Stories of the last survivors alone in the world are my favorite subgenre. Wile Alone was not the teenage I Am Legend I was hoping for, it was a solid entry in the subgenre and Screamfest’s 2017 lineup.
Leila (Sofia Lesaffre) wakes up to an empty house, empty beltway and empty market. She meets Terry (Jean-Stan Du Pac) and Camille (Kim Lockhart) and they try to navigate this abandoned wasteland. Along the way they meet Dodji (Stephane Bak) who is being held prisoner, and rich kid Yvan Gersh (Paul Scarfoglio).
Shots of the empty world are like heroin to me. There are good wide shots of the stalled cars on the overpass, and supermarket carts overturned suggest something happened mid-shopping. Overhead shots also suggest a broad scope to the abandon. Red light in the rain is another effective image later in the film.
The kids play in a fancy hotel, which is something kids would do but don’t have ideas as big as even Kevin McCallister. They try wine, which kids would do, but it’s not that fun. I get it. I wouldn’t leave the hotel for the unknown either, and I would spend my apocalypse watching all the movies I never had time for. That wouldn’t be very cinematic of me.
Camille visits her home and rages at her stepdad, yet it doesn’t quite delve deep enough into the characters’ issues to be the serious The Road version of this either.
An antagonist is kept mysterious. He’s intimidating when you see him in brief glimpses. The encroaching fog isn’t quite as much of a threat as Alone seems to think. I guess it’s a chemical fear. There are no monsters in the fog, but it can get through vents so I guess you have to leave.
Alone is a worthwhile addition to my favorite subgenre, and a set of strong performances by a young cast. Screamfest continues through October 17 in Hollywood. Individual tickets for films are $11 each.
