Die Alone, written and directed by Lowell Dean, who has several low-budget horrors under his belt including Wolfcop, Another Wolfcop and Dark Match, tells the story of a young man who has amnesia. He bands together with a rugged survivalist during a zombie-like outbreak to find his girlfriend.

The film begins with the main character, Ethan (Douglas Smith) shooting himself in the head, which is an interesting premise that immediately piques your interest. The story then follows the series of events that lead up to his decision to end his life, as we, along with Ethan, try and work out what happened to him and his missing girlfriend, Emma (Kimberly-Sue Murray).

The world is in the midst of an apocalypse, more in the vein of The Last of Us than The Walking Dead but nevertheless, the creatures need to feed and what little is left of the human race need to survive at any cost. Special kudos must go to the SFX team for their brilliant work on the gnarly creatures.

The last thing Ethan can remember is leaving the city with Doctor Emma to drive to the house they own by a lake, only to wake up at some point having crashed their car, finding his arm in a cast and Emma nowhere to be seen. He soon meets a pretty badass older lady in Mae (a fantastic Carrie-Anne Moss), who takes pity on him and brings her back to her home. The remainder of the film is made up of Ethan remembering bits and pieces, trying to put it all together to find out where Emms is, or at the very least what happened to her.

Whilst not necessarily bringing anything new to the table, it's quite refreshing to have an apocalyptic tale focus far more on strong character work than monsters, but those hoping for Evil Dead / Train to Busan-levels of violence and gore will be sorely disappointed. And for those going in solely for Frank Grillo, be prepared for a role that's more of a cameo than anything else, despite being on the film's poster. This clever marketing trick is likely to cause some disappointment.

Despite a couple of fairly predictable twists and turns, the film hits a sweet spot with a runtime of just 90 minutes. And it matters not if you're surprised or able to pat yourself on the back for working it all out. Die Alone is well worth a watch if you're a fan of post-apocalyptic stories that spend more time with the survivors and their journey's rather than watching people being eaten. Just don't expect any Grillo fight scenes.

Die Alone will be available on Home Entertainment from 10th March 2025 from Lightbulb Films.