Movie Review : Alone (2015)

Alone, an disappointing remake of a horror classic

Director : Bhushan Patel
Starring : Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh Grover
Studio : Panorama Studios
Release Date : 16 January 2015



Plot: A woman (Bipasha Basu) is haunted by her dead twin sister, hoping to exact revenge for a sin she has done in the past.



Unnecessary remake
This was a remake of a Thai film with the same name, directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom of Shutter fame. But although they have the same story, the don't have the same level when it comes to scares. The first one is way better than this Indian adaptation. It has better storytelling. It has better effects. It has better acting. And it has better scares.

This remake does follow the smae storyline, but it's short on scares. I was expecting a bit more since the last Indian horror film I've watched, Horror Story (2013) was really good. But then, I saw this movie. Bham!


The Acting... Uhg!

Don't start with me with the acting. It was just so unbelievable. I've never seen other movies of Bipasha Basu before but I've heard she was a really good actress. She was even known as India's Horror Queen. Yet in this film, I just can't believe her acting. Honestly, it was too much. I don't want to be rude but she is over-acting at times, especially at those scenes wherein she was supposed to look scared.
It was just laughable.


A horror film... or a music video?
That's also one thing that I'm really not sure. Whenver I watch Indian films, I am already expecting some song-and-dance number. I had that when watching Vikram Bhatt's Haunted 3D (2011). but there are some movies that were able to make an exception like Horror Story (2013). I was hoping that this one would be different. But it's not. It featured at least two or three musical numbers along the way which were really distracting. It's like I was watching a music video at times. It just lessens the suspense of the whole movie. I just don't really appreciate it.

Duration
And this is also anothe problems that I had with this film. The overtly long duration. The whole movie was too long. The original movie had a faster pacing, adding more tension. But this remake is just too slow before it even reaches it's first revelation.


Then, there's the musical numbers added to it. It really doesn't help. Instead, it makes it more boring.

Where's the scares?
Since this was a remake, I can't help but compare it with the original one. But it miserably fails with this.
The original Alone movie was just scary. And a bit funny at times.
But this remake just loses it's scares along the way. At first, there were some cool jump scares. But after reaching halfway through, it loses everything.

Another major problem that I saw with this film was it's unabashedly use of copying scenes from other better horror movies. There's one scene where Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) and her husband Kabir (Karan Singh Grover) were sleeping together in their bedroom, when a floating body appears on top of them- with it's feet almost touching Sanjana. This was a scene taken from the Pang Brothers movie starring Rainie Yang, Elanne Kwong and Shawn Yue entitled The Child's Eye (2010). You can watch it's trailer online for proof. Then, there's the exorcism scene which was a complete rip-off of James Wan's classic hit The Conjuring (2013). It even copied the part where they covered Vera Farmiga with a cloth while doing the exorcism, only for it to be teared a slit by the force of the demon, showing a part of her ghoulish face.
Even the final scene where the ghost grabs Sanjana from escaping their burning house was didn't do any justice to the original's ending.

Misrepresented packaging
The whole movie was advertised as an erotic horror movie. Every poster of the film shows a sexy shot of Bipasha Basu and her leading man, Karan Singh Grover getting steamy. But if you'll watch the film, you wont find anything here that is sexy. The only erotic scene you'll get here is the part where they were making out in their bed, with a bit of clothes on. But no nudity or sex at all.


It's like they just used it to attract audiences, leading them to believe that they're watching an R-rated horror but it turns out that it's nothing but a watered-down PG-13 flick.


Overall
Honestly, I don't really see the point of remaking a good movie. I'm not really against remakes in general but I just don't see the reason why they have to re-do the same movie again, but failing to at least meet it's level.
This film is nothing but a less scarier adaptation of a really good horror film, failing at every aspect.


I am giving this 1 out of 5 stars.




Alone Movie Theatrical Trailer | Bipasha Basu... by HitMovies