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The first 30 minutes or so of John Hyams ’ “Alone” are promising. Jessica ( Jules Willcox ) packs up her U-Haul trailer and moves out of Portland, Oregon for parts unknown. Whatever parts they are, they’re deep in the wilderness. Jessica is running from Something Traumatic, as befitting all protagonists in this kind of movie. Her father is concerned that she’s left a day earlier than expected so that she could avoid any kind of verbal skirmish with her mother. Her mother calls her repeatedly, and when Jessica finally answers, Mom’s whiny nagging explains why a confrontation was unwanted. No matter. We never find out where Jessica was going, because her plans get derailed.

You see, there’s a serial killer on the loose. He’s a goofy looking man with glasses and a push broom for a mustache. He reminded me of an older version of the Simpsons’ Ned Flanders, one who has done a lot of things that require repentance. You would think the filmmakers went for this rather Everyman look to distract victims from his villainy, but the guy known as Man in the credits ( Marc Menchaca ) never once acts anything other than creepy. In his first in-person interaction with Jessica, he asks where she’s going, tries to engage her in conversations unbecoming of strangers and then points out that he was driving the Jeep Grand Cherokee that almost got her killed when she tried to pass him a few miles back. I hope Jeep got paid well for this particular product placement. I hope U-Haul did too, because when Jessica’s trailer gets a flat, Man shows up to beat her senseless, drug, and kidnap her. Jessica wakes up in an empty basement room conveniently fitted with a lovely beam of sunlight streaming through the barred up windows.

So far so good for a thriller. There’s even a halfway decent moment of suspense where Man torments Jessica about the devastating event that sent her packing. When Jessica pleads for her life, Man asks “do you think you’re the first person who’s done this?” It’s the last time Man will seem scary, which is a shame because the movie’s barely one-third over. We’re spared any torture or sexual assault, thank goodness, and Jessica easily escapes from Man. This occurs after Jessica overhears Man talking to Wife and Daughter on his cell phone. Screenwriter Mattias Olsson really wants to lean into the idea that Man is living a secret life, but honestly, why should I be impressed by this? “Dark, murderous secrets kept from families” is covered in Serial Killer 101 on the first day of class.

Any genre goodwill generated by Hyams’ assured direction and pacing is lost when the film introduces another character, Robert ( Anthony Heald ). Robert is stupid, as all characters like him are in this type of picture. Before he shows up, Jessica suffers a gruesome foot injury while running from Man, so I expected “Alone” to become a battle of wills between the two out in the big, bad wilderness. Eventually, it does, which makes Robert not only completely extraneous, but also living proof that a good guy with a gun doesn’t stop anything.

The dialogue Man is given to speak is atrocious. When the film catches him monologuing while trying to flush Jessica out of the darkness, his attempts at psychological torture sound amateurish and paltry. It’s to Wilcox’s credit that she so ably plays mental distress that she almost saves the scene. But when Man says, in the dullest voice possible, that “I’m gonna get you, you delicious f--king b---h!” my suspension of belief dissolved completely. And that’s before we get to the deus ex machina helicopter and the climactic phone call which, believe it or not, isn’t to the police.

“Alone” gives us little reason to care if our hero makes it out alive, but I have to give credit where it’s due: Jessica isn’t written as some damsel in distress. Though she does make a questionable choice or two, she’s more crafty and engaged than a standard victim. There’s a scene where she temporarily gets the upper hand with a tire iron, and when she crawls away, she has the good sense to take that tire iron with her. I laughed, because I didn’t think she would do that. It showed a true survival instinct. There’s also a scene where a potential savior, when faced with believing Jessica or Man, sides with the killer simply because Man convinces him Jessica is hysterical. I might be completely wrong in my reading of the scene as a statement on the patriarchy, but I appreciated the sting of the moment nonetheless. It gave me something to think about as the movie limped to its conclusion.

Odie Henderson

Odie "Odienator" Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

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Film credits.

Alone (2020)

Jules Willcox as Jessica

Anthony Heald as Robert

Jonathan Rosenthal as Eric

Marc Menchaca as Man

• Mattias Olsson

Cinematographer

• Federico Verardi
• Nima Fakhrara

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‘Alone’ Review: Catch Her if You Can

An emotionally fragile young woman takes a terrifying road trip in John Hyams’s bare-bones thriller.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

The first rule of Flight Club is to run very, very quietly; the second rule of Flight Club is — well, you get the idea. Jessica (Jules Willcox), the fleeing heroine of John Hyams’s “Alone,” manages to break that rule more than once; yet this minimalist survival thriller unfolds with such elegant simplicity and single-minded momentum that its irritations are easily excused.

Mercifully unassisted by the usual booming, screeching soundtrack, the story’s inherent menace builds naturally as Jessica packs a U-Haul trailer for the long drive to her father’s home in rural Oregon. A traumatic loss has set her on this near-deserted, forested highway, her pensiveness shifting to alarm when — shades of Steven Spielberg’s “Duel” (1971) — the driver of a mysterious black S.U.V. orchestrates a series of increasingly petrifying encounters.

Divided into five chapters whose titles could serve both literally and figuratively, “Alone” (a remake of a 2011 Swedish thriller) counters its unoriginal plotting with reminders that Jessica’s agony stems from more than her immediate ordeal. From dank basement to rain-drenched forest to roaring river, each punishing confrontation reveals a desire to survive that we sense she is only now affirming.

Scrutinizing Willcox’s changing expressions, Hyams (who directed last year’s fabulously zippy zombie series, “Black Summer” ) gives her space to move and time to communicate her panic. He also gives her unnamed stalker (an effectively chilling Marc Menchaca) a creepy little whistle. And if the movies have taught us anything, it’s to never underestimate a villain who whistles .

