NO EXIT

NO EXIT is a thriller streaming on Hulu about a college student undergoing rehab who sneaks out to see her sick mother but is stranded at a rest stop during a snowstorm, where she must rescue a kidnapped child. NO EXIT is a suspenseful, fast-paced thriller, with a morally uplifting plot about saving a kidnapped girl from bad people, but it has extreme violence, lots of foul language and references to drugs, so extreme caution is advised.

Darby is a college student living in a rehab facility for her drug addiction. During a group meeting, she gets a phone call and learns her mother had a brain aneurysm and is in the hospital. She is desperate to go and see her, but the facility doesn’t allow her to leave the rehab clinic. On top of this, her sister tells her not to come because her presence will upset their mother.

Broken but determined to get to her mother, Darby sneaks out of the rehab facility and heads toward Salt Lake City. Along the way, she encounters a jarring blizzard. A cop pulls her over and gives her the choice to stay at a rest stop ahead or turn back. She chooses the rest stop.

At the rest stop, four other people are also there to wait until the storm passes. There’s Ash, a polished, charismatic young man, Lars, an anxiety-ridden guy, Ed, a former Marine, and his wife, Sandi, a retired nurse. Darby is restless there and really wants to talk to her mother. She goes outside to try to find some cell reception so she can call her mom.

Once outside, she hears something and discovers that a little girl is tied up and has been kidnapped in the back of a van with a Nevada license plate,. Darby goes back inside as she tries to figure out what to do next. Everyone starts to play cards to pass the time. Darby casually asks where everyone is from. When Lars says Nevada, she knows he’s the kidnapper.

Darby slips away to find a tool to get inside the van so she can help the girl. She finds a wrench in the back area of the rest stop where it’s being remolded. She sneaks back outside and breaks into the van. She starts to untie the young girl when Lars enters the van. Darby hides under a blanket while Lars turns on the heat. Lars calls the girl Jay and promises he will be back with some snacks for her. He exits and Darby knows she must too because she saw a gun in his pocket and needs backup help. She promises Jay she’ll be back for her.

Darby returns to the rest stop and runs into Ash in the hallway. When Lars shows up, Darby knows he’s on to her, so she kisses Ash and pretends she was with him the entire time she was gone. Lars walks away. Darby immediately breaks away from Ash. She apologizes for the impromptu kiss and informs him Lars has kidnapped a little girl, and she needs his help. She doesn’t know, however, that Ash and Lars are adopted brothers and kidnapped the little girl together.

NO EXIT is a suspenseful, fast-paced thriller that will keep the viewer’s heart racing the entire time. Every scene has a clear motive, and there’s no dead space or lag time. The acting is also phenomenal. The entire movie takes place at a rest stop during a blizzard, and the filmmakers makes great use of this one location. Various camera angles along with the wintery snowstorm provide unique viewpoints in every shot. NO EXIT is a great example of a thriller done right. However, the move has a lot of rough content, including horrific violence and bloodshed, some drug content, and lots of foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.