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They say to never judge a book by its cover, but sometimes you just can't help yourself. Sitting down to watch Die Alone, a straight-to-digital horror film about yet another zombie apocalypse — an idea that has been done to death — I didn't expect much. But then I hit play, and one minute in, with a twist occurring right away, I was hooked. Die Alone might be set in the aftermath of the rise of the Walking Dead, but this isn't your standard genre fair. Instead, Lowell Dean's (Wolf Cop) latest film is one of the biggest surprises of the year. Starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Douglas Smith, and Frank Grillo, Die Alone is filled with unexpected and plausible twists, crafting a puzzle of a story you have to put together along the way but won't be able to figure out until the very end. It's at once beautiful to look at due to its setting, with impeccable practical effects, and a captivating love story. Die Alone might not get a big audience, but if you're a horror fan who is sick of the same old predictable movies, it's certainly one to seek out.
What Is 'Die Alone' About?
Imagine you are in a post-apocalyptic world where society has collapsed and the living dead rule, but you were the only one who didn't know it. That's basically how it is for Ethan (Smith). We see the beginning of the outbreak in flashbacks, with a plant-based virus overtaking humanity. Ethan's girlfriend, Emma, is a doctor at a hospital. She's swamped with patients, and with everything getting worse and the government calling for lockdowns, they decide to run to somewhere secluded and safe. The only problem is that along the way, they get into a car crash. When Ethan wakes up in the car, Emma is gone, and so is his short-term memory. Every single day he wakes up with amnesia like it's day one. He knows that Emma is missing, and he knows that a virus is spreading, but he has to learn all over again just how bad things have gotten in only a matter of days. It's like 50 First Dates meets Night of the Living Dead.
Not knowing what's going on makes it very hard to survive the end of the world, but lucky for him, he is saved by Mae (Moss), a loner survivalist who has a home in the middle of nowhere surrounded by green plains and blue skies. With a generator and the ability to hunt for food, she's managed to make it by herself, but she's also admittedly very lonely, so she decides to take Ethan in and help him. They probably shouldn't be so trusting, but they need each other. Ethan needs someone to look after him and the secluded Mae is desperate for a soul to talk to and help her around the house. It's good that they have each other now, but it's not going to be so easy. Mae agrees to help the confused Ethan look for Emma, but it feels like both are hiding something. Is one of them a threat who shouldn't be so easily trusted?
'Die Alone' Has Phenomenal Zombie Design
One of the cons of a zombie movie is that the monsters are often the same. Sometimes you'll have a movie like Return of the Living Dead or Zombieland to shake things up a little bit, but you usually know what you're getting. Die Alone's zombies are a little different, as they are the result of a plant virus that begins to turn their victims into plants. Imagine seeing a shambling walker covered in moss or with a tree growing right out of the top of its head as the flesh rots away. Some of the zombies in Die Alone are so twisted and deformed that it would make Resident Evil and The Last of Us proud.Thankfully, it's all done with top-notch practical effects, without a pixel of CGI to be found. It's not just the design that's altered in these zombies either, but it's also about how they operate. Yes, they feed on the flesh of the living, but just as scary is seeing a barely conscious one leaning up against a tree, or discovering that some are more advanced than others. If there's one flaw with Die Alone when it comes to its creatures it's that we don't see them enough. When they do strike, it's highly effective, but at times our characters are simply living in their own world where the zombies don't seem like much of a threat.
'Die Alone' Is a Love Story Above Everything Else
All the badass creature design and gore in the world doesn't mean a thing without a compelling story, and that's where Die Alone shines brightest. Nearly every scene is between Ethan and Mae, and Douglas Smith and Carrie-Anne Moss are convincing both in their slow burn, subtle chemistry, and the flaws they portray. Mae has made it her mission to look after this young man, even if he'll forget all about her the next time he passes out and comes to.
In zombie films and series, the living humans are often more of a threat than the monsters, and that holds true with Die Alone. Not everyone is as good as you think they are, and not everyone is as bad. These people are doing what they need to do to survive without being cartoony bad guys. As for Frank Grillo, his character of Kai doesn't show up until the third act. It's a small but pivotal role for the actor because as soon as he appears, the twists start to unravel like a small intestine in a zombie's bloody hand.
Above all, Die Alone is a love story. Ethan might be forgetting everything, but he can't forget Emma. His sole mission is to find her, and although most of their story is told through flashbacks, she is out there, trying to reach out to him in her own way. It leads to a moment of surprise that made my jaw drop. After having felt like I've seen everything, it's fun to still be genuinely shocked by a twist ending, especially when it makes sense and isn't just done for shock value alone. Die Alone is a mediocre title name, but it will all make sense in due time. This isn't the scariest zombie movie you'll ever see, and the second act begins to drag as it readies itself for the finale, but if you want a highly original one that makes you feel, Die Alone is flesh worth sinking your teeth into.
Die Alone takes the expectations of a zombie apocalypse movie and throws them out the window for an unpredictable and captivating story.
- It subverts expectations with plenty of plausible twists.
- It's one of the better love stories you'll see in a horror movie.
- The zombie effects are all practical and impressively original in their design.
- The second act drags, spinning its wheels before the twists to come.
- There needed to be more zombies shown as a greater threat.
Die Alone is available to rent in the U.S. on October 18.
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