The only thing that makes Not Alone watchable to a certain extent is Marcin Szalkowski’s cinematography. Szalkowski has worked earlier as an electrician on movies like Transformers: Dark of the Moon and has a list of shorts to his credits. His work with the camera isn’t perfect, but most sequences look like they are being executed by someone good at the job. The director of photography manages to use the proper camera angles at the right time, giving viewers a few scenes of interest before the climax blows it up.
“…manages to use the proper camera angles at the right time…”
The main reason the horror title is a mess is due to its inconsistency on a singular path. The idea of combining elements of horror as a disguise for something else doesn’t allow the filmmakers to form an unbroken, uniform, and relatable atmosphere. The viewers remain confused as to whether to take the proceedings as a horror outing or a psychological thriller because the film always makes you feel that it’s neither. Moreover, that inconsistency is visible in the actors’ performances. They are all unable to maintain a sense of their characters, making the proceedings feel dull and distasteful. And with that, the entire narrative stumbles, giving the whole thing a predictable, unexcited, and tedious finale.
Cezil and Lydelle will probably accept Not Alone as a defeat. It feels like the directors did expect the end result to be different, but their production decisions didn’t turn out a viable or watchable movie. And hence, this will be relegated to the forgotten lot in time. For a film that has a low budget and small cast and crew, you might be able to recognize that some effort was put into it, which unfortunately didn’t work out. You might be willing to watch this based on that emerging talent, but I don’t expect you’d connect or take a liking to anyone or anything in it.
"…an amalgamation of story elements..."