Alone Rated R for a knife, a needle, a tire iron and a gun. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on iTunes, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators . Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.

‘Alone’ Review: Misery Is Company in Tense Thriller About a Woman’s Flight From a Serial Killer

A lone female traveler attracts a serial killer's attention in John Hyams' discomfitingly tense remake of a Swedish thriller.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

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Unpleasantly effective “ Alone ” centers on a heroine who wishes she were just that; instead, she’s got insistent, unwanted company in the form of a probable serial killer. John Hyams ’ U.S. remake of a not-particularly-well-regarded 2011 Swedish thriller is an apparent improvement in all departments, with the original’s reported plausibility issues and other flaws subsumed in what emerges a tense, muscular suspense exercise.

After playing the Fantasia Festival’s virtual edition, it gets released by Magnet to theaters and on demand Sept. 18. With its compellingly simple narrative of automotive pursuit and wilderness survival, this is a scary movie especially suited to the surprise resurgence of drive-ins.

Jessica (Jules Willcox) is introduced loading a small U-Haul trailer with her possessions before driving out of Portland, seemingly for good. It takes a while before we learn that she’s leaving in the wake of a grave personal tragedy that’s referenced but not really explained. Regardless, it is in a spirit of distraction and defeat that she is moving onward, getting an occasional call en route from parents who are evidently not happy with her decision. As her station wagon climbs increasingly remote, winding mountain roads, she finds herself stuck behind a black SUV driving with exasperating slowness. It blocks her from passing, then when she manages it, nearly forces a collision with an oncoming semi before vindictively tailgating her. Shaken, she pulls over, which seems to be the end of it.

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But then it isn’t. The next day in a motel parking lot, the driver (Marc Menchaca) jarringly knocks on her car window, offering an effortfully sincere if questionably convincing apology for his prior behavior. With his thick blond mustache and wire-rims, he looks like Ned Flanders — or maybe, given a faint malicious gleam in the eye, like Kiefer Sutherland’s smarmy killer in “Freeway.” Jessica finds out all too soon which comparison is more apt. Increasingly panicked by each new “chance” encounter with the same pushy stranger, at about the half-hour mark she suffers an accident that proves no accident, waking later to find herself in dire, captive straits.

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At this juncture “Alone” looks to be abandoning its “Duel”-like buildup for the familiar, unwelcome torture-porny terrain of many a prior horror film dwelling on trapped female victimization. But fortunately, it soon allows the resourceful heroine out of her cage. The story’s majority becomes an equally nerve-wracking but less sadistically lopsided battle as barefoot, wounded Jessica tries to outwit her pursuer over Pacific Northwest backcountry of forest, rain, river and rapids. At one point she’s aided by a chanced-upon hunter (Anthony Heald). But as genre convention (and title) decree, she’ll ultimately have to face off against her nemesis solo.

Though the nameless villain shows every sign of being a serial rapist, among other things, “Alone” is refreshingly free of the exploitative edge common to its general narrative type. Provided almost no character backstory in the script by Mattias Olsson (who also wrote and co-directed its prior incarnation “Torsvunnen” aka “Gone”), Willcox still manages to make a protagonist mostly limited to expressions of fear and physical pain seem a credibly rounded personality. Menchaca’s chillingly underplayed villain is equally convincing in his smug, baiting malevolence, which disturbs all the more once we’ve overheard his banal sweet-talking over the phone to family members oblivious to his homicidal “hobby.”

This is a grim tale only somewhat leavened by the verdant natural beauty of settings well-captured (often in striking overhead shots) by DP Federico Verardi’s widescreen lensing. Those who can take the punishment, however, will be rewarded by a payoff with considerable satisfaction of the schadenfreude type.

Accomplished in all its tech and design departments, “Alone” is easily the best of several recent hunted-woman-in-the-wilderness films, including fellow indies “Ravage” and “Range Runners” as well as the flashier French “Revenge.” It doesn’t necessarily need the structural gimmickry of onscreen “chapter” titles (“The Road,” “The Rain,” etc.), but that’s a minor quibble.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, Aug. 21, 2020. (In Fantasia Film Festival.) MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 98 MIN.

• Production: A Magnet Releasing release of a Paperclip Ltd., Mill House Motion Pictures production in association with XYZ Films, IPR.VC, Koji Productions. Producers: Jordan Foley, Jonathan Rosenthal, Mike Macari, Henrik JP Akesson. Executive producers: Yeardley Smith, Ben Cornwell, Kevin Sullivan, Martin Persson. Co-producers: Nick Smith, Thom Zadra.
• Crew: Director: John Hyams. Screenplay: Mattias Olsson, based on the motion picture “Torsvunnen.” Camera: Federico Verardi. Editors: Scott Roon, Hyams. Music: Nima Fakhrara.
• With: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald.

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Common Sense Media Review

Woman is terrorized in viciously violent thriller.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Alone is a thriller about a lone female traveler named Jessica (Jules Willcox) who's kidnapped and terrorized by a male psychopath (Marc Menchaca). It's technically well made, but it's also unpleasant, with extremely strong violence. Most of the violence is directed at Jessica,…

Why Age 16+?

Extreme violence. A woman is terrorized by a man throughout. He breaks her car w

Several uses of "f--k," "s--t." Also "hell," "bitch."

U-Haul trailer (part of the story) seen frequently.

Cigarette smoking. Social drinking seen in old photos.

Any Positive Content?

No real messages here. It's just a case of needless violence met with more viole

It would be nice to say that Jessica is a strong female character, but she's mos

Violence & Scariness

Extreme violence. A woman is terrorized by a man throughout. He breaks her car window with a tire iron, attacks her, punches her hard, injects her with a knockout drug. He slams her against a door, drags her by her hair. Branch stabbed through bare foot; blood shown. One character shoots, wounds another. Repeated punching, mostly off-screen. Shooting and killing (off-screen). Characters fight with a knife and tire iron. Punching, beating, stabbing. Dead body dragged to grave, buried. Woman bloodied and bruised. Car crash. Mention of suicide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

No real messages here. It's just a case of needless violence met with more violence -- and vengeance.

