We have to talk about No One Will Save You’s ending

polygon.com:

I’d like to tell you exactly what No One Will Save You is about, but there isn’t a right answer. Director Brian Duffield’s alien abduction horror-thriller has no dialogue and multiple endings that contradict each other. The movie isn’t merely “open to interpretation”; it’s a litmus test made of blobs of body horror.

The director agrees. When Polygon spoke with Duffield at length about the film’s repeated contortions of reality and its surprise endings, he said, “I wanted to play fair, but at the same time, I wanted Reddit to have fun.”

OK, reader; let’s have fun.

I will share two interpretations of the movie. Neither are “officially correct,” but both, I feel, can be sufficiently supported with evidence. And in the comments, I’d like to hear your readings of this film. You don’t have to believe your reading is “correct,” but it’d be great if you were thoughtful, curious, and provided examples from the material that support the thesis. It’s sort of like improv or high school debate club: Let the analytical corner of your brain run free.

It’s probably obvious, but there are spoilers ahead!

Grief is a frontrunner for the dominant theme of the millennial generation. Born into the economic largess of the 1980s and early ’90s, then raised through multiple wars, recessions, techno bubbles, terror attacks, and multiple drug crises, millennials are the first generation in decades to face more financial challenges than their parents’ generation. Millennials are lucky to have affordable rent as they approach 40, let alone own a home, and many have lost a friend to opioids, the COVID-19 pandemic, or gun violence.

To put it bluntly: Millennials are fucked, and unlike Gen Z, who were born into the shit, many millennials had just