Here’s a little screen gem, that has made it’s way though the major festival circuit, with a slight bit of star power and a few new faces, as well as a new, yet somewhat experienced crew of filmmakers. “Alone With Her” stars Colin Hanks (Tom Hanks son) in an impressive role of a serial stalker. The film is directed by Eric Nicholas whom impressive imagery and wide array of point of view shots put you into the mind of an everyday serial stalker. Where you see just how one would think and act in their own private sick and twisted world.
So now that I just kind of let you know what the film is about above, I give you the gist on the rest of the plot.
Alone With Her, is about a guy named Doug Jarvis. Doug is your everyday loner who’s grown deep into his late twenties and has yet to really score with a chick. In a nutshell the guy looks like your everyday nerd. He has a hobby of buying spy equipment, and spying on young and unsuspecting young women. He’s that freaky guy on the beach that just stares at you, meanwhile he has a camera in his bag and he’s trying to film up a girls skirt, or down their shirt. Doug chooses his victims wisely, and then once he has one worth his time, he goes in for the kill. He finds out everything about them, where they live, work, what’s their favorite place to hang out, and the type of music they listen too. His target is a girl named Amy, played by Ana Claudia Talancón. He breaks into her apartment almost daily while she’s at work. He installs cameras in her house so he can watch her everyday move, and even becomes friendly with her pet dog. He then begins to adapt to her daily routine, and eventually begins talking to her at a local coffee house, where he finally asks her out. From the two begin to become friends, however things begin to get a little crazy when Amy’s friends get in the way of Doug’s plan.
This film was original in many ways. Of course we’ve all seen movies that almost in a sense are reality based, with plenty of point of view shots, films like The Blair Witch Project and EdTV come to mind. However this film show a different side of what we normally would be perceived as a reality based film. Because it’s not really what I would consider to be reality, but more like a virtual reality film, where for the first half hour or so we are in the mind of Doug Jarvis the serial stalker, as the audience we become him, and live and see this film though his eyes, and even think his thoughts. Writer/Director Eric Nicholas knew his script well and was able to bring the character of Doug Jarvis alive within our own minds, where instead of being that person who on the outside looking in, as an audience we are the character. And Nicholas brings us into the film that way, and slowly as the film moves along pulls us out of the sick and twisted mind of this serial stalker ands lets us witness his rage and insanity full hand. I’m sure this film is very likely to no only make a lot of women feel uncomfortable watching it, but I’m sure the next time their out and about, they’ll be more aware of their surroundings.
As far as acting goes, I think Colin Hanks gave a performance that was good enough to rival his own fathers acting skills. I guess great acting runs in the family. Because I had no clue that the character of Doug Jarvis was played by Colin Hanks until I actually saw his face up close in the film. Not only did he act well in it, but it seems as if her prepared himself for the part as well, even putting on a few pounds to give him that dork fat. The rest of the acting in the film was alright, but nothing to really rave about. I felt some of the characters outside the lead roles were a bit overacted, and even at times a bit unbearable. That was probably my only pet peeve with the film.
Overall, “Alone With Her” is a very disturbing film. One that does not have any blood and guts at all, like we as horror fans think we need to be scared. As Boris Karloff once said; “Less is more” and we get that with this. The less we see and the darker the film gets, and as the situations in this film intensify we’re presented with an issue that is a real world horror situation. One that we know exists, but refuse to believe it is happening to us. My hat is off to Eric Nicholas for writing a film about an issue that most women believe will never happen to them, however I’m sure after seeing this flick you might they might think twice about this issue, and may become more aware of their surroundings. Here’s a film that every parent should make their young teenage daughters watch as well, not only for the shock value, but for the education on such a topic.
– Horror Bob
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- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