Positive Role Models

It would be nice to say that Jessica is a strong female character, but she's mostly helpless for majority of movie. She does manage to escape by herself (even triumphs in the end, through some violence of her own), but otherwise, she's at the mercy of men around her.

Parents need to know that Alone is a thriller about a lone female traveler named Jessica (Jules Willcox) who's kidnapped and terrorized by a male psychopath (Marc Menchaca). It's technically well made, but it's also unpleasant, with extremely strong violence. Most of the violence is directed at Jessica, including guns/shooting, punching, stabbing, dragging by the hair, and slamming against a wall. A tree branch pierces her bare foot, with blood shown. Her attacker also pummels and shoots another man, drags his body, and buries him. He and Jessica fight using a tire iron and a knife, plus punching and stabbing. Language includes several uses of "f--k" and "s--t," as well as "bitch" and "hell." Jessica smokes on several occasions, and a photograph shows social drinking. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (5)
• Kids say (3)

Based on 5 parent reviews

Violent and suspenseful but good.

What's the story.

In ALONE, Jessica (Jules Willcox) is trying to make a fresh start after her husband's death. She packs a U-Haul and starts driving. On a lonely mountain road, she passes a slow-moving truck, which then speeds up and nearly causes an accident. Later, the driver (Marc Menchaca) spots her in a parking lot and tries to apologize, but Jessica is spooked by him. She comes upon the same man having car trouble and, panicked, speeds away. But she loses control of her car, and the man catches up to her and attacks her. She wakes up in a basement as his prisoner. Jessica manages to escape, but between her and safety are the Pacific Northwest woods. Worse, she's barefoot, and her attacker is in pursuit.

Is It Any Good?

Directed by John Hyams , this lean thriller works more or less in the ways it's supposed to, but it also has a strong sense of vicious cruelty, and it may leave a bad taste in your mouth. Hyams has a strong visual style and a good sense of rhythm, and he puts all of the story's bits and pieces together in just the right way to create white knuckles. But given that the entire story of Alone is about a relentless, psychopathic stalker who's trying to harm an innocent (and already victimized) woman, it just doesn't sit right. Similar but far more controversial exploitation classics like The Last House on the Left and I Spit on Your Grave at least gave their female characters a chance to fight back. In Alone , Jessica is a helpless victim for 95% of the movie.

What's more, viewers are asked to forgive some strange coincidences and silliness. First, it's totally random that Jessica should come upon the slow-driving psychopath in the first place. Does he drive slowly all the time in the hopes that solo women drivers will try to pass him? And how does he always know where she is? How did he manage to cause her eventual car crash in order to capture her? And why is his phone not passcode-protected? Given that Alone starts off by recalling Steven Spielberg's early horror movie Duel , perhaps it should have embraced its killer's supernatural qualities rather than pretend that this is all just happening by chance. It's a shame that lack of care brings down an otherwise well-made thriller.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Alone 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it shocking? Thrilling? Why? How much is directed toward women? How does that affect its impact?

Does Jessica have agency? When and in what ways does she take charge of her fate? How often is she helpless?

Why are viewers often fascinated by movies and stories about psychopaths? What's the appeal of that kind of character?

Is smoking glamorized in any way? Are there consequences for smoking? Why does that matter?

What happens to the one character who tries to help Jessica? Do you think the phrase "no good deed goes unpunished" is true?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : December 15, 2020
• Cast : Jules Willcox , Anthony Heald , Marc Menchaca
• Director : John Hyams
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Magnolia
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 98 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violent content and language
• Last updated : January 13, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

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Alone 2020 ending explained: what happens to jessica.

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Best Psychological Thriller Movies On Netflix

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The following contains discussions of suicide.

• Alone's protagonist Jess outwits and kills serial killer Sam after being relentlessly chased.
• Alone's ending implies Jess survived her ordeal, with a rescue helicopter being heard offscreen.
• Sam, a family man and hunter, underestimates Jess, leading to his downfall during their final confrontation.

Alone is an intense psychological horror thriller by director John Hyams, where a woman named Jessica is kidnapped and hunted by a relentless killer. 2020's Alone cast Jules Willcox as the recently widowed Jessica, who over the course of a long road trip, repeatedly encounters a strange man called Sam (Marc Menchaca). Sam seems to appear wherever she goes and is ultimately revealed to be a serial killer. Sam kidnaps Jessica and takes her to his isolated cabin, but thanks to some quick thinking, she's able to escape into the woods.

Sam proves almost impossible to shake because no matter how many times Jess tries to get away, he is always two steps ahead. This comes to a head in Alone's ending, where, after calling the police on Sam's phone, Jessica is forced to fight her tormentor one-on-one . Having been stalked by Sam for several days, Jessica decides she will either kill him or die trying. Despite being injured during the brawl, Jess grabs Sam's hunting knife and delivers a killing blow , before sitting back and watching him die.

The best psychological movies on Netflix offer everything from classics and Netflix originals to award winners and international releases.

Is Jess Saved In Alone's Final Scene?

The meaning of alone's final close-up.

After Sam dies, the wounded, exhausted Jessica lies on her back. Before the final battle with Sam, she saw a rescue helicopter flying over a clearing, which was searching for Jess following her call to the police. The Rotten Tomatoes-approved Alone keeps things slightly ambitious, but while the ending doesn't show the helicopter arriving, the sound of its rotors are heard offscreen as Jess looks toward the sky.

