I Spy with my Little Cam: Alone With Her (2006)

Alone With Her (2006)
Rating: ***1/2
Starring: Ana Claudia Talancón, Colin Hanks

Doug is a man that simply exists. He has no job. No family. No friends. The only thing that keeps him going is his terrifying agenda of stalking women. His current target is a girl named Amy, whose room he broken into and bugged with hidden cameras in hopes of learning more about his new prey.

We all see this through the perspective of Doug's multiple cameras and the realism of the situation is among the many pros Alone with Her (2006) have; the further the story goes, the more we see Doug invade Amy's life with a nice guy façade, building to more uneasy and dire situations such as his attempts to ruin Amy's work life and relationships just so she can be more vulnerable to his advances (which includes getting her fired and murdering a few friends), as well as skin-crawling "normal" moments such as his many near-successful courting with the girl. These scenes are done in detail so the film can get a bit slow, but seeing how effective these scenarios go with the tone and direction of the plot, it's exactly the kind of slow burner pace needed for a creepy chiller like this.

Since a lot of the factors here are more on creeping the audience with realism, another element that makes Alone with Her (2006) worthwhile are the talents involved; Colin Hanks took the role of Doug with a spot-on portrayal of a pathetic yet dangerous creeper, both in action and looks. He's vividly unnerving, which is in complete contrast of the friendly and "normal" portrayal of Ana Claudia Talancón's character Amy, in turn making the stalking scenes all the more triggering, genuinely having us worry for Amy's fate in the end. There's no superhuman monster, no dumb teenagers doing dumb things, just two kinds of people that you can encounter everyday, being themselves in both good or bad ways and it's all what the movie needs.

Judging from all of this, it's safe to say that Alone with Her (2006) is not a slasher in the strictest sense, but I believe this is just as interesting of a watch as any bodycounters out there. With most slashers hacking up unsympathetic and bland casts just for the sake of kill count and gore, it is a nice change of pace to have a few titles out where we can cathartically feel scared for the victims; I guess this is where Alone with Her (2006) comes in, reminding us that human monsters can still be scary in the movies, especially if it can easily reflect what can happen or is happening in real life.

If you find voyeuristic tendencies scary or just want something different for your found footage thrillers, Alone with Her (2006) is a good title to start with. Kinda makes you wonder if someone is watching you right now...

Bodycount:
1 female falls down a flight of stairs, killed
1 female strangled
Total: 2