A gruesome zombie film is stalking your Netflix account, feeding on the fears of even the most hardened horror fans.
The ambling, shuffling zombies from The Walking Dead are frightening and dangerous enough. However, there is always the chance you could outrun or outwit those decaying human wreckages.
But there is something particularly unnerving about the apocalypse envisioned in Here Alone – where zombies are furious, sprinting predators.
Directed by Amanda Knox director Rod Blackhurst, this gory horror flick follows a young woman’s fight for survival in a bleak, pitiless and desolate world.
Here Alone stars Lucy Walters (from Power) as resourceful survivor Ann, hiding deep within the wilderness following a brutal epidemic which has wiped out most of society.
Those left behind are divided into the bloodthirsty infected and the uninfected who are living in sheer, unpunctuated terror.
However, once her supplies run low, Ann must venture from her camouflaged forest camp to find any remaining tinned food in the town, risking becoming dinner herself for the screaming flesh eaters.
Check out the too-creepy-for-night-time trailer below:
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It is during one of her foraging trips Ann comes across teenager Olivia (Gina Piersanti) and her injured stepfather, Chris (Adam David Thompson from Godless).
She allows the pair into her camp to recover, and together they make their way north, where there are rumours of the infection having been contained in Quebec.
However, tensions run high and suspicions cast shadows over any fragile bonds of trust…
As is common within such end-of-the-world stories, we learn much about Ann’s life before the breakdown of society through an interspersed series of flashbacks.
It becomes clear Ann once had a husband called Jason (Shane West from A Walk To Remember), who taught her about survival, as well as a baby daughter.
This sense of loss and grief permeate throughout the story, giving this zombie flick much more emotional clout than you would expect from your run of the mill gore-fest.
Of course, many will argue zombie pandemic films have been done to, well, death. Stretched to every conceivable concept, we have seen good zombies in The Girl With All The Gifts, and comical zombies in Santa Clarita Diet.
However, with an atmospheric use of cinematography and tense, restrained plotting from screenwriter David Ebeltoft, this is still a worthy addition to the fleshed out genre.
Although there has admittedly been mixed reviews – as is the case with many, perfectly good horror films – many critics have praised the eerie music score from Eric D. Johnson, as well as Walters’ strong female lead.
And of course, stories about the end of the world will always be compelling. We all like to wonder what type of survivor we would be if faced with the end days, whether we would still be capable of hope and generosity.
Just make sure not to watch this one when you are on your own…
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.