A recently widowed woman is travelling across America when she finds herself repeatedly bumping into a mysterious man. However, it soon transpires that these meetings are not coincidental and the woman (Jessica) ends up being kidnapped and held hostage by this man. Jessica manages to escape, but this merely becomes the start of her problems...
With Alone what you effectively have is a good old-fashioned cat-and-mouse thriller and despite it, narratively, treading a fairly well-worn path it is quite effective at what it does...
Plus points with the film lie with the protagonist who is smart and confident giving us a strong persona to root for (the fact that she doesn't trust 'the man' right from the start was also refreshing to see from a narrative standpoint). Her bravery and resourcefulness make her a worthy opponent for the antagonist and one senses that he actually has some respect for her as the film progresses. There is also some tense moments (more so in the middle of the picture when the man is hunting Jessica). Of course, some suspension of disbelief is required to accept what you see here when Jessica is out in the open and is being pursued (one scene involving a tree trunk blocking a road is one such example), but for the most part it works and compared to similar films within the genre Alone does seem to be fairly grounded.
For the most part this film belongs to 2 actors; Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca and both do commendable jobs. The latter was already halfway there with the way he looked in the film, but he backed this up with a creepy performance as well.
Alone doesn't really have many surprises nor does it offer much that hasn't been seen before, but it does at least have a protagonist who isn't quite as cliched as many that have gone before her and there are plenty of tense moments in this minimalist thriller that mostly succeeds.
