Solo (I) (2013) User Reviews

A Mediocre Horror Movie...

[rah122 · 5/10 · 22 November 2014]

This movie is exactly what you expect- a young girl alone on an island and creepy things happen as she has to survive for a few days to prove that she has what it takes to be a camp counselor. But, saying that, it is not a bad effort. I have seen hundreds of thriller/horror movies in my time and this is not as bad as others would tell you. Yes, some of it has been recycled and yes, there isn't much new or original here but there was something about the lead character, Gillian that I liked and I was appalled at some people commenting on her body size. What does that have to do with anything? It is a decent effort. It won't scare the life out of you, but there are some good twists and turns that you might be able to see coming. I am not going to give anything away, but I would give it a chance.It is worth a look.

http://jigsawslair.blogspot.ie/

Jennifer Lawrence visits Camp Crystal Lake

[TheCornProject · 5/10 · 23 October 2013]

Let me pitch you an idea, please tell me if it sounds familiar at all. Here goes: A young outcast named Gillian is desperately trying to cope with the emotional trauma of her sister's death (*cough* drowning accident *cough*). As part of her therapy for coping with the pain, she decides that she wants to be a... camp counselor. Like all new camp counselors, she first must listen to campfire tales of horror. One story in particular grabs her attention. It's about a little girl named Jason Voorhees (oops I mean Janie) who accidentally "disappeared" from the camp several decades ago. Don't worry, in order to avoid copyright issues we'll avoid using the words "drowned" and "distracted counselors" from now on. Anyway, there's this island in the lake which the girl supposedly haunts from time to time. Therefore it only makes sense that Gillian, a mentally unstable suicidal teen, is marooned on that very same island as part of her initiation. However fear not for our young heroine is never left alone at any point. She is always under the watchful eye of the resident counselor and hornbag Marty who sneaks across to the island. Like every other sexed up male character from bygone horror movies, Marty comes across with the pretense of being friendly even though it is obvious what his true intentions are. However, he doesn't get the chance to do much before the party is interrupted. It seems that Gillian and Marty aren't the only people (or things) living on the island and it doesn't take long before the real stalking begins.

Clearly, the film has borrowed more than a few creative elements from the Friday the 13th series. At times, it is effective especially early in the film. However in an effort to come across as somewhat original, Solo departs from the usual slasher formula and attempts to twist the concept. Is it purely psychological or is the threat actually tangible? As far as the acting is concerned, our lead actress Annie Clark who bears a striking resemblance to Jennifer Lawrence was surprisingly able to carry the film through its short running time. Annie clearly has talent and I hope to see more feature films from her in the future. Veteran actor Daniel Kash also has a decent turn as the psychotic camp counselor although the film fails to develop his character sufficiently. Overall, the film only managed to capture my imagination and attention span for fleeting moments. If you want psychological terror in an isolated setting, I'd recommend that you watch Eden Lake instead of this.

2.5/5

Camp Dread?

[hitchcockthelegend · 5/10 · 20 June 2015]

Young girl has a past trauma to deal with, so she applies to be a camp counsellor. Nice. But to pass the entry exam for being said counsellor she has to spend two nights alone on a remote island, thus proving her metal. Amazingly she's not as alone as is meant to be...

OK! The premise is weak, both in terms of logic and redundancy of formula, but that isn't a problem for those after a good compact scare picture to pass the time of day with. The trouble with Alone (AKA: Solo) is that it's just too dull for its own good, resorting to telegraphed boo-jumps at time scripted junctures. After a while you kind of find yourself wishing it had something more to offer on a psychological basis. The reveal of the threat is tedious, the execution of the last quarter equally so, but the performance of young Annie Clark in the lead and some efficient chill moments makes this just about passable as a time waster. 5/10

Sister, sister. Why are you in this movie?

[ted-peterson · 2/10 · 24 October 2013]

Spoiler Alert

The music by composer Todor Kobakov is probably the best part of this movie and for budget fare, is quite good. The main actress (character is more apt because there is little acting here.) Nancy Clark is a teen possessed by demons of her dead sister. Oh my. Instead of therapy, let's go to a creepy camp as a counselor and willingly accept isolation on an island with a ghost?

The movie is highly derivative but how can one not be in this genre? The acting is minimal and every actor accents the creepiness factor with little result. The camp director is more creepy than the exiled counselor/murderer. Richard Clarkin as "Fred" so overacts and mugs his scenes that it's almost comic. Maybe that's how he prepared for his wooden performance. He gets bonked on the head and dies where everyone else who gets bonked survives somehow. Oh Boy. The credits list a therapist (This person never appears in the movie.) and I have a feeling that the therapist was there for the actors coming to grips with minimal direction and guilt from mugging.

