Alone

The directors of the chiller "Shutter" created another terrifying horror film. This creepy film tells the story about the surviving half of a conjoined twin who starts to "see" her dead sister when she returns home to visit her dying mother. Through flashbacks we learn how the beautiful relationship between the sisters transforms in to a repressive bond that forced one of the sisters to ask for her mother's support for a separation. When one of the twins dies, she angrily returns from the dead to haunt her sister. Strong story, strong cast dealing with recognizable themes such as rivalry between sisters, romantic jealousy and good old family guilt. A cut above all other scary movies in recent years.

Thai writer-directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom have shot to prominence in the horror genre with their debut movie Shutter, which I had regrettably missed its theatrical run here, but more than made up for it by being the proud owner of the (now autographed) DVD. In my opinion, having mustered up enough courage to sit through horror movies now (and find them really enjoyable, at times comedic though), I've shuddered at some of this genre's movies which keep on harping on the same thing, and got dumbed down by weak execution. Not Shutter, and definitely not Alone.

If you think Banjong and Parkpoom are one hit wonders with their debut movie, then Alone will prove you wrong. Despite having counted on the usual lighting and shadow techniques, quick cut surprises and scares, and the pristine, well-crafted sound effects, it demonstrated that as long as you deliver the product with great technical skill and respect for the medium, it'll still be as enjoyable as watching it all for the very first time. Having a storyline which engages helps as well, and here the duo still seemed to have a thing or two for old photographs, this time showing the subject material of siamese twins, although not as grotesque as those shown in the Alone trailers.

While the storyline isn't really that original, with the surviving siamese twin having to encounter the supernatural return of her deceased other, and if you look closely enough there are adequate hints of the revelatory twist to come, what mattered was how the subject again was being introduced and crafted, how tension and suspense were met out, and how easy it is to spook audiences when all the ingredients turn out right. Despite having some premise set up for the obvious, I was still taken aback at one of the scenes, and it is this constant sense of what's coming, and the expected delivery, which will easily make this a successful spook film for the mass audience.

The duo had got the male heartthrob Ananda Everingham lead in their previous movie, and now the opportunity is given to the female gender - the beautiful and very photogenic Masha Wattanapanich, who plays the siamese twins Pim and Ploy. Starring opposite them in a Natthaweeranuch Thongmee kinda role, is Vittaya Wasukraipaisan as Wee, Pim's boyfriend. As Pim's mother (Ratchanoo Bunchootwong) is suddenly taken ill back in Thailand, the duo have to leave their careers in Korea, and journey back to the homeland, where the unexpected starts to happen. Pim's encounters with who she presumes is Ploy led to Wee thinking that she needs psychiatric help, but slowly, he too gets drawn into the web of supernatural intrigue.

And in all earnestness, I'd say Masha had nailed her role to a fitting T. Given that Pim and Ploy's characters are key to the movie, she managed to bring out the vast differences in the character of the two sisters (of course the teenage actresses who played the younger versions also helped loads). In shedding light onto the ongoing mystery, the expected blast from the past recollection and flashback helped provide a certain richness to the entire backstory for all the characters, and in doing so, played on a common theme, one that at times I like to ponder upon - which I cannot elaborate further other than saying, is ignorance sometimes bliss, and can you live a lie?

Alone is excellent stuff, even though the horrific moments might come few and far between, and there possibly was a sub-genre shift in the last 10 minutes or so. Nonetheless its numerous strengths easily outweigh the minute weaknesses, and in having delivered a superbly crafted tried-and-tested story, this could easily be a hit at the box office. Recommended for all you people out there who are itching for a good scare!

I yesterday saw its Hindi remake/adaptation so i knew the suspense. But i didn't enjoy the Hindi version. And here for original, despite knowing the suspense i enjoyed the movie.

During separation of conjoined twin girl one of the girl dies and she comes back to haunt the other girl and reveal some hidden truths. The movie starts slowly building the premise and in the last 25 minutes it picks up speed full time. Last 25 minutes are very good thrilling and carrying a good twist.The movies doesn't boast of too many horror or spooky scenes, but stays focused on its story with few typical horror scenes here and there.

Both the main characters have done really well in terms of acting. Script was really tight .

Some comparison with Hindi remake and why original is better

=> Whereas Hindi remake was confused even about the intention of ghost , this wasn't- everything was almost perfect and as per script in this.

=> Hindi remake was lost by trying to make it seem like an adaptation not remake(despite them copying many scenes with same dialogs) and this resulted in senseless tracks inserted in the movie and hence nullified the impact of the movie.

=> Characters in this are pretty well etched while Hindi remake had caricatures of them

=> Both the main actors here - Marsha Wattanapanich & Vittaya Wasukraipaisan acted very well while in Hindi remake the actors( Karan grover & Bipasha Basu) were terrible in terms of performance as well

All in all good watch for lovers of horror movie . Will rate it 7/10

This is the movie that makes me couldn't sleep well. It's so frightened. I When I watched it, I couldn't even predict the end of the story. This is so unpredictable stories. The movie combined the thriller story and ghost story. It made me scream and closed mu eyes. It is so tragic. I couldn't even open my eyes. The movie is about twin sisters that fall in love with the same guy. Their name are Pim and Ploy. The movie sets in Thailand. It sets in an old house that is so spooky. Actually, this is a good movie but I really don't like horror movies. It makes me scared all the time. For you who like horror movies, you should watch this movie. It really increase your adrenaline.

I watch a lot of horror films mostly from the last 20 years. So I am jaded viewer.

I couldn't fault with execution of the film. It has good acting and good atmosphere but nothing splendid. What it lacks is a good script. I have seen too many similar movies so I was bored throughout. There was a twist near the end, but so many of these movies have twists near the end of the film. What about the rest of the film ? Why not just make it short movie of 30 minutes which would be much more enjoyable.

Having said all that, movie is still half-decent. As I said before I couldn't fault with the execution. If you see it with the understanding that you are not going to watch anything new, then I guess it is tolerable.