From
the first moment she arrives back in Thailand Pim experiences
extremely vivid flashbacks of painful memories that she has
tried so hard to forget. The flashes conjure up a sense of
innate warmth that is similar to the feeling of “someone”
close to her… this is just the beginning of a horrifying
realization that Pim will never be allowed to ever forget…
what does not want to be forgotten!
Movie Review:
Asian horror is dying a slow death if not for these two guys
to pick it from its deathly doom into cliched scare tactics
and cheesy storyline that's laughable at meer thoughts. And
who are these two guys so highly apointed? They are none other
than the directing duo behind Shutter – currently in
the midst of a US remake, Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom
Wongpoom, who comes a second helping of supernatural thrills,
Alone. Alone is about the surviving sister, a formerly conjoined
twin who goes from Seoul to Thailand to see her dying mother.
This sets in motion a sequence of creepy, unexplained events
that leads her to believe that she indeed may have a ghostly
stalker following her everywhere, someone she knows intimately.
With
plenty of expertly-crafted scary sequences and a slow-burning
storyline that gradually draws the audience into its web of
intrigue before knocking them sideways with a wholly unexpected
plot twist towards the end of the movie, Alone has the potential
to become a second smash hit at the box-office for Pisanthanakun
and Wongpoom. Certainly, with its intriguing storyline and
a wholly impressive lead performance from Wathanapanitch,
the film is accessible and has crossover appeal.
Helming previously in Shutter, the directors know a good story
when they see it and they are masters at manipulating tension,
even if you know what’s coming but still make you jump
when they deliver. Thanks to their previous success, they
now have a decent budget, resulting a fantastic film. Beautifully
shot grand mansion that slowly seeds Aloneperfectly bolster
the whole story. Playing the first half as a series of straight
up, very effective jump scares before it moves into the real
meat of the story on the back stretch. Once again the directors
succeed in taking some of the basic tropes of the Asian ghost
story, already well familiar to audiences, and then subverting
them into something slightly different, something new and
fresh thats built upon universally recognizable emotional
ground such as sibling rivalry, family guilt and romantic
jealousy.
Aside
from the generally serious tone, what makes Alone different
from the standard Thai horror film is the presence of star
Marsha Wattanapanich with her killer performance. This is
the pop singer's first film role in fifteen years. At 36,
Marsha is significantly older than the actresses one usually
sees in Thai horror films, but her maturity suggests a greater
depth to the film.
Alone
is a terrifying tale of horror. Just like Shutter, once Alone
has you in its claws, it doesn't let go. It will keep you
on the edge of your seat until the end credits start to roll.
Even with an all too fashionable twist placement in every
horror film, this one actually has a proper ending which not
only entertains, but satisfies on many levels.
