Alone

'Alone' is an obscure British horror/thriller that was released straight to DVD back in 2002. The movies feature a unique concept and thanks to the blue light filter everything's bathed in an eerie yet depressing atmosphere which makes this world feel colourless, dark and gives it a rather disturbing edge. But is this movie a lost gem or does it deserve to be forgotten.

The plot = Detective Hannah (John Shrapnel) & Jen (Isabel Brook) are desperately on the trail of a serial killer known only as Alex whose leaving behind a trail of dead women.

This movie is technically ambitious by using the perspective of the killer which gives this an intriguing angle and immediately draws you into their sick and twisted mind and every time this person is on screen its totally unnerving. There is also a decent amount of tension and suspense on display here and the mystery element is well done. However, there are quite a few flaws though, such as the characters they could have done with a lot more fleshing out as I didn't find them engaging enough to care and the way that it ended was severely disappointing and to be honest, I didn't even realize that it was meant to be a plot twist.

Overall 'Alone' would I call this underrated yes and no, as there are some good stuff on display here, but several plot elements could have also been handled a lot better also. So, I would call this flick an average effort all round.

I have to begin by saying that this was probably one of the least original serial killer films i've seen in a while. You can pick your cliche from many films before it, be it the killers childhood problems to the tough, seen it all before detective. That said this is still a decent film with some very nice touches by the director. The point of view perspective of the serial killer is not a new idea, yet is very well used, and there are some genuinely creepy moments throughout. Unfortunately the ending is pretty predictable but is still very well handled by the director. On the whole a watchable film.

* NO SPOILERS AHEAD *

In general: "Alone" is a movie you won't remember after a month or so, but that doesn't make it an awful movie..

After watching the whole movie, I got the same feeling I had with the "9th gate": The movie needed 10 more minutes of plot unraveling, to explain/conclude some things. It seemed as if the producer run out of funds and had to finish the film in a hurry.

That left apart, the movie contains some very nicely done camera tricks (first person perspective, memory flashbacks etc), an interesting -yet not that genuine- background of Alex (the main character), and some nice acting.

Concluding: The camera tricks are not groundbreaking, as the ones in "Matrix". The plot is not even close to "Seven". No Oscar was nominated for acting in this film. Compared to some 5-star films, "Alone" is not much to look at. It surely is not one of the best films I've seen, but not a bad film either. 6/10 for me: slightly above average. Worth watching it on TV or renting it for 1,5 euros, but nothing more.

In my opinion this film is one of the worst I've ever seen. It was weird. As I would never watch a film without seeing the end I persevered to the end in the hope that it would have some answers, however, the ending is worse than the whole film put together.

It was extremely amateur and doesn't deserve to be on video or even TV. The sound and camera effects were silly and did nothing for the film neither.

I'd give it 1/10 and that's being generous.

Plain put, Claydon produced a vaguely distorted remake of "Halloween' in the style one cannot eschew after watching the likes of "Seven' and "The Cell' till they left a drone in one's ears: he left out Brad Pit and Jennifer Lopez, but managed to get a fine sound-track and a superbly over the top Miriam Margolyes, who delivers a memorable study in grotesque realism.

The horror, however, coming in about three waves of identical pattern, gets pretty repetitive very soon and culminates in an anticlimax entirely out of sorts. Claydon might need to watch "Nightshift' and "When the Bough Breaks' to get a better grasp on plot-development or the urge to have a point before shooting. But I'm miffed anyway because I wanted to see a Korean thriller by Sung-Hong Kim and dreamily trudged to the wrong festival-theatre, therefore my judgement might be somewhat biased by self-loathing...