‘Here Alone’ May Be The Best Zombie Film Since ‘Dawn of the Dead’
First was vampire-mania, now everyone is infected with the zombie craze. You would think that people would get over it soon, but with ‘Here Alone’, I hope they’ll love the dead walkers even more.
‘Here Alone’ is about a woman surviving alone in the wild woods of upstate New York after a virus wiped out most of humanity.
Ann (Lucy Walters) knew the woods very much because this is where her husband Jason (Shane West) taught her about basic survival skills. They apparently made preparations for an event like this: long shelf-life food, tools and supplies for camping, and weapons.
She still goes around to forage for food in nearby houses, and that is how she met teenager Olivia (Gina Piersanti), and her head-wounded step-father, Chris (Adam David Thompson).
It uses an old trope -- a virus infects most of humanity and turns them into hordes of walking corpses
We’ve seen lots of films and TV shows playing on this trope. A lot of the world-building revolves around The Virus and how it infected billions of people around the world in a matter of days. But ‘Here Alone’ is less about the threat to the extinction of humanity than the people who are surviving it.
And a new concept -- the main survivor doesn’t actually want to be with others humans. In fact, like most of us today, she’d rather be alone.
Humans are naturally social, so we always thought that one of the first things we’d do if an apocalypse like this happens is to look for other survivors and rebuild the world somehow.
However, because ‘Here Alone’ is more about being human in a dead world, in plays on human emotions that would always put us in trouble. When Ann found Olivia and Chris, her intentions were to help them, especially with Chris’ head wound. But there is a side-eye vibe as father and daughter sees Ann’s hefty provisions in a time when every little thing becomes a luxury.
Scriptwriter David Ebeltoft is a master at slow-reveals. Audiences will definitely be at the edge of their seats as the story slowly unfolds.
What’s more is his writing economy. Because this is a story about how our emotions dictate our actions in an apocalyptic setting, much of the dialogue doesn’t happen until after half an hour.
Director Rod Blackhurst (who have worked on Funny or Die shorts) created a very gloomy mood, appropriate for the narrative he’s working on.
The indie budget film proved that you don’t need to be flashy to build tension. Rod Blackhurst used simple rain sounds and occasional zombie gurgles to provoke anticipation. You just know Rod is studied the script because we never get to see the deadwalkers as much, it was purely focused on the survival instincts of man.
‘Here Alone’ is on the lookout for a distributor so people can watch it. But this film definitely takes the zombie apocalypse story to a whole new level.
