Out now on digital and VOD platforms is John Hyams’ alone starring Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca, a thriller about survival and the intestinal fortitude to fight back when the odds are stacked against you.
According to the rundown: “A cold-blooded killer hunts a widow in the wilderness after she escapes from his remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest.”
The film clocks in at 98 minutes and although it moves at a dull pace at times, it manages to layout it’s story, without steering far into convoluted territory. It has it’s major misses in terms of plot, and their attempts to tie the story into the realm of reality.
Jessica (Wilcox) is moving away from her home following the suicide of her husband (which is never really discussed at length), and hitches up her UHaul to the back of her outdated station wagon to venture off for a new beginning. It’s obvious that she has some disconnect with her family, mainly her mother, but it is never explored and never holds any significance to the character, the plot, and the movie, making it just useless filler.
Jessica has a bit of an on-road tiff with “Man” (Menchaca), that sets off a series of events of stalking, kidnapping, hunting, and ultimately a battle to the death.
The sheer number of times that Man (who is also called Sam) happens to track down Jessica, despite covering miles and miles, it what deflates the initial build up of suspense. Be it in the backroads of the mountainside, dark highways, local gas stations, and streets of a given town, Man always finds Jessica proving he is some kind of human GPS.
Jessica is eventually captured, only to manage her escape not long after, with Man giving chase and intent on hunting her down to finish her off.
Despite it’s annoying flaws, Alone tells a familiar tale of torment using a proven formula in acceptable fashion. There is nothing new. Nothing shocking. Nothing that sets this movie a part from any other movie with a similar plot. For what it is, Alone is a decent watch. But it lacks the true depth and creativity to differentiate itself from the crowd.
