The end of the world has always been a ripe premise for fiction, whether that's ancient fairy tales like Ragnarök or the Rapture, or modern stories like The Last of Us or the George A. Romero zombie films, people have always wanted to imagine a scenario of what could come after civilisation as we know it falls. Die Alone is the latest entry in this genre, and whilst you can look at all of it's individual parts and see similar ideas in other places, as a whole it's one of the more interesting and engaging post-apocalypse pieces I've seen in many years.
The film begins with our lead character, Ethan (Douglas Smith) standing on a hilltop, watching the sunset, before putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. From here we're thrown backwards in time to see what led him to this point, entering the story as Ethan wakes up in a crashed car, him memory addled, and his girlfriend Emma (Kimberly-Sue Murray) missing. Ethan can remember Emma, can remember that a strange virus was been sweeping across the world, but has little memory of what led him to this moment, presumably thanks to the car crash he's been through.
Searching for Emma, Ethan comes across the hardened survivor Mae (Carrie-Anne Moss), a woman more than capable of defending herself and others in the new world that Ethan finds himself in. Able to take down hostile people, and with her own isolated home that has its own food garden, fresh water, and the ability to generate electricity, she takes Ethan in and agrees to help him try to find Emma. Unfortunately, it's not just hostile humans that Ethan and Mae have to contend with, as the virus has turned the infected into plant-like zombies.
I'm sure you've just read the words plant-like zombies and your mind has likely gone to make comparisons to The Last of Us, which had a similar concept of people being infected with a variation of the cordyceps fungus; Die Alone isn't just copying that, however, as it's zombies look and feel a lot different. The effects work on the infected in this film has to be one of the first things I talk about as I need to heap praise on it. Whilst we don't see huge numbers of these creatures, those we do see have some of the more interesting and creative designs I've seen on the cinema screen. Some of the infected are covered in moss, some have grass and leaves growing out of them, others seem to almost be transforming into trees, with literal branches coming out of them. It's such a fun and unique feeling design that I always wanted to see more of them, and my main criticism of the movie is that it didn't include more of these monsters; though I'm not going to tell the creators how they should have made their movie.
Die Alone isn't all about zombies, and most of the film doesn't even feature them to be honest. The heart of Die Alone is Ethan's story and his quest to find the woman that he loves. Douglas Smith does a good job at portraying the desperation that Ethan feels in this situation, of wanting desperately to be with Emma in a world that's gone to hell. You get the sense that he's suffering more from not being with her than from his memory loss or broken arm, and it humanises him nicely. Anyone who has a partner they love will be able to connect with Ethan, and can understand how it would drive you crazy to be separated from them, especially in a situation like this.
Carrie-Anne Moss's Mae is a perfect counterpoint to Ethan, and absolutely shines as the joint lead. Initially somewhat intimidating, Mae is clearly well equipped to survive in a world where you've always got to be on guard, and there are moments where she's quite frightening. However, it's also clear that there's a lot of vulnerability to her that shines through in some of the more intimate moments of the film. The two of them fit together nicely as Ethan seems like the sort of person who needs someone to take care of him, and Mae seems so starved of companionship that despite her stony exterior appears to quickly fall into that protector role for the benefit of companionship and company that she's been without.
The film poster also features Frank Grillo quite prominently, and his name is up there with Carrie-Anne Moss and Douglas Smith, but if you come to Die Alone expecting to see a lot of him you might be a bit disappointed, as Grillo is in relatively little of the film. By the time he appeared on screen I'd honestly forgot he was supposed to be in the movie. That being said, whilst his screentime is short he has a big presence and makes the most of his time, and gets to be in some of the more memorable moments of the story.
There's more I'd like to say about Die Alone, but if I did it would likely spoil the viewing experience in some small and significant ways, so all I will say is that the film's story does some stuff that I really loved, and by the time it comes to a close I honestly wanted to go back and watch the whole thing again to see how I'd feel seeing it a second time. And with the film sitting at a very well paced 90 minutes it's not something I'd be against doing as it's not a long film, but does use it's time really well.
Die Alone might not get much attention thanks to big budget post-apocalypse film and TV, but it's a film that definitely deserves your attention. Whether it's the brilliant performance of Carrie-Anne Moss (who definitely needs to be cast in roles like this again), the intriguing story, or the fantastic effects work on the infected, Die Alone has a ton of positives going for it. Fans of the horror and post-apocalypse genres should definitely give it a watch.
Die Alone will be available on home entertainment from 10th March 2025.
No comments:
Post a Comment