Alone

Scary enough for me.

If you have ever traveled alone in the middle of the night, this movie perfectly reflects your anxiety about the stranger in the car next to you.

This guy is the monster of nightmares. No supernatural powers, no CGI, just human evil.

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.

Smart, suspenseful & straightforward, Alone is a lean-n-mean survival horror that employs the genre elements in effective doses to deliver a tense, thrilling & terrifying ride. Packing a simple premise and implementing a minimal approach to bring it to life, this sturdily crafted chiller also benefits from believable performances from its cast and is gripping from the get-go.

Directed by John Hyams, the film doesn't wait too long to introduce the villain, and is up-n-running with the main plot almost right after acquainting us with our protagonist. While the story doesn't break any new grounds, Hyams is still able to get plenty of mileage out of the basic setting & structure by keeping things grounded at all times and allowing the situation & surroundings to heighten the suspense.

The tension-building is carried out with precision by letting our anticipation come into play and the cat-n-mouse scenario that ensues once the scene moves into the wilderness only makes the ride all the more arresting. Jules Willcox aptly articulates her character's fear & predicament while Marc Menchaca plays the antagonist with stone-cold demeanour. Each scene between the two is nail-biting and both actors play their part responsibly.

Overall, Alone is an intelligently directed & brilliantly acted example of its genre that's more than aware of its strengths & limitations and is executed with such flair & simplicity that our investment in the story is almost instantaneous. It is efficient in its storytelling, calculated in its handling of elements and unrelenting in ratcheting up the nerves. Add to that, it is briskly paced, tightly edited and doesn't overstay its welcome. In short, a solid entry in survival horror subgenre.

If you learn anything from this movie, take your shoes.

It is a journey that may keep you on the edge of your seat... or screaming at the TV There's a few times you just think; Why, What, How?

It could be a rough watch for some people.

Its one to watch and maybe learn from...

This is a pretty good film if you just sit back and watch; suspend your disbelief. Don't think too much about it and you'll have a good time. It's entertaining, tense, and will keep you at the edge of your seat. The acting is good and the escape scenes are genuinely unsettling and thrilling. Jules Willcox is really good here as Jessica, and without her this film wouldn't work. Marc Menchaca is pretty scary and menacing as the bad guy inexplicably stalking Jessica throughout the film. The final standoff scene between Jessica and Sam is simultaneously really cool, cathartic, and rewarding.

Many reviewers state how the main character, Jessica, makes multiple dumb decisions. What these reviewers fail to realize is that when very scared, anxious, and alone, people tend to have decision-making that's not very good. And that's what the film is trying to get at here.

Highly recommend, especially if you enjoy cat-and-mouse thrillers.