Review: Alone (2020)

Directed by: John Hyams
Starring: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald
Written by: Mattias Olsson
Music by: Nima Fakhrara
Country: United States
Available on: Blu-ray (Magnet Releasing)
IMDb

Director John Hyams, son of well-known genre director Peter Hyams (Running Scared, Time Cop, Sudden Death, End of Days), is best-known for two lesser-known but highly regarded Universal Soldiers sequels. Here, he’s working on a much, much smaller scale: Alone literally has only three actors (and a handful of extras). The story is as basic and well-tread as the title: Jessica is moving across the country to escape a tragedy and she’s stalked by a stranger that she encounters with increasing and distressing frequency. Where this film separates itself is its expert leverage of suspense. The younger Hyams paces things really well, without revealing much. The entire movie is limited to Jessica’s point of view, with events already in motion, so no time is wasted with backstory or exposition — the audience doesn’t know anything more about Jessica or her stalker than is incidentally revealed through plot. The level of menace posed by “The Man” (as he’s credited) is effectively ratcheted and while he’s a bit strange from the start, he seems like someone who could function in daily life without coming across as a kidnapping serial killer. The cat-and-mouse story never lets your attention wander too far and the final confrontation pays off. Although I liked this plenty while I was watching it, I know I’ll never watch it again. This is a 90-minute adrenaline rush without much ambition — not even the ambition to come up with a remotely memorable title — and I find myself without a ton to say about it. I do recommend it, I suppose, because it does what it does well, but it won’t leave any sort of lasting impression.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10