Here Alone

I have no trouble with low budget films. No trouble either with off the formula stories. Some the most creative work is done with low budgets, and breaking formula is often good.

Obsessions with character arcs, closure, etc make for poor story writing , but some aspects of story telling formula are in fact necessary. Those aspects include some level of credible or believable climax and anti climax and some level of characters being consistent absent anything in the story showing why they would change.

This film is just outright terrible throughout and the climax is just, well complete BS.

This film is low budget combined with every lowbrow cliché imaginable.

Do you need to be a survivalist to write in the Zombie genre? No. But you certainly need to think out your story, and do a bit of research not to make yourself a laughing stock. That people would go to the woods in a post apocalyptic scenario is credible, but not because it would be a good place to survive, but because that is where idiots would go. To be making unneeded campfires (ie showing every threat exactly where you are) , handling and using firearms with no basic skills or common sense, to foraging in places with no likely forage completes the idiocy.

That leaves the interplay between characters. Frankly it is terrible and juvenile. Without getting into spoilers here, the interactions throughout are childish, and the ending is simply a cheat on the audience.

Lastly a whole lot of the positive reviews of this film , virtually all of them are from single review posters. This is the problem with IMDb removing its comment boards, as there is no place to quickly leave an note that the reviews are clearly shilled. They are. Frankly, there is more imagination and creativity in those positive reviews than in the film. The creative team for this film should have had their buddies write the film instead of trying to upshill it here!

This genre bender is tough to categorize. While the setting is post zombie-apocalypse(ish) this is certainly no horror or scifi film. Even drama doesn't really fit.

What it is:

A solid bit of cinematography on a low budget.

Reasonably well written with believable characters.

Well acted by all 3 of the main characters.

What it isn't:

Well paced. While the writer and/or director was obviously aiming for a slow burner this smolders briefly before going out. The plot is simplistic...survive.

Interesting. While it is(in my opinion) believably written, the biggest threat in the zombie-apocalypse seems to be death by boredom.

Engaging. While the characters are reasonably realistic, I really was hoping some zombies would show up to relieve the monotony.

Enjoyable.

All things considered, I cannot specifically state that this is a bad movie...it's just not a good one. I can't say I really regret seeing it, but I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on it either.

A highly infectious pandemic has turned most of the population into mindless, violent plague bearers. A woman survives alone in the woods, consumed by thoughts of her family, until some strangers appear.

This film is monumentally slow and a bit artsy. There are no set piece battles, but do expect lingering shots of people staring wistfully through car windows as rain drops thread their way down the misty glass.

There is very little action, the story is very simple and not a whole lot goes on.

I really enjoyed it though. I was in a patient mood when I watched this and it paid off. The characters are great, as is the acting and production. I enjoyed the way the back story was drip fed. Because the pace of the movie was so tentative, when the action did come it felt a lot more tense.

This film will not be for everyone, and I understand why other reviewers have said they found this boring. But I didn't. I would recommend this if you have the time to sit and enjoy it.

Hardly any violence, some nudity but it is all very innocent.

Short review here as most other reviewers have covered the film in detail. I will just say that the entire film was gripping and brilliant. The performances by all involved were some of the best I've seen in this type of film: completely organic and believable.

That is, until, the final 15-20 minutes of the film. The ending, and the events directly leading up to it, are so obviously an attempt by the filmmakers to subvert the audience's expectations, that the whole plot takes a drastic turn toward the impossible. The final actions of all 3 of the main characters are completely out-of-character with everything we had seen up until that point.

Therefore, all of the goodwill the filmmakers built until then is completely lost. As such, a film that could have easily been a 9 to me has now become a very low 6.

For those considering watching this, don't bother. The emotional investment you'll gladly share in the first 2 acts does NOT have a payoff and you'll end the film completely disappointed. What a shame and what a waste.

People who call this slow paced probably have the attention span of a crumpet or didn't really feel like watching a movie like this. The movie was fine, no wonder I don't trust imdb ratings anymore. This isn't an action packed fanservice zombie movie, it's a sad story about a woman who feels guilty for surviving.