YOU ARE NOT ALONE (2010) [aka House Swap]

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Directed by:
Written by:
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you-are-not-alone

YOU ARE NOT ALONE (2010)
aka House Swap
Written and directed by Mark Ezra

An American couple enter a house swap for 6 months, swapping their LA home for a tudor mansion set in the sprawling countryside of Glastonbury, Somerset in England. Hoping that the relaxing, quaint landscapes will give them both inspiration – Matt for his screenplay and Ginny for her music composition – the couple settle into their new abode. However, it’s not long before the couple are plagued by sets of weird incidents and noises in the home. With the home’s owners not interested and the police unprepared to investigate, Matt takes it into his own hands to protect himself and his girlfriend.

Touted as a ‘true story’, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, also known as House Swap, is a found footage horror thriller that tells the story of the couple’s visit to England and subsequent stay at the mansion through a video diary. I don’t know how many people would document their day to day lives, but in a time and age of internet celebrities, particularly through YouTube, maybe this is more current now than it would have been in the past. The couple, Matt and Ginny, are a young, care-free couple who are both artists in their own right. Initially unsure about the house swap, they are relieved to find the house they traded for is an impressive, huge abode, with spacious rooms and decorated from top to bottom in tacky antiques. Despite the grand home, an incident which occurs during their initial arrival, out in the Glastonbury fields, would be enough to put anybody off, but is forgotten about as quickly as it happens as the couple settle into the new home. For something as frightening as which occurred, I do not understand how this wasn’t persued by the characters. However, the couple soon find other things to concern them as bumps in the night occur along with belongings going missing and human excrement appearing on the floor whilst they’re out. Nice! Despite all of this, the couple continue to stay at the mansion, with the intensity and frequency of the strange occurances increasing day by day.

With such an insular film, supposedly shot by the leading characters, the actors must be up to the job. Whilst they can carry the story to a point, the acting floats from hit to miss, with the cast able to deal with the normal scenes well but struggle with the frightening ones, with their reactions and emotions coming off as unconvincing. The lack of menace from the antagonist of the film doesn’t help matters either. The script suffers too, leaving a hollow storyline with a plot that drags its feet until the unsatisying climax.

Despite its best intentions, YOU ARE NOT ALONE is just too slow a movie, with very little happening to keep the viewer engaged. Whilst clever use of the camera whilst out and about seeing the sights are used, the footage isn’t really capitalised on in ways it could be. Instead, it’s used just enough to conveniently wrap up the source of a problem.

Lacking charisma and conviction, YOU ARE NOT ALONE struggles to hit the high notes of other found-footage flicks.

Rating: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆

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About Bat 4348 Articles
I love practical effects, stop-motion animation and gore, but most of all I love a good story! I adore B-movies and exploitation films in many of their guises and also have a soft spot for creature features. I review a wide range of media including movies, TV series, books and videogames. I'm a massive fan of author Hunter S. Thompson and I enjoy various genre of videogames with Kingdom Hearts and Harvest Moon two of my all time favs. Currently playing: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Yakuza Zero and Mafia III.

5 Comments

  1. This movie was so-so , the only good thing it had going for itself was that is was based on a true story.. Thats the only reason i kept watching 🙄

  2. I found this film hard to believe that it was based on true events I would assume most people would have left Also it never told you the out come

  3. I also kept watching it because of it saying it was based on true events. That was the most unconvincing film and let me tell you I’ve seen a few. If my partner was that much of a moron I would have left him a long time ago. I guess it is what it is, another found footage film with no character. Well off to the next one…………..

  4. The movie sucked, the acting was horrible (mostly on the females part) I only kept watching because it said “true story” When it was over I tried googling a bunch of times to find the so called true story it was based on and found nothing. Waste of time.

  5. Waste of time. Bad acting. Bad slow story. The murderer kidnaps a girl and she screams “get the camera” to the boyfriend… Ridiciolus. 0 out of 10.

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