Alone

Directed by John Hyams, Alone details the cat-and-mouse exploits of a recent widow (Jules Willcox’s Jessica) and the unhinged maniac (Marc Menchaca’s Sam) stalking her. It’s a rather familiar setup that’s employed to erratic yet ultimately rewarding effect by Hyams, as the filmmaker, working from Mattias Olsson’s script, delivers a deliberately-paced thriller that isn’t, at the outset, able to overcome the excessively generic bent of its premise – with the been-there-done-that vibe effectively preventing the viewer from wholeheartedly connecting to the protagonist’s increasingly perilous plight. (And it probably doesn’t help, either, that Jessica keeps making unreasonably bad decisions.) It’s clear, then, that Alone benefits substantially from its smattering of tense sequences and a pair of superb lead performances, with, in terms of the latter, Willcox’s solid work here generally overshadowed by Menchaca’s creepy (and appreciatively less-than-subtle) turn as the seemingly unstoppable villain. The movie’s shift from watchable to enthralling comes with a visceral and deeply satisfying final 15 minutes that ensures it ends on as positive a note as one could possibly envision, which does, in the final analysis, cement Alone‘s place as a decent-enough endeavor that should’ve been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****