Here Alone is a Survival Horror film directed by Rod Blackhurst. It was screened at the 2016 Tribeca and Tallgrass International film festivals, where it won the Audience Award for "Narrative" and "Outstanding Female Performer" for Lucy Walters, respectively.
It is about a young woman, Ann (Walters), who must struggle to survive alone in the wilderness following a zombie outbreak. She eventually come across and rescues two people: a teenage girl Olivia (Gina Piersanti) and her stepfather Chris (Adam David Thompson).
The film was released on March 31, 2017.
Here Alone provides examples of the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Ann, by dint of necessity, crossing into Action Mom and arguably Mama Bear territory.
- Action Survivor: Ann had to be taught about survival by her husband, but she butches up pretty quickly when the going gets tough.
- Combat Pragmatist: When Ann realizes she has no bullets, she simply hits a zombie in the head with the butt of the rifle.
- Counting Bullets: Ann counts her four remaining bullets every night, which leaves the audience well aware of how many are left in the end.
- Don't Go in the Woods: The woods that Ann hides in are very spooky at night, and likely come with all the natural threats that exist in such places (though in one scene from the trailers, she and her companions run into a zombie).
- Foregone Conclusion: It's obvious that Ann's husband and child will be dead in the present day.
- Green-Eyed Monster: An unfortunate side-effect of Olivia having to suddenly share her stepfather's attention, and the thing that brings down all of them. This leads to Olivia knocking Ann unconscious in the house and leaving her for dead, and ultimately the death of Chris.
- How We Got Here: The film has numerous flashback sequences explaining how Ann and her family escaped to the wilderness, and how she came to be the only survivor.
- Nothing Is Scarier: In the trailers, very little is shown of any actual zombies, and the shots of the woods that Ann hides in are incredibly atmospheric, along with the eerie music used in the first trailer.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: In the trailers, the word "zombie" is never used.
- Offing the Offspring: Ann's accidentally infecting Hailey and the resulting Enfant Terrible makes it necessary, though she does try to do it gently and painlessly.
- Sadistic Choice: Ann arrives on the scene of Olivia and Chris being attacked by the zombies. She has One Bullet Left and had to decide which one to save...
- Survivor Guilt: Implied to be the reason Ann resists leaving the woods.
- The Virus: It caused the Zombie Apocalypse, and it makes infected humans develop a craving for human flesh.
- Zombie Apocalypse: The film takes place in the aftermath of one, when almost all of the human population has been wiped out by it.
