User Reviews

The Interview / interrogation room with a genuine teletype was less than impressive as a 21st century CDC lab and the old Tube TV displaying CDC was equally unimpressive tech. The major plot line moved alone quickly and was entertaining but wouldn't want to watch it again. PS the Lat and Long he gave N 38.445625 W-107.64117 is along highway 50 outside of Montrose CO. Which explains the topography with irrigation ditches, sagebrush of the movie but not the "being in the mountains".

A very slow film that lacks story and character development. The writing and acting is also very lacking. It feels like the whole film was done in one take. Sure, it's a low budget film, but damn, does it lack entertaining consistency. There's always a set of conveniently placed cameras, which in my opinion takes away from the found footage genre. Definitely would not recommend.

Zombies are all the rage right now. While they have been a part of the horror genre for quite a number of years, they have become almost chic with the level of visibility they have on television and in movie houses. This of course brings up a problem. What do you do if you're an independent filmmaker/writer and you wish to make a zombie movie? How do you craft a story and film so that it stands apart from all the other zombie TV and movie properties out there? The answer is actually quite simple: you make I Am Alone.

Michael A. Weiss (writer) has worked on numerous projects and in many different positions, from Grip (Movies 101), to Assistant Camera (Pimp My Ride), Editor (Unconventional) and even Producer (People Of Earth). Here he gets his chance to try his hand at writing a zombie story like no other, and working with veteran co-writer/director Robert A. Palmer (People Of Earth, Elysian, The Potchki Chronicles) they have made something which almost flies in the face of conventional horror movie making.

The movie stars Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood) as Jacob Fits (host for reality TV show "I Am Alone"), and Gunner Wright (My Haunted House) as Mason Riley, and his role is to monitor Fits' progress as he continues to film and document his trials while being all alone in whatever environment the reality show calls for him at the time. This is the setting for this movie's "zombie apocalypse" as some unknown virus is causing the townsfolk of Montrose, Colorado to slowly degenerate into this movie's zombie threat. While that may seem somewhat ordinary as far as zombie movies go, it is in the story narrative that the film establishes itself.

Much of the story (both Fits' and Riley's) is told through the form of flashbacks (by way of found film footage that both Fits and Riley were taking simultaneously). Riley's footage is basically about a man on the run as he tries to evade his zombie pursuers. Where his scenes stand out are those in the CDC bunker. Virtually everything there is "told" from the POV of the security cameras that monitor and document everything that is happening. Gunner Wright really shines in those scenes as a man who is frustrated at his sudden captivity, as well as his sense of helplessness in trying to understand why all of this has happened, as well as what has happened to his best friend (Fits). It's safe to say that practically no one has gone through what Riley is facing while in the CDC bunker. Actors usually try to draw upon some type of reality in their lives in order to fuel the performance needed for the role they are playing, and Wright does a magnificent job at giving us a character that is beyond both frustrated and terrified. Also the use of "security cameras" as our means to watch what is happening in the room is very unsettling. It creates a sense that there is a dispassionate observer on the other end. Then again I have always found such film techniques to be very disturbing.

Then there is Gareth David-Lloyd. All of his scenes are "found footage," and as the movie progresses we see how Fits, after having is close encounter with a zombie, is gradually losing himself. It starts with issues of fatigue, and then his mind starts to go. It is here that this film is now compelling. David-Lloyd, more than convincingly, gives us a character who is degrading right before our very eyes. The use of the footage that documents this gives us the feeling that we are there with him. We are now more than just witnesses to this terrible plight he's facing. Now we are with him on this terrible journey he's on. We believe that he's slowly losing himself to this affliction. His performance pulls us in and we forget that we are watching a horror film, but instead start to believe that we are also watching some found footage of a man succumbing to a terrible disease, with an even more terrible ending. Where he found the internal motivation to deliver such an acting performance escapes me. It was to this movie watcher, nothing less than brilliant. Of course I must also give compliments to the writing, the directing, and the editing of those scenes. The writing gave David-Lloyd the wonderful material to draw upon, the directing helped him to focus his acting energy with just the right level of intensity, and the editing gave those scenes the ideal pace that could have ruined an otherwise Oscar worthy acting performance.

The movie has a very open ending which may seem distressing to some, especially if they are watching it for the first time. However as I re-watched it and thought about it I realized that Weiss and Palmer were trying to create something that would defy convention. The typical horror/action movie would introduce your players, then subject them to the story threat, followed by the resolution as the survivors manage to escape their doom. However I Am Alone isn't that type of film. Through the use of found footage this film becomes a psychological study of what happens when a person becomes a victim of the zombie apocalypse. This isn't about a movie threat that needs to be overcome before the ending credits. No, this is a movie about the human condition, and what happens when it is slowly eroding away as it does with Fits, and with a movie that explores this topic under such a zombie threat, there can be no real ending. There can only be despair, and that is why the movie succeeds at being a true horror film.

This movie followed Man Vs. for the first 15 minutes or so. I was shocked at the similarities, not just the storyline, even the dialogue and characters seemed similar. I found this movie to be entertaining, it was sad, morbid and fairly hopeless throughout following one of the main characters. I did find his attack a little random, he was in the middle of the woods where he probably wouldn't see other people or zombies (the entire premise of their I Am Alone show). Some of the dialogue was a little hard to understand with accents and noise. A different spin on a zombie apocalypse