Alone: A group of children wake up to find the world around them empty, except for one stranger who wants them dead.
Alone Review
Alone, or Seuls as it is known in its mother tongue, is based on a French-Belgian comic book. It tells the story of Leila (Sofia Lesaffre), a young girl who wakes up to find everyone around her has left; as she ventures into the city she encounters a small group of other children. The group decide to band together to try and work out what has happened to everyone. Whilst investigating, they realise that they aren’t as alone as they thought – someone is hunting them. Can they solve the mystery before it’s too late?
Teenagers (and adults) will find plenty to enjoy with Alone. For one, the main cast are all people their own age, much like The Goonies and Stranger Things, it’s the kids that take centre stage for once. It’s nice to see youngsters given a project as interesting as this one. It’s dark, moody, and deals with some even darker and moodier topics. Alone also offers a chance for audiences to live that dream of being able to run amok in a city with no-one around telling you what to do. The kids hole up in a posh hotel and have plenty of fun with the place; it’s like Dawn of the Dead‘s idea of living in a shopping mall – we’d all like to give it a whirl just once.
Alone Review
The film is based on a series of graphic novels, and this come across in the look and feel of the project. Visually the film is gorgeous. There city-scapes are expansive and desolate. There’s something about seeing all the streets abandoned and empty that is really eerie and unsettling. The colour palette is all grey and cold, which contrasts with the vibrancy of scenes that take place at a circus. These sequences are full of bright flashing lights set against the blackest of night skies, and is a real feast for the eyes.
The performances are all strong, and there’s a nice air of fun and excitement alongside the dread and tension, however, the story unfortunately let’s the film down. The mystery of the disappeared population is all to easy to work out, and most will find it frustrating that the characters don’t work it out for themselves until the closing moments. It’s an interesting idea, but is one that has been done too many times before in the world of television, film and literature.
A special blend of The Goonies, Stranger Things and The Mist, Alone is a visual feast of fantasy escapism, but the story is too unoriginal.
Alone review by Kat Hughes, August 2017.
Alone is currently playing as part of the Horror Channel Frighfest 2017 programme.