This means Jessica survived her ordeal in Alone, with the helicopter taking her to safety soon after.

Alone's Five Chapter Titles Explained

Alone is divided into five chapters, consisting of "The Road," "The River," "The Rain," "The Night" and finally "The Clearing."

The first chapter details Jessica's road trip and eventual capture, while "The River" involves her nail-biting escape from Sam's cabin and eventual plunge into a nearby river to escape. "The Rain" follows her attempt to escape from the woods, with help from an ill-fated hunter.

Some other movies that use chapters as a narrative device include Kill Bill , Moonlight , and 2022's The Menu .

"The Night" involves Jess being stalked through the woods by Sam, who shoots her in the arm as she tries to flee. Despite his best efforts to taunt her into a confrontation, she doesn't take the bait. Alone's final chapter "The Clearing" builds to the final confrontation between Jess and Sam , with she steals his phone and calls the police before they fight to the death. According to director John Hyams at Rogue Commentary , Alone almost used the five stages of grief as the chapter headings , until it was decided this felt too obvious.

Who Is Sam? Alone's Killer Backstory, Motives & Death Explained

Alone's terrifying killer is a family man.

Alone earned great reviews , with Marc Menchaca's menacing performance as Sam cited as a highlight. Unlike Halloween's Michael Myers or other slasher movie villains , Sam is very much human and treats hunting down his victims like a sport . A phone call midway through Alone reveals that in the real world, Sam is a loving husband and father . Jessica overhears this call, where he explains to his wife he's still on a business trip but doesn't know when he will get home.

Sam also briefly talks to his daughter, who is feeling sickly. Not much is revealed about how long he's been kidnapping women, though when Jessica begs him to let her go, he coldly responds with " Do you think you're the first one to say that? " This implies Sam has been killing women for years and lets Jessica know there is no point appealing to his mercy.

Marc Menchaca later reteamed with Alone director John Hyams on 2022's Sick .

Alone's ending makes it clear that Sam never expected Jessica to fight back as fiercely as she did. His constant underestimation of her proves to be his downfall too, since Jess proves endlessly resourceful. His taunts also push her to fight back, and during their final confrontation, she's fully aware she could die - but refuses to back down. Jessica's will to survive ultimately proves stronger than Sam's.

What Happened To Jessica's Husband

When Alone begins, Jessica is seen packing up her belongings and setting out on her road trip. She speaks with her father and mother on the phone during the first act and is also seen looking at pictures of her husband, Eric. Jessica is later forced to admit to Sam that Eric died by suicide six months earlie r and she is moving to escape the memories.

Sam also uses Jess' grief about Eric's death as a psychological weapon , particularly in a key scene where he tries to draw her out of hiding. Having learned to look past Sam's gaslighting and manipulations, Jess refuses to let him trick her into a fight she will lose.

Jessica's husband Eric is played by Alone co-producer Jonathan Rosenthal.

Why Jess' First Escape Attempt Fails

For the majority of Alone , the only characters are Jessica and Sam , outside of some voices heard on the phone. This changes towards the end of the second act, where after wandering the woods, Jess later encounters a friendly hunter named Robert (Anthony Heald) . She initially attacks Rob when she mistakes him for Sam - an attack which has the tragic consequence of smashing the hunter's phone. Regardless of how they meet, Rob soon takes Jess to his jeep to drive her to the hospital.

Of course, her stalker has thought about this and blocked their path with a tree stump. Sam reappears and pretends to be Jess' brother , and claims the recent loss of her husband has caused her to have a psychotic episode. Rob isn't sure who to believe, but when he sees how terrified Jessica is, he insists Sam hand over his phone so he can call the police. While Rob holds Sam at gunpoint, the latter soon overpowers the older man, seizing his rifle and using it to kill him , while Jess runs back into the forest.

The Meaning Of Jess' Call To Sam's Wife

Jess earns her revenge during alone's finale.

In Alone's final scenes, Jessica realizes she has no choice but to face Sam , since help won't arrive in time. Before he reaches her in the clearing, Jess takes his phone and calls Sam's wife. Jess informs Sam's spouse her husband is a secret serial killer and that, in all likelihood, he's going to murder Jess when the call ends.

Sam arrives in time to hear this and realizes that even if he kills Jess, his secret life has been exposed. Jessica made this call to ensure that even if she dies, Sam will still be brought to justice.

With this move, she robbed Alone's killer of his remaining power and made their final fight to the death an intensely personal one. Despite Sam's anger, his would-be victim still manages to gain the upper hand.

Alone is currently available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes , John Hyams' Rogue Commentary

Alone (2020)

This Terrifying Horror Movie on Netflix Will Put You off Solo Road Trips Forever

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The Big Picture

• The 2020 film Alone offers a gripping mix of psychological horror, survival, and real-world fears through its minimalist approach.
• With exceptional acting, the movie creates a tense predator vs. prey dynamic, crafting nerve-wracking scenes that keep viewers on edge.
• Alone culminates in a satisfying finale where the protagonist, Jessica, transcends both her adversaries: the male predator and nature itself.

Skyrocketing in popularity on Netflix , Alone is a psychological horror that keeps us clutching the edge of our seat throughout each deliberate and resounding beat of the film. Like the plot, each jarring and haunting scene is stringently pared back to the absolute essentials, offering us no escape from the horror on the screen. To achieve this, the film had to heavily rely on a stellar cast to relay the range of provoking emotions and nuanced storytelling, which Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca handled flawlessly. Effortlessly weaving together simplicity with more confronting thematic concerns of "the hunter vs. the prey" and "woman vs. nature," Alone delivers a strenuous viewing experience that culminates into a final cathartic release , for both us and the protagonist, Jessica (Willcox).