Supposedly this Gillian (Clark) is forced, as some kind of camp hazing, to spend the night alone on an island. She's rarely alone on this island and the predictable players appear right on cue. She's damaged goods having been the cause of her sisters demise some years earlier in a pool drowning. But even with cutaway scenes, this part of the plot goes nowhere. Either does this movie.

Productions values are high but I would find a better writer. Isaac Cravit creates some decent shots and there are some interesting camera angles but the writing, UGH! It's horrible and none of the elements presented in the exposition are worked out. Instead, we get new one as if we will be surprised. This is a major flaw and I mean major. When scenes are supposed to be suspenseful, you find your self thinking WTF? That could have been handled a lot better. I don't think a suspense movie is supposed to create the suspense for the next missed story or cinematic idea,

We all know these movies are based on supposedly smart people doing stupid things and this movie is no exception. But here we have a stupid writer/director who got lost in his own brilliance or lack thereof. Also, his timing is off. some scenes end and but the shot continues. Others never find an overall rhythm . The editor, Adam Locke-Norton must have been pulling his hair out and arguing constantly to shorten some of the takes. Alas, he lost the arguments.

Fair Enough

[mskeidee · 4/10 · 3 November 2013]

This movie is way better than the one I previously reviewed, it at least knows how to execute the jumpy scenes fairly and will, at some point give you a slight thrill.

The story plot may appear a bit common for people who loves the genre but most may agree that such stories doesn't easily get old specially if the direction is "at least" good.

The music and camera shots are okay. (not super great but okay)

The actors are also able to give justice to their characters and was able to give the convincing feel that they are actually involved in the scenes.

In short, the movie is good enough for me to not give it a super flopping score.

So if you can't think of something else better to do, I definitely recommend this movie to keep you busy.

Hard to think of many reasons to watch this except the filming

[bob-larrance · 4/10 · 24 October 2013]

Let's face it, there are many terrible movies 'out there'. I have noticed over the last few years that one thing the contemporary terrible movies have in common is really poor production, in particular camera work. Oh, yes, the acting is bad, the stories are frequently undeveloped, the thrill is...gone, or maybe more like it was never there for the films I am referring to HOWEVER Solo is in a different class. I think the filming is very, very good! Other than Ms. Clark the acting doesn't even make it to average-bad, the plot is a poorly developed cliché, the casting clearly found some of the worst actors active and the ending is a relief but the camera work is great. It could well be worth one's time to invest 15 to 20 minutes, skip around from scene to scene, and take in the work of Stephen Chung. I hope he hooks up with a better film next time.

Haters never spent a night in the woods

[gdeangel · 7/10 · 13 April 2018]

The film starts out with a one sided view of a visit to the psychiatrist's office. This is just one of the subtle, yet tightly integrated elements of the plot and the highly focused character study of Guilian that will keep you thinking for the first 50 minutes of the film.

We know it's going to be a stalker in the woods film from the start. Consider the genre for a moment. Over the top gore. Hockey Masks and decapitations. Chainsaws and villains wearing other people's skin. These are plot devices right out of the same fantasy world as light sabers and gremlins. Even the rabid man-eating animal, usually a bear, fallen out of favor recently with the exception of Wolf, is pretty contrived. But here is a film that simply presents you with off-balanced characters, and others that we can detect have something creepy lurking below their surface, without contriving anything too obvious to make it seem in forced and cliche.

Annie Clark's performance is top rate. She makes believable the kind of hide-in-your-sleeping bag naiveté of someone afraid of animal sounds in the night with the savvy of a teenage girls who knows better than to tell someone she is all alone in the woods for two days. Her character arc follows the path of Ripley and Sarah Conner, yet it doesn't seem forced. We hope her future projects track more in the direction of Ms. Weaver than Ms. Hamilton. This is not "The Glass House", where the highlight of the characters performance is her bikini scene. We love the genuine beauty of the woods and the green eyed gaze of Ms. Clark as she looks for a way forward from a personal tragedy of her past.

In the last 20 minutes of the film, there are a few tropes to be reckoned with. The engine that won't start. The rescuer knocked out from behind. But even so, this is no "Blair Witch Project" where chicanery with the camera work demand attention that is drawn away from the lack of plot, nor is it a big budget affair with or over the top set pieces designed to distract from deficient writing.

The film is great at getting and holding scenes of tension. That is what a suspense film should do first, and it that regard I highly recommend Solo. Watch it alone, a few days before your (or your child's) next camping trip (I don't mean trip to an RV campsite, I mean real camping in the public game preserve or even your large suburban back yard) and I guarantee you'll have trouble going to sleep.

TWO STARS FOR THE WOODS

[pjkblue-35926 · 2/10 · 4 April 2021]

That's all you got here, folks.

Bushes, trees and a lake.

Totally predicable.

Just a oversized walkie-talkie to call for help?

Overthinking: if you own a camp...why would you do the "solo" thing?

That must be a crazy high insurance premium, right?

