Sartaj Singh
Helmed by Alexandre Aja, ‘Never Let Go’ revolves around a remote cabin in the woods where a mother and her two sons live in fear of an unfathomable evil lurking in the shadows. The mother (Halle Berry) has developed strict rules and practices to keep them safe, including carvings on the walls and all of them being connected to the house by rope when heading out to forage. The forest becomes both an enchanting escape for the children and an eerie moss-covered landscape with threats lurking around every corner. The horror film slowly builds on its suspenseful narrative, the tension bolstered by a mystifying wooded landscape that seems to hold endless secrets and possibilities for the world outside.
Never Let Go Filming Locations
Filming for ‘Never Let Go’ was carried out on location in Vancouver, British Columbia. The film crew ventured into a nearby forest, and the house seen in the film was constructed from scratch by the production team. Principal photography began on April 17, 2023, and was wrapped up on June 2 of the same year, just in time before the beginning of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA Strike. While filming, the cast and crew came across several black bears who considered the group curiously. The team seemed to take in and appreciate the forest surroundings, especially director Aja, who had the place in mind for over a decade.
Vancouver, British Columbia
‘Never Let Go’ was filmed entirely on location in a forest outside of Vancouver in the province of British Columbia. The coastal city is surrounded by stunning natural landscapes and lush forests that have stood in for various locations in films and TV. For ‘Never Let Go,’ the forested area around Vancouver depicted rural Tennessee, where the mother flees into the woodlands with her sons. The director decided on the particular forest in which the film was shot as soon as he read the script. He knew that it would serve as a fourth character in the story and would have to seem lush and mystical. However, at the same time, it also needed to seem devoid of any natural life with an eerie atmosphere of decay that could serve as a backdrop for the nightmare fuel he was looking to create.
Alexandre Aja worked on Daniel Radcliffe starrer ‘Horns,’ which featured a magical rainforest. After scouting locations around the world, he narrowed it down to a rainforest location near Vancouver, where the film was shot. A lover of nature and forest settings, Aja realized that he could use the same woodlands with a much darker angle for ‘Never Let Go,’ and took his team into the wilderness outside of Vancouver.
“We returned to Vancouver, found this absolutely outstanding forest an hour away from the city, and built a house in the middle of it,” said Aja in an interview. “That was very important to create a real location in this forest where there’s no electricity and feels very remote and to be able to see the forest through the windows and to see inside the house from the outside to have that world tied together like the rope that is tying everyone together in the story.” Compared to the area he had used in ‘Horns,’ the director ventured even deeper into the woods for the horror film until he found spectacular trees and moss formations.
East of Vancouver, ‘Horns’ was shot in and around Mission, an area with geography similar to that seen in ‘Never Let Go.’ Thus, two likely candidates for the possible filming location are Golden Ears Provincial Park and Rolley Lake Provincial Park, both of which are about an hour’s drive away from Vancouver and located near Mission. Both feature dense trees, moss-covered ground, and a high level of moisture, making their woodlands feel like rainforest environments.
Read More: Never Let Go: Is the Horror Movie Based on a True Story?