Alone (2020)

A recently widowed traveler is kidnapped by a cold blooded killer, only to escape into the wilderness where she is forced to battle against the elements as her pursuer closes in on her.

What Is 'Alone' About?

The premise of Alone can almost be read as arbitrary: a woman with a dark past embarks on a cross-country solo road trip, is kidnapped by a stranger, and escapes into the forest, which poses a new set of survival problems all while being stalked by the perpetrator. It's a simple hybrid between a kidnapping film and a survival film , but its execution elevates the basic plot to a complex retelling of a mundane fear.

Jessica is a widower who is eager to escape her husband's suicide by packaging her life into boxes and moving across the country all while avoiding phone calls from her concerned parents. During her solo trip, she meets Homem (Menchaca) in a series of frustrating yet innocuous interactions that turn into a full-blown kidnapping. Homem is eerily an Average Joe with a wife and daughter who indulges in the pastime of the abduction, assault, and homicide of lone women, but meets his match when Jessica escapes his basement in the cabin in the woods and ventures out into the elements.

This Psychological Horror Shows the Final Girl's Fate After the Credits

The Final Girl survives, but it's often at an unseen price

Never being able to shake off the feeling of being stalked, Jessica battles against the lurking dangers in the woods, from the roaring rapids to shadowy roots. With this constant barrage of stress, her already battered mental health further deteriorates, setting up a typical scene where the mentally distraught isn't believed. From the hunter, nature, and psychological torture , every beat of this film leaves us as suffocated as Jessica is , especially as it reflects the simplistic fears everyone has.

'Alone' Uses Realism To Play on Our Everyday Fears

Adopting a minimalist approach, Alone relies on its deliberate slow-burn storytelling to keep us at the edge of our seats. The film plays on universal fears associated with any kind of solo trip : "stranger danger" and being stranded to face the elements. These hefty warnings are particularly targeted towards women, and as such, are made real and relatable through the female protagonist. Lacking an overwhelming soundtrack or an extensive cast, the film could almost be mistaken as a true-crime retelling, a genre that has gained some buzz over the last few years.

Alone doubles down on its true-crime-esque realism with completely relatable and run-of-the-mill scenes of Jessica being honked at while daydreaming at a traffic light or being tailgated by an infuriating driver on the highway. These mundane moments extend Jessica's own wrangled nerves to ours, perfectly setting up a tense viewing in a simplistic way. Even when Homem asks for roadside assistance in the middle of nowhere, there is a gut-wrenching anxiety etched onto Jessica's face that every woman could imagine feeling. By playing into these universal experiences and fears , the film successfully draws us in, intensified by the lack of escape in the scaled-back approach.

'Alone' Sets Up a Predator vs. Prey Storyline

With the effect of the pared back scenes increasing the intensity of the film, there is no escape from the feeling of dread and of being watched. Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca’s acting is a huge reason for the film’s success — while the storyline is simple, their roles as the everyday person spiraling down into The Prey and The Hunter is a nerve-racking watch . This is particularly evident in the climax, where Menchaca's deranged antagonist yells deep into the void of the woods, taunting his prey with awful insinuations about her husband's death. Willcox masterfully plays into this binary with her visibly growing panic as she is cornered in the bushes.

In an interview with The Natural Aristocrat , Willcox calls this binary the "Woman vs. The Physicality of the Man," which once again offers another reflection on a universal fear specific to women. The film switches from the threat of an unknown man's potential violence, to an actual manifestation that is as horrifying as we imagine, and then back to the lingering threat. However, when this switches back, we can't be flippant about paranoia anymore — her biggest fear is confirmed and her womanhood is forcefully disintegrated into a prey marker . Her encounter with Robert ( Anthony Heald ) is particularly damning after this realization, as she is reduced to another "hysterical" woman when Robert doubts her story for a painful split second that costs his life and her escape route.

Jessica's vulnerability echoes that of Mike Flanagan's Hush , where the silence and minimal setting of both films are used to completely eliminate any potential bravado or hope. They both have manically defiant moments, like when Jessica leaps into the rapids to escape her pursuer, but overall there is a sense of being defenseless. However, unlike most predator and prey pairings in the animal kingdom, Jessica does have a chance to triumph over the implicated roles.

Nature Is an Unexpected Predator in 'Alone'

Jessica's torment in Alone is unfortunately two-pronged and follows the cliché of jumping out of the pan and into the fire. Immediately after evading Homem's clutches by leaping into the rapids, she quickly finds another unforgiving predator to contend with — Nature . Her fight against the water is as breathless and jarring as the one against her human abductor. This additional "Woman vs. Nature" (via Willcox's interview with The Natural Aristocrat ) survival plot further drives home the idea that nowhere is safe — tiring both her and us out with the constant need to maintain heightened awareness. The more invisible battles of dehydration and hunger are also subtly added into the film, via Jessica's eagerness to satiate herself in Robert's car instead of the usual insipid remarks or narration of proclaiming the need for water and food.

The Woman vs. Nature idea even seeps into the more nightmarish forest scenes, where Jessica happens upon Robert after injuring her foot on a root. Initially, the only major injury Jessica was supposed to have was the bullet in her shoulder. However, in the same interview with The Natural Aristocrat , Willcox reveals that she had actually injured her foot on a root on set, prompting the writers to rewrite the scene with her new limp . Like Jessica, Willcox powered through her pain to continue her journey through the woods to the end of the film, although, not in quite as much pain as Jessica was probably in.

Jessica Transcends the Hunter and Nature in 'Alone's Finale

If you haven't seen the film yet, now is the perfect opportunity to go watch it on Netflix and come back. If you have, you've seen the beautiful culmination of Jessica's fights against the Hunter and Nature come to a head in the grand finale — merging effortlessly together for Jessica to transcend these binaries. She manages to get her delicious revenge by calling Homem's wife and exposing his unsavory secret — if she is going to die, he is going down with her. Throughout the film, he not only exerts his physical superiority over her, but also mentally toys with her, using her grief as ammunition. But it is Jessica who wins the final checkmate in the mental games, and as such, maneuvers around the binary instead of trying to beat it.

