Found footage has been done to death, but how about the first-person thriller? That's right, a movie that places you front and centre as the eyes and ears of the main character.
Hardcore Henry is just days away from being unleashed on audiences, but a little horror flick called You Are Not Alone has been bouncing around the festival circuit for some time now, delivering first-person thrills and chills to horror fans from around the world.
You Are Not Alone is a flick we in The Basement have been trying to get our hands on for a while, so when a copy landed in our email inbox, I was ecstatic. Does the end result live up the hype? Stick with me!
To be honest, the only thing that distinguishes You Are Not Alone from countless other slashers is the first-person angle. Otherwise, this movie plays out like any other horror flick, with kids getting hammered at a party while a mad killer terrorizes those around them. Then said mad killer sets his sights on the main character and it's bad scooby's from there.
Fortunately, the first-person format delivers the goods. The first half of the movie is pure set up, as we're introduced to Natalie, our protagonist, and her friends and family. We're also dropped serious hints to the killer through news broadcasts and media reports.
Things kick into high gear at about the 45-minute mark, as Natalie - AKA us -- wanders home from a party, but finds herself not alone at all. It's here that director Derek Mungor and his first-person format pull out all the stops, and more or less succeed.
Your Are Not Alone would have made a great short film, but there's not enough here to sustain a feature. There's a lot of stuff that feels like filler but, fortunately, the goods do deliver. The last half of the movie has some genuinely scary moments, with Mungor showing he has a command of the format he chose to shoot his film in.
Yes, there are times when Mungor apes vintage John Carpenter, right down to the score. And the man certainly cut his teeth on 80s slasher movies. But by making the audience the heroine, Mungor and You Are Not Alone are able to breathe some life into a genre that's been there and done that.
This isn't a complete success, but enough of You Are Not Alone works to recommend it to horror fans to sure.
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