He Never Left

2023

Crime / Horror / Thriller

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 67% · 12 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 88% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 4.7/10 10 846 846

Plot summary

After hearing disturbing noises from the next motel room, a fugitive on the run and his girlfriend become prey to the notoriously brutal 'Pale Face' killer, whose legend has haunted the local community for decades.

Director

James Morris Photo
James Morris

Top cast

Colin Cunningham Photo
Colin Cunningham as Gabriel
David E. McMahon Photo
David E. McMahon as Bryce
Sean D. Hunter Photo
Sean D. Hunter as Mike
Lily Aranda Photo
Lily Aranda as Waitress 1
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
824.62 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles   
23.976 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 2
1.49 GB
1920*802
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles   
23.976 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 8
824.8 MB
1280*534
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles   
23.976 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 11
1.49 GB
1920*802
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles   
23.976 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 20

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by kannibalcorpsegrinder 3 / 10

A generally underwhelming thriller with some positives

Arriving at a run-down motel, a woman prepares for her significant other to appear so they can start a new life together, but as they stay at the motel come to believe that a savage killer from local folklore has taken up residence in the room next door and must try to get away alive.This was an enjoyable enough effort, but it did have some issues. The biggest factor with this one is the strong setup that provides a great opportunity for this one to go with an intriguing thriller premise throughout. The central premise offering a fine bit of world-building with the backstory on the killer terrorizing the town and going uncaught for years since with them believing that there's a chance he's returned makes for a great setup, much like the resulting storyline about the couple staying at the next-door room. The way they come together with the room being used as a hideout after his fugitive status makes him go on the run and arrive there which sets him off into a panic when everything starts going wrong waiting for a pick-up to get out of the situation as the escalating tension trying to ensure nothing happens to him means that getting involved in the potential murder next door is all handled quite well. Given that this all goes with a strong secondary storyline about the potential killer following the girlfriend to her house as the atmospheric setting and tense stalking give this some great moments. Beyond this, there are some big factors here that come about more from viewers' expectations more than anything. With the setup about the legendary killer supposedly returning from an absence to start up a rampage once again with the setting taking place at the remote motel where the couple going through their own issues at the same time, the potential is there for this to delve into a stalk and slash template knocking off the rest of the motel guests before turning to the remaining couple. Instead, this opts for a thriller route about him trying to evade capture at the location rather than dole out the kind of body count or even slasher setpieces usually associated with the genre and leaves this one with a generally lackluster tone which leaves everything somewhat underwhelming with more focus on these factors that don't lead to the type of content you want. It's what lowers this the most.Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.
Reviewed by LetsReviewThat26 4 / 10

He should have left this film

This is a film I brought based on the description at the same time as heart eyes and hoped in a similer vein it would be just as good. Unfortunatly though I was very wrong. This woman called carley goes to a motel, but smuggles her boyfriend in the trunk because his on the run from the cops because of murder. The guy running the place seems a little creepy but not a whole lot really happens here in terms of horror. This becomes more of a thriller and any attmept at horror is null void. The mask however was creepy enough. Acting not the worst ive seen in these typs of films either. I was just overall let down by this one.
Reviewed by paul_m_haakonsen 4 / 10

Nah...

While I had never heard about this 2023 horror movie titled "He Never Left", from director James Morris, of course I had to watch it as I stumbled upon it here in 2025, given my love of all things horror.From the movie's synopsis, I was figuring that I would be in for a masked slasher type of horror movie, but instead I found myself in for a supernatural horror movie I guess, as there was a lot of imaginary things going on apparently. And truth be told, the writers James Morris, Michael Ballif and Colin Cunningham, with the latter also starring in the movie, failed to pen down a properly entertaining script. I found the narrative boring and uneventful, and I struggled to keep feigning an interest in it, but it was a losing uphill battle.I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and that was actually a nice thing, as I enjoy watching unfamiliar talents and faces on the screen. And despite of the script being a swing and a miss, then I will say that the acting performances were fair.As for "He Never Left" being a horror movie, well, don't get your hopes up. Perhaps if you are a newcomer to the horror genre then you might find this movie scary. But I have been watching horror movies for more than 40 years, so this was a mere walk in the park. And a boring one at that.Semi-watchable, sure, but "He Never Left" was not a great movie, not even by a longshot. It was a struggle to sit through, and it is definitely not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time. Nor is it a movie that I will recommend to horror fans.My rating of director James Morris's 2023 horror movie "He Never Left" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.
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