Carlota Pereda caught the eye of genre fans when she made the feature film Piggy. An expansion from her short, Cerdita, the Spanish film placed a bullied overweight teen in a moral quandary after she witnessed her tormentors get kidnapped. The concept of kidnapping is one that Pereda returns to with her latest movie, Found Alive.
The first English language film to be directed by Pereda, Found Alive stars Chloë Grace Moretz as Reeve LeClaire. Ten years prior to the events in Found Alive, Reeve was kidnapped and held hostage for a number of months. Eventually able to escape, Reeve is attempting to live a normal life, but that changes after her therapist asks for her help with a new kidnapping case. One girl has been found and is about to have her day in court with her jailer, but several other girls remain missing and Reeve’s doctor believes that she might be able to support the new victim whilst gaining enough trust to potentially pick up a new clue. As Reeve begins to help, she finds herself reliving her own trauma, and after the police prove useless, sets out to uncover the missing girls alone.
Due to its dark content and themes, Found Alive still keeps its foot within the genre pool, but it is far closer to a serial killer thriller in both its formation and execution. Chloë Grace Moretz has been acting since she was a child and so gives an effortless turn as the troubled but trying Reeve. The story doesn’t strictly give her enough material to enable a full connection with the viewer, but even when kept at a distance, Moretz’s talents shine.
The issue with Found Alice is that it is a little too standardised. The aspect that made Piggy so enticing was its moral dilemma of whether or not the crime that was witnessed should be reported. There was an argument for both reporting and not, and it was fascinating to listen to people debate the scenario after viewing. Here, there is no such discourse, with the story picking a very familiar antagonist. This decision lessens the intrigue and with it playing out very obvious from early on, makes it hard to give Found Alive your full attention. The choice to whack on a whole extra act after arriving at a perfect end point is equally frustrating, which sadly leaves Found Alive struggling on almost all fronts.
A disappointing story held together (just barely) by the consistently captivating Chloë Grace Moretz, Found Alive is undercooked and overthought, resulting in a very generic crime thriller.
Found Alive
Summary
Carlota Pereda continues to struggle to match the ferocious magic of Piggy with Found Alive being a tad too formulaic to be anything more than interesting enough background viewing.
Found Alive was reviewed at Sitges Film Festival 2026.
