Die Alone – An Unconventional Zombie Narrative

Read our interview with the writer and director of Die Alone, Lowell Dean, here.

Director Lowell Dean faces a busy year as he tackles the complex release schedule with Dark Match and now, Die Alone. The film follows Ethan (Smith), a man with amnesia who is thrown into a post-apocalyptic world caused by a plant-based virus. Along the way, he meets a peculiar survivor, Mae (Moss), as they try to find Ethan’s lost girlfriend (Kimberly-Sue Murray) among a world of lurking creatures, revenge-driven survivors, and a protective family man named Kai (Grillo).

It is evident through this film and Dark Match that Dean is shifting focus away from the campy, over-the-top tone that made WolfCop a hit indie success. However, his change of pace seems more deliberate as showcased in both his radically different 2024 films. While Dark Match focused on a linear story that tested some of Dean’s abilities in directing grounded action, Die Alone has a nonlinear structure that evokes different stages of Ethan’s emotions throughout his struggles with amnesia in a post-apocalyptic world.

Inspired by Memento, his attempt at providing a cohesive narrative may not be fully realized but still does a sufficient job at providing the right pieces in fitting a rough-edged puzzle of Ethan’s timeline as seen through his perspective. In the context of his point-of-view, audiences may be as confused and frustrated as him, which can result in drawing viewers away from following the film’s logic even further despite having some calculated twists and turns sprinkled along the way. More patient viewers will likely foresee some of these revelations in the scope of this fallen world. The strangers Ethan meets along the way tease these expected revelations and quickly puts into perspective how far he is in his emotional journey through Moss’ portrayal of a quirky, routine-driven survivor with dry-witted humor, and Grillo’s cautiously well-spoken demeanor.

Discovering that this post-apocalyptic world is a result of a plant-based virus will draw instant comparisons as a more small-scale, personal version of The Last of Us. Instead of the menacing, barbaric zombies of TLOU, Dean incorporates a familiar style involving bloody, gory violence in a close-quarters combat setting while complimenting it with eerie shots of dormant plant-based zombies that are at peace with the surrounding nature. These shots of zombies hiding almost in plain sight highlight this notion that these remaining survivors are clearly aware of the threats around them but actively choose to elevate their risk of surviving. It goes against the idea of “ignorance is bliss” presented in horror, as instead of not knowing where your threat is, facing the situation directly can make these humans more afraid and guilty of the consequences that may come their way in the wake of their awareness, which is a subtle layer of depth rarely seen in horror today.

In the end, Die Alone shows that Dean is willing to experiment with different forms of storytelling and different tones to achieve a more personal and emotional story through Ethan’s struggles. However, his efforts struggle to reach the film’s full potential and results in a slightly derivative version of its influences. That being said, horror audiences with more patience will be satisfied with Dean’s take on a zombie film that leans into the heavy presence of Moss and Grillo to guide audiences through its twists and turns from its different perspective.

still courtesy of Minds Eye Entertainment

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Costa Christoulas

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