cloak. You will be pretty much amazed to know that there were times when she used to dress up like a lady of the Mexican Court. This means she had to cake her face with white powder and line her cheeks with strips of rubber. It’s hard to imagine all of this given how she was featured in the movie.
The Monster In The Movie
Definitely bizarre, certainly weird but it is fair to say that Ītzpāpālōtl in the movie was a hideous looking terrifying beast, one that was more like a hybrid between a human and a moth. No wonder the entire movie right from the beginning till the very end is filled with imageries of moths and butterflies.
What tormented the women in the boarding house and mentally entrapped the viewers while watching the flick finally appeared as this tall skeletal-looking creature with gigantic knife-pointed wings, a huge set of claws, and a penchant for devouring human heads.
Why Should You Watch No One Gets Out Alive?
Hats off to Montreal-based VFX artist and producer Santiago Menghini for making his feature directorial debut with No One Gets Out Alive. With the intention of letting the viewers know how young immigrants are exploited, this movie here takes you through the spectrum of a surreal horror narrative.
With a run time of 87 minutes, the film is bound to have your attention right from the opening montages. Of course, it’s not a classic but it is solid, especially in terms of the atmosphere.