A romantic night with her partner ends in a nightmare of solitude and torment for Charlie (Emily Bennett, who is also the co-writer and co-director along with Justin Brooks). As her photographer girlfriend Simone (Emma Myles) is held up, she begins to prepare for a special night, avoiding appeals from her friend Thea (Dora Madison) to join her at a club and her mother (Barbara Crampton) to leave Simone. She isn’t happy with their relationship and is even more upset by the artfully nude photo that’s framed on the pair’s wall.
Bennett and Brooks have crafted a taut, claustrophobic psychological thriller that is constantly surprising and shocking. Horror stories told in primarily one location are not rare – it’s often a necessity in low budget filmmaking, but Alone With You gives viewers time to acclimatise themselves to the surroundings while ramping up the tension and slowly luring the audience into its secrets. Bennett’s acting is mesmerising, the weight of the movie on her shoulders but handling it masterfully. She’s presented with situations that could be supernatural or all psychological, or perhaps something even worse. There’s a quick deterioration of her mind as things progress and she finds that she’s unable to leave the flat. The door is stuck and there’s something covering the windows. A voice from one of the other apartments adds to her trauma.
It’s an absorbing film that shows what can be done with limited environments and Bennett’s performance is a tour de force. Well worth catching.
ALONE WITH YOU is in US theatres on February 4th, 2022 and On-Demand, Digital and DVD in the US on February 8th, 2022. Read our interview with the directors here.
