Here Alone (2016) Reviews

• Fell Apart In The 3rd Act

  smasica-334262017-07-15

  Others have covered the film well in general, so I won't bother covering that portion. *Spoilers Follow* The stereotypical bratty, jealous female teen is telegraphed shortly after she and her wounded step-dad appear. She develops an increasing case of the hots for him and a resentment of his attention to our heroine. She later prepares to seduce him. When step-dad and our heroine return from scavenging firewood and hook up in the car, she does a slow burn and you can see she's going to make a move to eliminate her competition. After step-dad convinces our heroine to come with them, she hatches a plan to get more food for the journey from a nearby house she'd been raiding. Step-dad will act as a decoy while she and hormonal teen sneak in and make off with the chow. While our heroine is busy grabbing the loot, snarky girl clubs her, ties her up, and screams for the zombies to come and get lunch. She then bugs out with the food with the zombies in hot pursuit. Our heroine frees herself, grabs her .22, and heads back to camp. Meanwhile Ms. Hormones gets back to camp, tells step-dad that the zombies got our heroine. At that point, about a half dozen shuffling dead show up and attack the two of them. He wades into them with a tire-iron and knife as one goes after Ms. Hormones. Our heroine shows up, picks off a few semi-dead. Both Ms. Hormones and step-dad are about to be bitten and our heroine is down to her last round. Who will she save? She flashes back to her sick baby who has come down with the 'Z' virus and she sadly has to euthanize the sick baby. Flash forward. Final scenes of dead zombies on the ground around the dead step-dad. Our heroine is now driving off with Ms. Hormones lying next to her with her head on her lap. Seriously? She chooses to let the step-dad die and she saves Ms. Hormones, who you with recall tried to feed her to the zombies. Now she drives off with her as some sort of surrogate new daughter replacement? What kind of baloney is that? *Spoilers Off* As I said, the first 2/3 of the film were quite good. But I had a feeling that like so many independent films trying to be cool and 'arty', they were going to wrap it up with some sort of twist at the end. This film could easily have been much better. I wasn't expecting the typical happy ending, but this didn't ring true either. Yes, she faced a dilemma. I didn't agree with the writer's or director's choice.

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• Absolutely Brilliant...Until...

  nrossin812018-04-17

  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.

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• This is what The Walking Dead wants to be

  thejoudblitz2017-04-01

  Believable characters, realistic action and an interesting story, all delivered in the right pace. Very well directed in all, barely any of the dreaded shaky cam low budget productions seem to like so much, the shots of nothing to set the mood are kept in check and the audience is spared any cheap jump scares. Even the score supports the images, which is something a lot of filmmakers struggle with. Dialogue is relatable, use of profanity appropriate. Here Alone is definitely worth a watch.

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• Subtle and Elegiac Horror Film

  tonya-jarrett2017-04-03

  The narrative of a horror film does not have to have Bullitt's Mustang at full throttle every second or blood and gore fogging up the movie or TV screen. Films about people, how they survive, move forward, or at least try to do that are, for me, ultimately more interesting and more moving. With spare details to go on and information during flashbacks about the female protagonist, Ann, and her family (Jason and their baby) filling in, you are left to use your imagination about how an illness not named decimated the United States. Ann has been on her own for a year when we meet her and we watch her daily routine just to stay alive and away from creatures who were once human. Eventually, she meets two other survivors who fill up some of her loneliness, but inevitably with human beings and all of their quirks and hidden emotional turmoil, events shift rapidly. If you can't watch stillness, listen to the sounds of nature, and let yourself be immersed, you won't be able to watch this film. Just know it's the stillness and beauty of the remote area juxtaposed with some horrifying moments that brings out the intensity of trying to survive day by day in this post-apocalyptic world. The actors who bring these characters to life are strong, mostly because they seem like real people, not actors trying to "be" real people. I cared about all of them and enjoyed the ride immensely.

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• The walking dead...Not the series...but the game

  king_of_sport932017-05-01

  This movie is one of the greatest zombie movies ever made, the movie doesn't contain much violent scenes or blood, because this is not the main goal here, the main goal is about the human souls and how they may survive such world. How they may forgive, forget, find reasons to live and fight, and move on! It resembles the walking dead-the PC game not series-where you don't always fight, you rarely fight actually, but it's a matter of choices, decisions and taking actions, which is so much harder than just fighting physically. If you are looking for a violent, full of blood movie, this is not for you, but if you really are trying to live in such world, and see how it's like, then I totally advise you to watch this movie. My rating 8/10... P.S I really advise you to read the review written by the director here on IMDb before you watch the movie..or after..your call!

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