Her truce with the battle against nature arrives as she clambers around in the mud in a brawl with Homem. It is almost as if she has embraced the earth, and they are teaming up to destroy the predator. This also leads into her character arc throughout the film, as she begins as a passive widower who lets her grief wash her away, to the fighter she is now, as her will to survive instills a new sense of agency in her. The harrowing journey through the woods while being tracked down, all while being alone, forces her to confront her grief and essentially snap out of it to stay alive . Ending with pure catharsis, Alone gives Jessica a solo road trip through the dark depths of her mind, allowing her to come out the other side triumphant and present.

Alone is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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Alone Review: An Entertainingly Tenebrous Take on the Survival Road Thriller

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Road thrillers are a fun subgenre with few misses, and while many favor electrifying action sequences and zany charm in their psychotic assailants, recently-released Alone relies on a remote, woodsy setting and an emotionless feel to pull audiences along a grimmer road to survival.

Given we're still sitting deep in the strictly streaming period of films that will continue unforeseeably, I'm grateful for anything new and remotely interesting hitting a platform I use. Alone recently popped up on Hulu, striking me as, at its possible worst, a conventional psycho chase thriller flick to pass time. It's darker, uncannier, and of course stylistically cooler than a glance at the plot summary would indicate.

Alone is a brutally intense stalker thriller with familiar anecdotes but an especially cold tone and approach that lends to a darkly gripping viewing. Director John Hyams, who has a long history in television direction, wedges in a mesh of thrills so aggressive it feels like a different film from act to act. What begins as a Duel -esque road hunt becomes a bleak victim trapped in a sadistic bastard's basement saga, only to shift back to a violent run from a psycho thriller. What remains constant is the overwhelming feel of emptiness, assisted by a secluded setting and creepily minimal score that's for the most part just sounds of nature and breath. There's no charm nor much emotion in any of Alone's characters. No sparks of life in any interaction. Very few comedic moments to lighten the load, unless strictly dry and direly dark is your avenue. To its credit, Alone is as pulse-pounding as a film so lifeless could be, and the sick rawness of it all enthralling.

Jessica (Jules Willcox) is a young, recently widowed writer who flees the city to heal and work on a novel. While driving throughout the Pacific Northwest she's tormented by a reckless driver. After a cat and mouse game, the man behind the wheel (Marc Menchaca,) am emotionless creep who fails miserably at turning on psychopathic fake charm, eventually captures Jessica and holds her in the basement of his remote cabin. After her escape, the chase is back on for Jessica. The psycho in pursuit is more clever than she could have imagined, and willing to take out anyone who interferes with his hunt.

Reading the Alone synopsis, you have to recognize commonplace tropes here. They're present through this excruciatingly tense journey, but these age-old, action-heightening twists all have a uniquely mean flare. It's hopeless occurrence after hopeless occurrence for poor Jessica, who we mainly only care about based on principle. She's a sad young woman processing an awful tragedy, just driving to clear her head, and now she's undergoing hell; fighting for her life at the hands of a heartless, evil creep who couldn't bother to throw in a joke or be entertaining every once in awhile.

However, Jessica isn't one to feel deeply for beyond the obviously tragic circumstances. Our resident psychotic stalker/nameless killer, played by the talented Marc Menchaca, isn't one to have affection for, either. Some writers and directors take the "make this guy an oddly likeable nut" path, or try to give a killer some comically redeeming qualities. Not the writing/directing team of Mattias Olsson and John Hyams. This psycho is a dead-in-the-eyes, infuriatingly malicious turd. The others we see along this forested battle for survival are mere pawns in the game, though hunter Robert (Anthony Heald) is a sweet and compelling character who brings the flick a brief moment of heart.

Early on we're thrown into a potentially deadly road game that spurs a nail-biting sequence. With thrills underway we're eager to meet this widow-torturing madman behind the wheel. Considering old films that previously tackled this maniac tormenting strangers on the road game, i.e. Duel , The Hitcher , or Breakdown , one's led to believe a viciously colorful character is ready to show himself.

Enter an uncharismatic, mayonnaise-toned creep with a mustache and pedo glasses.

Our guy in Alone is anything but colorful, but his repulsive disconnect from feeling, gross way of manipulating, and bland delivery of heartless thoughts soon becomes crucial to the film's freezing cold intensity.

When chase turns to held in captivity is when the tone begins making more sense and setting in effectively. No matter where you rate her on the compelling scale, you can't help but enthusiastically root for somebody's survival once they're locked in an insane man's basement. I'll admit, the film hits a disturbing lull amidst the cabin lockdown . Saw -like torture territory seems possible, which would have turned me completely off an initially rousing scenic chase . Instead, the mustached psycho stalker just chooses to be a weirdo who grabs Jessica and whispers a lot. While it's a little skin-crawling, thus in line with the overall unsettling factor, the momentum shift can take a viewer out if they weren't fully committed.

Fortunately, Alone sets out on the run again, and meandering shots of still, endless woods add hopeless chill to the thrill of the hunt. Jessica's a fighter, and resourceful. The mustached man is a fascinatingly evil son of a bitch who won't give up . The relentless need to kill, and relentless will to live make for a rigid ride with dark surprises and shockingly brutal moments. Hyam's crafts the long game of strategically navigating survival - exciting, but carefully paced to keep matters eerie as anxiety runs high.

