No Tears in Hell - Review

Writer and director Michael Caissie infests the screen with an unwavering level of depravity throughout the cold-hearted No Tears in Hell. This fresh horror feature valiantly displays the dark underbelly of human nature and how these bottom feeders thrive in the nitty gritty, with the film not holding one ounce of gruesomeness back. No Tears in Hell takes place in the bitter, frosted state of Alaska where Alex (Luke Baines) and his mother (Gwen Van Dam) live in their desolate, dim apartment. Although seemingly barren of any traditional warmth one would expect from a family home, their lodging is far from inhabited as we see Alex torture, murder, rape and cannibalise his various victims, all with the support of his mother.  

The first act stages Alex's murderous intentions, illustrating his stoic manner throughout his crimes from capture to kill, with the opening sequence revealing that his sole motivation in life is to create and then mop up the bloodshed with his soul - as if his habits are akin to his oxygen, a fuel of sorts. The film reveals the progressions and lurid details of his transgressions, with one particular shot disclosing how he desecrates the corpses with his necrophiliac predilections. This element is where No Tears in Hell begins to mark its territory as a unique serial killer horror, standing out from the increasingly crowded subgenre.  

Although contention may arise from this, a common fault with some serial killer films is that they do not dive into the real, graphic, barbarism of their antagonists, instead choosing to gloss over the crime in the method of 'telling not showing.' Whilst this can sometimes work to the benefit of a film, with Seven (1995), being a prime example of this, it can in other instances appear as if the film is diminishing the seriousness of the sickness-inducing acts, as exhibited in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019). Ultimately, this approach is not a blanket theory, yet the failure to honour the reality of evil can sometimes soften the malice. Where No Tears in Hell emerges within this food for thought, is how the film does indeed have no qualms in visually, tonally, and emotively probing the murky foundations of Alex's hunger.  

With this intense engagement of horror, No Tears in Hell is host to some truly shudderingly intense moments that leaves no bloodied stone unturned, with Caissie tackling some extremely grotesque themes such as the film's inclusion of cannibalism. Alex is shown observing his victim in the bathtub, then sawing their body parts in preparation for stewing the meat off the bone before eating the cooked meal with his mother with an eerie sense of normalcy. Whilst playing chef, he narrates his processes, a common theme throughout, proclaiming his lack of preferences towards the cuts of meat, unlike famed serial killer (whom Alex seems to admire), Jeffrey Dahmer, who he states was 'too picky', although he later discards cannibalising a tattooed arm as meat due to Dahmer's suggestion that the ink makes the flesh taste off. Clearly, Alex's continued habits are becoming so drastically often that he has developed some tips and tricks of the trade.  

Alex's impenetrable attitude of aloofness towards the pain and sorrow his victims feel is made even more intimidating by how effective the performances are. Baines as Alex is exceptional, scarily so. Throughout, he nails the Jack Nicholson eyebrow-heavy stare as displayed in The Shining (1980), making Alex appear consistently dead behind the eyes. Additionally elevating the horror is the late Van Dam, whose complex performance of a sinister enabler of a mother is eerie and ominous. As events transpire, No Tears in Hell evidences the twisted maternal bond that Alex and his mother have, with flashbacks revealing that Alex's killing, and his mother's assistance began in his childhood as a form of vengeance from an abuser. As deviant as this situation is, the film manages to further flaunt their strange relationship, to the point of the pair becoming so unsavoury and sadistic that their mother son dynamic would make Psycho's (1960) Norman Bates squirm.  

No Tears in Hell is based on the true story of Alexander Spesivtsev, a Russian serial killer who was also known as 'The Siberian Ripper.' Just as the film examines, Spesivtsev and his mother would lurk the streets and target homeless youth who they would unsuspectingly lure back to their home, using the promise of a hot meal as bait before viciously enacting the horrific acts that Alex commits to his victims in No Tears in Hell. Mirroring the outrageously vile antics seen throughout true crime is what makes the film so incredibly effective. You will not leave this film feeling anything but bleak, weary and disturbed, but most importantly, you will certainly not forget Caissie's truly excellent No Tears in Hell anytime soon.  

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