Die Alone: A Love Story to Literally Rip Your Heart Out
By Thom Ernst
Rating: A-
Die Alone shocks, but not in the way you’d expect—and certainly not in the way you’ve come to expect from zombie films.
But to spoil its surprises by giving away too much would be criminal. The best advice? Go into it burdened with all the baggage you’ve accumulated from the countless zombie films you've seen. You won’t be completely wrong, but you won’t be entirely right either.
Douglas Smith and Kimberley-Sue Murray evade zombies in Die Alone
Sure, there are the usual undead munching on the living, and plenty of gore for horror enthusiasts. The apocalyptic world is populated by paranoid survivalists and rogue military groups that shoot first and interrogate later. So far, so familiar.
But then, something shifts. Allegiances blur, motivations shift, and even emotional ties become unreliable. Ethan (Douglas Smith), a young man who wakes up alone and disoriented after a car crash, is the only one you think you can trust. Everyone else, whether they offer help or threaten, may not be who they seem.
By the time you realize Die Alone isn’t your typical zombie fare, it’s too late—you’re hooked, and the real meaning of the film hits like lightning.
As a zombie movie, Die Alone plays by the rules. But the zombies themselves, transitioning into plant-like creatures—decaying like cyborgs with flora growing from their bodies—is a novel twist. Yet, if Die Alone reinvents any genre, it’s not horror, but romance. Beneath the gore and chaos lies a love story, woven into a mystery.
Director and screenwriter Lowell Dean crafts a haunting, romantic thriller. The zombies aren’t just there for show—they’re central to the story. Dean could have used them as a clever backdrop, giving his romance a bizarre, apocalyptic twist. But the film’s emotional core depends on the presence of the undead. That alone is an impressive achievement. The film is intricately plotted, slowly unraveling its secrets until you’re fully gripped by its revelation.
Set in a dystopian future, Die Alone unfolds in a world where a virus has turned the dead into ravenous, plant-like beings. Ethan suffers from amnesia, his only clear memory being of his girlfriend, who has disappeared. The last thing he recalls is crashing their car. When he wakes, she’s gone.
His search for her leads him to Mae (Carrie-Anne Moss), a tough survivalist who takes him in but stands in the way of his every attempt to leave. Mae seems intent on keeping him from finding the one person his fractured mind can’t let go of—Emma (Kimberly-Sue Murray).
Die Alone is masterfully constructed—a meditation on humanity, even as that very humanity is eroded by desperation, greed, and survival instinct. Lowell Dean, with a stellar cast including Douglas Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kimberly-Sue Murray, and Frank Grillo, has created a film that transcends genre expectations. This isn’t just a zombie film; it’s a haunting exploration of love, loss, and what it means to hold on when everything else falls apart.
Die Alone . Written and directed by Lowell Dean. Stars Douglas Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kimberley-Sue Murray, and Frank Grillo. Opening in select theatres across Canada beginning Friday, September 27.