Review of Alone - Toronto After Dark
Pim is just another ordinary woman. She moved from Thailand and started a new life in Korea with her caring and loving husband. But one night, a phone call from Thailand changes her life forever. Pim learns that her mother is gravely ill with an unknown disease, and she and her husband Lee rush back to Thailand. The moment she arrives in Thailand, the flashbacks begin - painful memories long buried, along with a strange, familiar feeling. These things only grow stronger as she reaches the house where she grew up. She is inundated with a nostalgia that is sweet, but with an undercurrent of terror and a realization that someone is there, right beside her, always. That someone had always been there. The secret of Pim and her family has slowly been revealed: she was once a Siamese twin! Pim and her conjoined twin sister underwent an operation to separate them. However, her sister died during the attempt. Now Pim suddenly feels her relentless presence. Will she regain the normal life she once had?
Official Site: http://www.alone-themovie.com/
Reviews: Slasherpool, A Nutshell Review, MovieXclusive.com
Our Review
I do not understand why Hollywood doesn’t put out more creepy terror filled horror movies. So many of the horror movies that are released are just gore fests that rely on comedy and blood to create a memorable movie experience. I’ll admit that this can work for many movies and these movies are often great fun to watch with a bunch of friends. I prefer to actually be scared when watching a horror movie and that is where Alone mostly succeeds. Alone like most good Asian Horror relies on ambiance and an overall feeling tension.
There are two things that I fault Alone with. Like pretty much every other Asian Horror movie Alone relies on the imagery behind a long haired female ghost. I was actually looking forward to the ghost more resembling the short haired main character. Unfortunately it went with the exact same ghost standard. The second place where I have a bit of a problem with Alone is that it often relies a bit too much on noise scares. Instead of going with just creepiness Alone amps up the volume a few times to create a jump in the audience.
My complaints though definitely do not outweigh how much I really enjoyed Alone. About half way through the movie I thought I had everything figured out and was trying to figure out how the whole problem with the ghost was going to be solved and then slam the movie provided the last few bits of information and everything fell into place. I don’t really want to delve into this but I will say that Alone is more complex than it initially seemed and really drew me in. In addition there are several scenes that freaked the shit out of me. If you have watched the trailer you have already seen the bath scene but in truth the bit in the trailer does not do it justice. There are also two other scenes that were incredible. The final ghost scene is so perfect, although the lead up to it does remind me a bit too much of A Tale of Two Sisters and the scene where you finally get a good slow full view of the ghost was just stunning.
Alone is a terrific entry in the Asian Horror field and I really recommend checking it out. I don’t know if I’d put it on the same level as A Tale of Two Sisters, Ringu and Ju-On but it comes damn close. I’ll be checking out Banjong Pisanthanakun’s and Parkpoom Wongpoom’s Shutter in the very near future which I hear is even more creepy. I’ll give Alone a 4 out of 5.
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