Alone (2007 film)


Alone is a 2007 Thai horror film written and directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom. Alone stars Thai-German pop singer Marsha Wattanapanich in her first film role in 15 years.

Plot

Pim and Ploy are twins both conjoined at the stomach. Pim is very sweet and protective of Ploy, though Ploy's nature is harsh and jealous. The girls promised each other to stay together until they die.
While they are staying in a hospital, Pim and Ploy meet a boy named Wee. The girls display mutual affection for him, but Wee only returns Pim's, which makes Ploy angry and jealous. After his recovery from an illness, Wee decides that he wants to see Pim one last time and visits the twins' room. As much as Pim wants to see Wee, Ploy refuses to get out of bed and succumbs to a fit of rage out of jealousy. Wee gets upset and leaves. Angry and in tears, Pim demands that she and Ploy be separated. To do so, the twins undergo a surgery, which Ploy does not survive. Pim burdens herself with guilt thinking that if she had not wanted an operation, Ploy would still be alive.
Several years later, Pim lives in South Korea and is dating Wee. She receives a phone call from Thailand that her mother has had a stroke. When Pim and Wee return to Thailand, Ploy's ghost comes back to haunt her. At first, Wee becomes very worried and starts seeking psychiatric help for Pim. But even after the psychiatrist came to visit Pim, she still experiences a series of hauntings by Ploy. Pim hears her breathing on her side while she sleeps, as though she and Ploy were still inseparable. She sees Ploy on the mirror instead of herself. On the elevator, she sees Ploy resting her head in her shoulder. When she tries to relax in a bathtub, she is suddenly plunged into the water by Ploy's ghost. When the lights go out, she sees a horrifying figure of Ploy. The hauntings keep stalking Pim and she feels even more guilty. Later, however, the spirit of Ploy also haunts Wee.
One night, Wee goes to see Pim's mother who reveals that Pim is actually Ploy. In a flashback, Ploy strangles Pim out of morbid jealousy after Pim demanded they be separated. But when Pim dies, Ploy suddenly snaps out of her rage and feels shocked of what she did. She screams for help to her mother, who is devastated over Pim's death and never speaks to Ploy again. To save Ploy's life, doctors had to separate Pim's corpse from Ploy's body. Ploy assumed Pim's identity to be with Wee. It meant that all these years, Ploy was lying to Wee and it was actually Pim's ghost that was haunting her and Wee. Ploy's mother was fully aware of her actions as well, but kept silent. Later, it is shown that Ploy killed her mother by disconnecting her oxygen pipe so she could not tell Wee the truth. Ploy had no idea that her mother had told Wee the truth beforehand.
Wee confronts Ploy, and in a moment of guilt, she tells Wee the truth. Wee is disgusted and shocked at Ploy's actions and decides to leave her. But Ploy knocks him unconscious and takes Wee hostage. However, Wee escapes, and the ensuing fight with Ploy causes the house to catch fire. Wee throws a shelf on Ploy and escapes. Trapped underneath, Pim's ghost confronts and holds Ploy down, and as the burning debris rains down around them, Pim smiles and Ploy dies.
Wee visits the twins' grave, and takes out Pim's necklace that he had given her as a gift when they were in the hospital. He places it on their tombstone.

Cast

Like Pisanthanakun and Wongpoom's previous film Shutter, Alone opened at #1 at the Thai Box Office grossing $960,000 before falling to #2 grossing $411,043. In total the film grossed $2,040,003 in Thailand becoming the 21st highest grossing film of the year. The film fared even better internationally grossing $9,365,071 worldwide out grossing the directors which made all other movies fall behind previous film Shutter.

Festivals and awards

Since its general release in Thailand cinemas, Alone has made the rounds at film festivals, playing at the 2007 Bangkok International Film Festival. At Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, the film won awards for best director and best actress. It swept the awards at the 2007 Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. The film also won the top Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2007 Toronto After Dark festival.

Soundtrack

The closing credits feature a song by Marsha Wattanapanich, "Suan Neung Khong Chan ".

DVD release

Alone has been released on Region 3 DVD in Hong Kong by Asia Video, with the original soundtrack and English and Traditional Chinese subtitles.

Remakes

Alone has been remade thrice, all in Indian languages:
The 2012 Filipino film Guni-Guni have been described as having similarities in plot to Alone.