You Have to See This! Alone with Her (2006)

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It was only a matter of time before someone explored the more advanced world of stalking on film. What with the technological advancements, stalking no longer requires following a person and sending letters, now it’s as easy as installing hidden cameras, and using easily affordable technology, all of it at your finger tips; and available at low prices. Director Eric Nicholas begins his film on a rather unsettling note, as our predator Doug, a rather awkward man, walks around the city with his camera in his bag, catching glimpses of women in their most candid.

But things change once he catches a glimpse of the sad Amy Ruis, one day at the park. Eric Nicholas is not the first to have created a film based around hidden cameras that tell the story, before, but the way he delivers the stark and rather intrusive camera angles, paired with the utterly powerful performance by Colin Hanks, makes “Alone with Her” feel so perverse. “Alone with Her” is an utterly morbid display of stalking on a completely different level. This stalker is one who manages to get into the life of his crush, a young woman named Amy who is just getting off of a bad break-up.

He swarms in and watches her and knows more about her than even she knows, and the presence waiting in the wings makes Eric Nicholas’ thriller utterly unnerving. The slightly gimmicky filming method is thankfully undercut by the mounting tension, low-key score, and morally shaky narrative. Co-star Colin Hanks is an actor that’s really attempted to build a career out from the shadow of his father, and in “Alone with Her” he’s pretty damn impressive. With puppet master Doug, he’s significantly heavier, and embodies the awkward and potentially dangerous presence that lurks around Amy, sabotaging and manipulating her environment in his favor.

Doug’s kind of stalking is defined in his ability to keep her at his mercy all the time, and that keeps him a consistently menacing and understated villain. Colin Hanks is mesmerizing here, and his penchant for being the madman who also happens to keep us sympathetic for him is excellent. Hanks conveys a tragic bent to Doug, even at his most psychotic, allowing for someone who is especially threatening and harmful thanks to his ability to manipulate both the characters and the audience. Star Ana Claudia Talancón keeps the character Amy a woman in peril without blustering with over the top sobbing, or moaning and groaning.

We can see her appeal from Doug through his eyes, and in an essence the audience manages to gain a sense of sexual attraction to her that’s interrupted with video interference that reminds us of the apparent perversions we (along with Doug) can be prone to. “Alone with Her” manages to build its frantic pace as the events unfold before us behind the camera, showing Doug’s sanity break down further as he watches Amy obsessively. Much of director Nicholas’ script pays considerable homage to films like “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” and “One Hour Photo.”

What keeps “Alone with Her” a grueling experience that turns the screws oh so gradually is director Nicholas’ ability to make the audience feel exposed and vulnerable. All the while he uses us and transforms us in to voyeurs into the life of this young woman whose destruction is inevitable. We never see Doug until much later in the film (a plot element also adopted in the “Maniac” remake) which makes him feel so much more intimidating throughout. With the constant tender moments in Amy’s life, and Doug’s inability to discuss actual topics with anyone without his psychological ticks rising to the surface, Doug is a ticking time bomb.

All we can do is pretty much watch helplessly and hope for the very best for young Amy.

“Alone with Her” is very much overlooked and under seen, and it’s a shame as it’s the quintessential anti-romance film.