The film's final third packs dramatically-increased levels of violence, and impressive fight from both characters, for whom matters have grown personal. Though Alone cranks the energy up to high voltage as a close nears, it stays true to grey form, steering clear of synths or dramatic sounds. A touch of light chimes is all it takes for the mood to stay tense.

Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca are great as Jessica and the madman. Jessica finds her way from terribly sad, to terribly afraid, to beaten down but hellbent on killing a man. Jules handles that range and makes Jules the smart survivor you want to see make it and seek vengeance. As a character, Jessica has already lost her zest for life by the beginning of the film, so it's hard to truly love her. And what can be said for Marc as the psycho? He does a stand up job as the void of all feeling, unpleasant maniac who holds women captive in a secluded cabin. Is he menacing and a little on the scary side? Sure. That's all we can ask for. Do I typically like wilder behavior or more wisecracks from my kidnapping madmen? Yes, but perhaps I'm just old school.

Alone , all in all, is an entertainingly tenebrous take on the standard chased by a maniac thriller. It follows the general blueprint, though it's shot through a greyer lens, with raw violence, new thrills, and less frill. This airs on the more distressing side of chase movies, and maybe isn't a film you'll be going back to for repeat enjoyment. Plainly, there just isn't much to feel for throughout watching, aside from rooting for expected revenge. As it is, Alone is an eerie thrill ride with neat visuals, a few shocks, and an interesting heartlessness to it.

• Movie and TV Reviews
• Alone (2020)

Alone (2020) Movie Ending Explained: What happened to the Man who abducted Jessica?

“Alone” is a 2020 horror thriller starring Jules Willcox and Marc Menchaca, directed by John Hyams and written by Mattias Olsen. The film centers around Jessica Swanson, a widow who embarks on a long drive to cope with the grief of losing her husband. However, her journey takes a terrifying turn when a psychotic serial killer in a black car pursues her. Jessica’s peaceful drive quickly becomes a series of harrowing encounters as she fights for survival against her relentless pursuer.

The narrative is standard fare, yet it builds anticipation and anxiety steadily throughout the film. Light yet powerful backdrop music, a lonely and fragile setting, and superb cinematography all render the film unique. Menchaca portrays a plausible psychopath who is courteous but aggressive.  There are a few logical problems with the film (that I won’t reveal to you). The story does have some challenges, but they aren’t major enough to make it a liability. The 98 minutes are well worth the price of cheesy chicken popcorn.

Alone (2020) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

Jessica Swanson, a recent widow whose husband killed himself, decides to take a long drive to escape her grief. She packs a U-Haul trolley and hits the road, seeking relief from her pain. Throughout various scenes, it is obvious that Jessica has a strained relationship with her mother but shares a loving bond with her father. As Jessica leaves her city, she notices a black car on the highway in the woods, driving unusually slowly. When she tries to pass the car, the driver’s reckless behavior nearly causes an accident. However, the car eventually drives away, allowing Jessica to catch her breath. Later, the same car follows her to a gas station, prompting her to leave immediately upon noticing it.

Jessica spends her night at a motel, reminiscing about lovely memories with her husband. The next morning, as she is leaving the hotel, a man approaches her car and apologizes, admitting he was the one driving the black car. When he starts asking more questions, Jessica quickly leaves. Later, she encounters the same man and his car in the middle of the road. Already suspicious and scared, she tries to drive past him, but he stops her, asking for help with his broken-down car.

Jessica offers to send help, but feeling uneasy about the man’s pushiness, she leaves promptly. When she stops at another gas station, she is startled to see the black car again. The man walks towards her, but she drives off. However, as she is leaving, a white man blocks her way. He manages to reach her window and yells at Jessica for almost running him over.

When Jessica drives away this time, the black car starts following her again, so she calls 911. While talking to them, the black car passes by her, so she tells the dispatcher it was a false alarm. But she spoke too soon. After driving a little further, her car gets involved in an accident. When she checks, she sees that her U-Haul trailer’s tire is busted. Acting quickly, she detaches her car from the trailer when she sees car lights in the distance. Just as she is about to drive away, the man from the black car reaches Jessica and sedates her.

What happened after Jessica escaped?

Jessica opens her eyes in a strange room with a barred window. When she screams for help, the man outside the window silences her. He then enters the room, which appears to be in his basement, and threatens Jessica. He tells her to undress, and when she resists, he emotionally tortures her. Jessica tries to stall him to reach for the door, but he knocks her out.

When she wakes up again, she checks the keyhole and sees the key is still there. So she slides her jacket under the door, pushes the key out, grabs it, and escapes. When Jessica reaches upstairs, she sees the man returning home, so she hides in a closet. She watches him sit down and talk to his family on a call. As soon as he leaves the room, Jessica escapes from his house and runs into the woods. The man follows her when he realizes she has escaped.

Out in the woods, Jessica injures herself, but her adrenaline rush keeps her running. When she hears something in the bushes, she picks up a big log and hits a man hiding there. He turns out to be an old man named Robert, out hunting. She asks him for help, and he agrees to help her. Robert decides to drive her to town and gives her food and water. However, Jessica’s relief is short-lived when she sees a big tree blocking the road.

Alone (2020) Movie Ending Explained:

What happened to the man who abducted jessica.

Jessica panics and tries to remove the tree, but the man arrives. He tells Robert that Jessica is his mentally ill sister. Robert is convinced and puts his hunting rifle down. However, when he sees the man restraining Jessica roughly, Robert fights him, giving Jessica an opportunity to run away. The man kills Robert and takes his rifle. While hiding, Jessica sees the man come close and start berating her when he can’t find her. She keeps her calm, and the man eventually walks away.

Jessica falls asleep under a tree. She has a stab wound from a twig in her foot, and while running, the man shoots her in the leg. Jessica survives the night, and when she wakes up, she starts walking again. She finds the man hiding Robert’s body, so she sneaks into his car and retrieves his phone. However, when she is about to escape, the man comes back, forcing her to hide in the trunk.

