Is No One Gets Out Alive Based On A True Story?

Nope — not a true story. 'No One Gets Out Alive' started as Adam Nevill's novel and was later adapted into the Netflix film; both are fictional horror. I can totally see why people ask, though: the setup — someone desperate, stuck in a creepy room, taken advantage of — feels ripped from real-life headlines about unsafe housing and migrants' struggles. That realism is deliberate, it makes the supernatural beats land harder, but there’s no real victim or documented case behind the plot. If you want something factual, look up real investigative pieces on housing exploitation; if you're after chills, dive into the book or film and enjoy the eerie ride.

I love picking up a creepy book on a grey afternoon, and 'No One Gets Out Alive' was one of those that hooked me until my phone battery died. To be clear: it's not a true story. The book, written by Adam Nevill, is a work of fiction, and the Netflix film of the same name is an adaptation of that novel. Both lean hard into atmospheric horror — slow-burn dread, claustrophobic rooms, that feeling of being unseen and trapped — rather than a direct retelling of any real person's life. I read the novel curled up under a blanket during a storm, and the way Nevill layers supernatural menace over social desperation felt crafted, not documented.

That said, the realism in the story comes from familiar, real-world anxieties: precarious housing, exploitation of vulnerable people, cultural isolation. Those themes make the terror resonate like it could be real, and that's a trick horror writers often use. In the film, some elements are made more explicit and visual, while the novel keeps more of the sustained, uncanny atmosphere. Both highlight the human side of the protagonist's struggle, which can make viewers and readers instinctively ask whether it actually happened.

If you're hunting for facts, check the book's publication info and the film's credits — you'll see the author and screenwriters listed and no claim of being based on a true story. But if you're after the kind of dread that feels like it could be ripped from a news headline about unsafe housing or immigration hardships, this title scratches that itch. Personally, I recommend reading the book first and then watching the adaptation — the contrasts are a little thrilling.

I've spent too many late-night hours comparing movies and their source novels, and with 'No One Gets Out Alive' the distinction is clear: it's not a true story. Adam Nevill created the original novel as fiction, and the Netflix version follows that narrative world. The plot centers on a young woman trapped in a sinister boarding house; the horror elements are crafted to unsettle rather than to document an actual event. When I finished the film I checked the credits and interviews, and there was no claim to factuality — just discussions about influences and thematic intentions.

What interests me more is how believable it feels. Horror often borrows from real social problems to ground its scares, and this work uses housing insecurity, isolation, and cultural displacement as emotional scaffolding. That’s why some viewers ask whether it happened: the scenarios are plausible in a sociological sense, even though the supernatural overlay is invented. If you care about true stories, you might enjoy reading essays or journalism on housing crises instead; if you want that particular blend of social realism and the uncanny, then 'No One Gets Out Alive' delivers in a purely fictional package.