I Will Never Leave You Alone is an early 2020 film that blends creepy haunted house horror with an are-they-going-mad-or-not thriller. It’s a rather slow-burning affair, which is punctuated here and there with moments of brutal gore. Here from Arrow Video is a recently released Blu-ray of the film, including a few extras

I Will Never Leave You Alone is a US production from the year 2023. It was written/ directed by DW Medoff, who has six other director credits to his name, including five shorts, and another feature psychological horror Pollen (2023).

The film focuses on Richard( Kenneth Trujillo), a mute & has seen some trauma prisoner who is offered a get-out-of-jail-early job. A rather shady company wants him to stay in a cursed/ haunted property for six days- all he has to do is light white candles every day, and not cross the threshold out of the house, and he goes free.

The house and surrounding location are effective enough- the former is in constant half-light/ murky shadows. The latter features a rundown barn, and just beyond this is a tree where a witch is meant to be buried. 

Most of the just over one hour and thirty minutes film is set around Richard's time in the house and flashbacks to his past, where he spoke, had a partner, and a child. There is an occasional visitor at the house( aside from the possible long clawed-handed ghost) Mark(Christopher Genovese) a balding, bearded, tubby, seemingly friendly enough caretaker.

The film largely plods along in a glum & moody manner.  Trujillo does an ok as the mute & troubled prisoner, with the whole idea of him being voiceless being fairly original. The mix of haunted house &  are-they-going-mad-or-not thriller is, to be honest, fairly cliched. Yes, on the positive side, we get a decent enough creepy atmosphere, a few neat jumps. But on the less positive side, when our ghost is finally revealed, it looks rather like a Halloween mask, and the whole thing plays out its story beats in a predictable/ expected manner.

I’d say, I Will Never Leave You Alone is just fine, and if you enjoy the mix of haunted house/psychological horror, I’d give it a go, as you may enjoy it more than I did.

On the extras side, we get a few things – a new interview with director/ writer DW Medoff ( 24.22). He begins by talking about seeing both The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense over a weekend in the cinema as a child with his father, and both films had a huge impact on him. He talks about how he sees horror as drama with blood.  He talks about how he feels at I Will Never Leave You Alone centre is the theme of mental health. He discusses key crew members who helped create his vision for the film. He talks about lead actor Kenneth Trujillo, how he came to the role with a very certain way of playing Richard, and how he sees the film not as a horror film, but a love story. He talks about the film's main location, which was apparently previously owned by a veterinarian, so there were weird things left around the buildings/ site.  Also on the new side, we get around twenty-three minutes of scenes with commentary from the director.

On the archive side of things, we get three previous short films from DW Medoff. We have AWOL (5.52), which regards a young soldier coming home late one to see his brother and mother, but something is amiss. This is ok, though it sits more on the drama side of things. I’m Down Here ( 7.18) it sees a husband buying his wife an old jewel box with a mirror & a strange necklace inside. This one's better/ quite creepy, it makes you unsure what is real/unreal, and has a real chilling gut drop resolve.  Yahrzeit ( 6.36) here we find two brothers in a house when the power goes out, and the only thing they can find to light is a special Jewish candle. This one has good chemistry between the two actors and a few nicely creepy moments. Lastly, we get a trailer.

In conclusion, I Will Never Leave You Alone certainly has its moments/ shows promise, but I felt the cliched/ predictable elements overtook the plus points. I’d say if you enjoy moody/ more dramatic-focused horror, give it a go. And as we've come to expect with an Arrow Video release, we get a good selection of worthy extras/ and the short films are most definitely worth a look.