Soon, the man realizes his cell phone is missing. Jessica, unable to make a sound, dials 911 using his phone. She then arms herself with a crowbar she picked from the man’s trunk and attacks him while he is driving. In response, he pulls out a hunting knife, leading to a car crash. Jessica manages to escape and hides in a field, where she spots a helicopter searching for her. Jessica calls the man’s wife and reveals that her husband is a serial killer. Enraged, the man attacks Jessica again, but this time, she is able to overpower him. Finally, the helicopter locates her, and the movie concludes with the chopper descending to rescue her.

Alone (2020) Movie Theme Analysis:

“Alone” dives into the idea of being isolated and feeling lonely. Jessica leaves her city by herself, gets kidnapped, escapes, and then gets lost in the woods. As she battles the dangers of the wilderness and a crazed serial killer, Jessica’s survival skills shine through, showing a level of strength that’s pretty rare. Throughout the movie, Jessica constantly deals with fear and paranoia. “Alone” does a great job of showing how fear can mess with your mind and push you to do whatever it takes to stay alive. Despite facing some really tough situations, Jessica’s journey in the film is all about resilience and the will to keep going.

Read More: 20 Indian Murder Mystery Movies That Keep The Viewers Hooked

Alone (2020) Movie Links: IMDb , Rotten Tomatoe s, Wikipedia , Letterboxd The Cast of Alone (2020) Movie: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald Alone (2020) Movie Genre: Mystery & thriller, Runtime: 1h 38m

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Alone Parent Guide

Stupid writing is bigger menace than zombies....

Digital on Demand: Life for Aiden changes dramatically when a plague breaks out, turning all those infected into mindless, screaming zombies. But just before he goes completely insane locked up in his apartment, he spots a neighbor - an uninfected neighbor. But that doesn't mean his problems are solved...

Release date October 16, 2020

Why is Alone rated R? The MPAA rated Alone R for violence, bloody images, some language and partial nudity.

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by keith hawkes.

The world comes to a grinding and bloody halt when a global pandemic erupts, turning all the infected into ravenous, psychotic killing machines, hell-bent on eating their living neighbors – and it’s not even an election year. For Aidan (Tyler Posey), this means months barricaded alone in his apartment, with the other tenants in his building trying to beat the door down. Running low on food, water, and the will to live, Aidan is ready to give up when he sees Eva (Summer Spiro) in the building opposite. Realizing that they might not be as alone as they thought, Aidan and Eva start to work together to find solutions to their problems – but not all problems can be solved that easily.

Alone has a weirdly consistent problem with remembering what it’s doing. At least three of the major plot developments make almost no sense when you remember anything else that’s happened in the story. Without spoiling too much, at one point Aidan breaks into a neighbor’s apartment to scrounge for food and supplies. Thankfully, said neighbor is a rock climbing enthusiast, and Aidan finds a climbing ax and a length of high-quality rope. Despite these useful discoveries, the next time Aidan needs rope, he ties bedsheets together. What’s even dumber is that the reason he needs rope is because he’s decided he can’t throw an item the same distance he’s thrown others before without a problem. It’s like the movie was written by three different people who had only a vague understanding of what the other writers did.

Alone is a humbling reminder that even Donald Sutherland has to pay rent – I can’t think of another reason why he’d be here. Worse, he’s only in the film for the last 15 minutes or so, which is especially tragic because he’s the best part. This isn’t the worst movie I’ve seen this month, but that’s in no small part because I saw Hubie Halloween last week, and Adam Sandler is always doing his best to irritate. Instead, Alone joins the shambling ranks of bland, unremarkable zombie flicks looking for a ripe, living market…

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Keith hawkes, watch the trailer for alone.

Alone Rating & Content Info

Why is Alone rated R? Alone is rated R by the MPAA for violence, bloody images, some language and partial nudity.

Violence: A character is shown attempting suicide. A number of individuals are killed and partially eaten. An individual is killed by a blow to the head. A man is knocked unconscious with a baseball bat. A number of people are shot in self-defense. Sexual Content: There is a scene containing very brief posterior nudity and a scene of implied female toplessness. Profanity: There are three uses of extreme profanity and twelve uses of scatological cursing. There are occasional terms of deity and mild profanities. Alcohol / Drug Use: The protagonist is shown drinking alcohol, occasionally to excess. He is briefly shown smoking what is either a hand-rolled cigarette or marijuana.

Page last updated January 1, 2021

Alone Parents' Guide

Aidan initially struggles to come to terms with his new reality. How have people reacted to similar restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic? Do you think they would be more willing to obey restrictions if the consequences were more serious, as in the film? What are the effects of these restrictions?

Zombie movies aren’t usually just about zombies – what do zombies typically symbolize? How does that compare to their symbolism in this film?

Loved this movie? Try these books…

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson served as a loose inspiration for the Will Smith film of the same name. For a metafictional breakdown of the undead menace, The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks offers survival strategies, anecdotes, and supply lists.

The most recent home video release of Alone movie is November 16, 2020. Here are some details…

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There is a surplus of zombie movies available in varying degrees of quality. One of the better options, and one which also focuses on the debilitating nature of loneliness, is I Am Legend . Other zombie films include 28 Days Later, World War Z , and The Crazies . Only and Light of my Life show a world stricken by a virus along gender lines, leaving women even more vulnerable than before. In Children of Men , the plague simply makes the human species infertile. A more humorous take on the undead can be found in The Dead Don’t Die or Zombieland: Double Tap .

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This Halloween...The Shape picked the wrong house. This Halloween...The Shape picked the wrong house. This Halloween...The Shape picked the wrong house.

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