By John Duarte
I’ve been writing for Creepy Kingdom for almost 2 years and I’ve seen some odd and interesting movies that I review here. But, I’ll say right now, John Hyams ALONE is not only my favorite movie I’ve reviewed on CK but this might be my favorite independent movie of 2020. From the first 10 mins, something about it I knew I was going enjoy. Instead of giving my full-on opinion on the first paragraph, let’s get to the actual plot of ALONE, Shall We?
ALONE stars Jules Wilcox as a woman who recently lost her husband to suicide. She packed her things and is moving out to start a new journey. While driving down a highway, she speeds past an SUV which is usually never a good idea in my opinion. Once she finds a place to rest for the night, she sees the SUV driving around outside the window. The next morning comes, she about to start driving again, a man walks up to her car. This man (creepily played by Marc Menchaca) tells her he’s the SUV that she went in front of and apologized for going slow. Later that night after she bumps into him again, she freaks out and speeds into the night. What she comes to realize, her tire was punctured and the man kidnaps her and now it’s the fight for survival for her to escape him.
Simple plot, right? Well, I was pleasantly surprised by how good this movie was and it kept my heart pounding as well as kept me at the edge of my seat the entire 90 minutes. John Hyam who’s known for directing episodes of Z Nation, NYPD Blue, The Originals, and Chicago P.D. as well as directed the last two Universal Soldier movies and is the son of film director Peter Hyams ( “The Relic” anyone?) did a phenomenal job with the tone and the execution of this film. What got huge points from me was the use of sound design throughout the movie without a score or barely a score. Because this is a movie where the score could ruin the tension.
One of the things I was surprised to find out when the credits were rolling at the beginning was Yeardley Smith executive produced ALONE. Of course, Yeardley is well known for being Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons. I wonder how she got involved in this production. But definitely, the main leads are the meat and potatoes of this film, and their performances were solid. Especially the character of The Man who could’ve played it over the top but he kept him grounded and super creepy. Nothing creeps me more than a white guy in wireframe glasses and a pedophile mustache. All in all, dang good performances all around.
Like I said earlier, this could actually be one of my favorite movies of 2020. With solid performances by the two main leads, a really good sound design, and top-notch directing, ALONE is a definite must-see!
ALONE is available now on VOD.
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