‘No Voltees’ Review (Tubi Original)
Stars: Paulette Hernandez, Alan Alarcón, Lucero Trejo | Written by Ricardo Avilés | Directed by Alejandro Hidalgo
No Voltees (Don’t Look Back) is a new Tubi Original. Now, that’s not usually something to get excited about. But it also happens to be the new film from Alejandro Hidalgo, whose previous films include The House at the End of Time and The Exorcism of God, which makes it worth seeing
Aurora (Paulette Hernandez; My Demons Never Swore Solitude, Saw X) wakes up from a nightmare to a call from her estranged twin brother Martin (Alan Alarcón; Logout, The Surrogacy). Something has happened to their mother Cleotilde (Lucero Trejo; A Not So Merry Christmas, A Trickle of Blood) and she needs to come home.
Actually, it’s the man who runs errands for their mother, who suffered what appears to have been a fatal accident in the kitchen. But it’s also obvious that she’s failing mentally and physically and can’t be left on her own. Since neither of them are in a position to take her in, the only solution seems to be a nursing home. There’s also the question of the dirt and bruises the old woman seems to be covered in.
Hidalgo and writer Ricardo Avilés (Anyone But Her, Mother’s Day is Cancelled) set No Voltees up with a situation that’s all too real for many people. That continues as Aurora almost immediately begins suffering some kind of trauma. Her brother, on the other hand, has blanked out most of the memories of his childhood. This is attributed to his having seen their father die when he was eleven. However, it soon becomes clear that something beyond memories is haunting the house. But in order to deal with it, the siblings will have to work their way through their trauma and repressed memories.
Around the thirty-minute mark, No Voltees makes the malignant spirit’s identity, and the nature of the repressed memories, clear. It wasn’t that hard to figure out, but once it’s out in the open, the plot’s focus shifts to why they’re back, and what can be done about it. And, while the filmmakers use some restraint, those bothered by domestic violence may want to think twice about watching this one,
The filmmakers handle this potentially offensive mix with just enough restraint to avoid having the film veer off into exploitation territory, while not blunting the impact of the story’s more realistic horrors. As a result, No Voltees is considerably more disturbing than a film about ghosts and walking corpses would normally be. They’re also not overly heavy-handed about it, even when showing how what happened to her as a child influenced the relationship Aurora is currently in.
The film’s supernatural element isn’t neglected, either. There are several genuinely creepy scenes and multiple jump scares to be found along the way. It helps that the setting is another of those big old houses in the middle of nowhere that look like they should be haunted, and that even at her best the mother looks like she should be stirring a cauldron rather than watching sitcoms.
While there are a few effects, courtesy of Allie Shehorn (A Halloween Feast, Fall) and Patricio F. Kozow (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, The Hijacking of Flight 601), the film’s success is mostly due to the cast’s excellent performances and a persistent atmosphere of dread. There isn’t much in the way of lighter moments, but a mid-title sequence does deliver a dark chuckle.
Overall, No Voltees manages to mix real world and supernatural evil in a way that makes good use of both and makes its points about trauma and domestic violence without lecturing the viewer. Tubi Originals rarely impress, but this one did. Hopefully, as the Halloween season arrives, more viewers will manage to find it.
**** 4/5
No Voltees is available on Tubi now.
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