Alone
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Hyams
Written byMattias Olsson
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyFederico Verardi
Edited by
  • Scott Roon
  • John Hyams
Music byNima Fakhrara
Production
companies
  • Mill House Motion Pictures
  • Paperclip Ltd.
  • XYZ Films
Distributed byMagnet Releasing
Release date
  • September 18, 2020 (2020-09-18)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$642,502[1][2]

Alone is a 2020 American psychological thriller film directed by John Hyams, from a screenplay by Mattias Olsson. The film stars Jules Willcox as a young woman who desperately tries to escape a completely deranged and bloodthirsty psychopath (Marc Menchaca) in the wilderness. It was released in the United States on September 18, 2020, by Magnet Releasing.

Plot

While on the road to moving house, recent widow Jessica is brake-checked by a man in a truck. When she attempts to pass him, he initially refuses to let her, then tailgates her until taking a different exit. She later encounters him at a gas station where he apologises for his behaviour. Moments later, she finds his truck blocking the road; he tells her he has broken down and asks for a ride but Jessica declines and drives off.

Later that night, she sees him again at a rest stop and flees. She crashes her car and sees her tires have been slashed. The man appears, breaks into her car and drugs her; Jessica wakes up in his cabin where he has locked her inside. She pleads for her release but he alludes to her not being the first one he has kidnapped and then forces her to tell him what happened to her husband. Jessica reveals he committed suicide.

The next morning, she hears the man leaving and notices that the key is still in the keyhole on the other side. She slides her sweater underneath the door and uses a stray nail to push the key out. She frees herself and hides in an upstairs closet when the man comes back. She overhears him speaking to his wife on the phone, lying about where he is and that he'll be back soon. Once he goes downstairs, she escapes into the woods. The man soon notices and gives chase. After she badly injures her foot, they face off at the river where Jessica jumps in to escape.

Wet, cold and in pain, Jessica stumbles through the forest until she hears a nearby rustling in the bushes. She hides behind a tree and hits out at someone with a branch, thinking it is the man, but instead meets a man named Robert who is out hunting. He offers to give her a ride and provides food, water and new boots. As they are driving, they come to a stop where a tree has fallen, blocking the road. When they get out to move it, the man arrives, making up a story that Jessica is his sister and she's having a psychotic episode due to her husband's recent death. After Robert demands the man's phone to call the police, the man attacks him and then kills him with his hunting rifle.

Jessica runs from the scene and another chase ensues. She hides in a cave at night to get out of the rain, but the man spots her and shoots her in the shoulder. She then hides in a small pond. The man tries to goad her into coming out by mocking her husband's suicide but gives up and leaves when she doesn't come out. The next morning while the man is disposing of Robert's body, Jessica climbs into his car. She steals his phone then hides in the trunk as the man returns. While driving, Jessica leaps into the back seat and attacks him, striking him multiple times in the head. He wrestles her away and in doing so, crashes the car, flipping it over.

Dazed, Jessica climbs out and spots a search and rescue helicopter. She runs after it into a clearing where she uses his phone to call his wife and tell her the truth. The man, whose name has been revealed as Sam, follows Jessica into the clearing; she puts the phone on speaker and taunts him with it. Enraged that Jessica has exposed his true nature to his family, Sam lunges at her with a knife and a fight ensues. Jessica ultimately overcomes him and fatally stabs Sam. She watches him die and then lies beside him exhausted as the helicopter descends from above.

Cast

Production

In December 2017, it was announced that Jules Willcox would star in the film.[3] The film is a remake of Olsson's 2011 Swedish film Gone.[3][4]

Reception

Box office and VOD

Alone was released in the United States on September 18, 2020 in theaters and on video-on-demand. It grossed $182,473 from 173 theaters in its opening weekend.[5] It was also the most rented film on Google Play, fourth on FandangoNow, and ninth on Apple TV.[6] In its second weekend the film ranked third at Google Play, fourth at FandangoNow, and sixth at Apple TV,[7] then its third weekend finished second at Google Play, third at FandangoNow, eighth at AppleTV, and tenth at Spectrum.[8]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 64 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Alone's minimalistic approach makes this heightened thriller a gripping and suspenseful experience."[9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[10]

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote: "This minimalist survival thriller unfolds with such elegant simplicity and single-minded momentum that its irritations are easily excused."[11] Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Top-tier performances from Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca provide 98 minutes of heart-pounding diversion."[12] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave it a B grade, writing: "there's something deeply appealing about an already stripped-down cat-and-mouse scenario that becomes dirtier and more elemental as it goes along, tracing a devolutionary arc from the rules of the road to primeval combat."

Odie Henderson of RogerEbert.com was more critical of the film, giving it a score of 2/4 stars and writing that it "gives us little reason to care if our hero makes it out alive, but I have to give credit where it's due: Jessica isn't written as some damsel in distress."[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Alone (2020)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Alone (2020)". The Numbers. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  3. 1 2 N'Duka, Amanda (December 4, 2017). "Jules Willcox To Star In Indie Thriller 'Alone'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  4. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (June 15, 2020). "Magnet Releasing Nabs 'Alone' Thriller for North America (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  5. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 20, 2020). "'Tenet' Now At $36M+ In Domestic Marketplace Still Fractured By Pandemic". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  6. ↑ Brueggemann, Tom (September 21, 2020). "'Antebellum' Immediate #1 on VOD Charts While RBG Films Soar on Apple TV". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  7. ↑ Brueggemann, Tom (September 28, 2020). "'Ava' Joins 'Antebellum' Atop VOD Charts While 'Enola Holmes' Rules at Netflix". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
  8. ↑ Brueggemann, Tom (October 5, 2020). "'Ava' Takes Over as the Top VOD Choice, with Thriller 'Alone' Still Strong". IndieWire. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Alone". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Alone Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  11. ↑ Catsoulis, Jeannette (September 17, 2020). "'Alone' Review: Catch Her if You Can". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  12. ↑ Crust, Kevin (September 18, 2020). "Review: A woman on the verge makes a stand in heart-pounding thriller 'Alone'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  13. ↑ Henderson, Odie (September 18, 2020). "Alone movie review & film summary (2020) | Roger Ebert". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
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