Lots of running and wandering in the woods...she's barefoot yet never steps on any sharp stones or branches - just some cut from a branch?

Ever try walking barefoot in a thick woods?

I can't even go on...it's about 90-minutes of blaaaahhh!

Ehh

[princess-fairy2010 · 6/10 · 11 April 2020]

It wasn't the best movie but I've definitely seen worse

If you do see it on sale, leave it ALONE...

[natashabowiepinky · 1/10 · 18 October 2014]

First of all, what kind of organisation forces a 17 year girl to camp on a far-off 'abandoned' island for two days ALONE (title drop) just to get a job? I'd turn them down on the spot. Here's a major surprise: The walky-talky she's given to contact the mainland in case of emergency doesn't work, and there are a couple of creepy dudes on the isle with her.

Every decision she makes lands her further in trouble, there's lot of running around in the woods and not a single person has any trace of personality. Oops I forgot... The bad guy starts off all friendly like, before becoming a LARGE HAM (Just watch that scenery get chewed), and the heroine suffers from constant flashbacks involving someone close to her dying. This contributes, by my calculation, zero to the already non-existent plot.

I HATE films like this, I really do. The sad truth in, they're ten-a-penny these days. You see them on the shelves of the 99p store, ready to shock the unwary. Made on the cheap, without any love or care, it's practically worthless. Why didn't they just donate the budget to charity? Or give it to me? For here we have a product which no-one could possibly derive any satisfaction from, a complete FAIL from every angle, an atrocity which isn't even worth talking about. So... I'll stop. 1/10

Listless

[simonwoodwrites · 2/10 · 4 January 2019]

This could have been an interesting little thriller but it's spoiled by a listless pace which spills over into the acting. Despite some good actors, they sleepwalk their way through the piece. The film undermines itself further with some poor editing and clumsy storytelling.

Had the potential to be much better...

[Mister-Creeper · 5/10 · 26 October 2013]

The name of this movie is SOLO. I expected, as the title so boldly suggests, to watch a film that focused on its lone female star being put in some sort of isolation scenario, at least for a good portion of the movie. One of her friends helps get her a gig at a camp. But before she can ultimately get the gig, she has to spend 2 nights alone at the camp's locally owned small island that seems to be only a mile from the main camp. So here comes the isolation, right? Not really. I won't give too much away, but let's just say that the supposed isolation seemed to be nothing more than an after thought.

SOLO does have high production value. The filming, acting and location are all really good. However, the story is a bit weak. While I don't feel that it is as cliché as other reviews would lead you to believe, it does feel like you've seen it before in a few other movies. Had the killer been scary, instead of pretty lame, then maybe this could have been worthy of a higher rating. Not terrible. Not great. Somewhere in the middle is my opinion. Worth at least one viewing if you have some time to kill and nothing else peaks your interest.

Tough-As-Nails Girl Takes On A Psychopath

[twelvehousetwelve · 5/10 · 5 June 2017]

There are some twists and turns, and some unexpected story line thrills. The gore rates a 5 out of 10--realistic enough but not too creepy for anybody over 14 maybe. Stellar performances from all actors involved--character personalities are quickly defined. Girl in pain from a past mistake and naturally humble, confident friend (seen only in the beginning), jaded Summer camp director, mysterious camp counselor who defies the viewer to trust him, and a smooth-talking psychopath (aren't they always?) masquerading as a fisherman. The main glitch of the film is that the girl was supposed to be on the island only one day and night, but for some reason never explained she stays on the island two days and two nights. As Psychopath Horror films go, and there are many of them, this one turns the genre squarely on its head.

Don't Camp Alone

[gwnightscream · 5/10 · 14 October 2020]

This 2013 thriller tells about a teenage girl, Gillian (Annie Clark) who starts a job as a camp counselor, but must spend 2 nights camping alone in the woods as part of her initiation. Soon, Annie finds herself in a nightmare when she's stalked by someone lurking about. This isn't bad, it has some suspenseful moments, Clark does a decent job and there's nice scenery. Give this a try if you enjoy thrillers or even horror.

Soooo Predictable

[chad-61313 · 1/10 · 9 June 2020]

Nothing original to see here. The actors did their best, but the storyline never amounted to anything. Unrealistic horseplay. The ending was predictable after watching 20m of this flick.

Don't waste your time. Seriously!

[odion2014 · 1/10 · 25 October 2013]

This was such an awful movie. I won't even bother to write a synopsis. It was just an hour or so of complete drivel and rubbish. Don't bother to download this tripe. This was such an awful movie. I won't even bother to write a synopsis. It was just an hour or so of complete drivel and rubbish. Don't bother to download this tripe. This was such an awful movie. I won't even bother to write a synopsis. It was just an hour or so of complete drivel and rubbish. Don't bother to download this tripe. This was such an awful movie. I won't even bother to write a synopsis. It was just an hour or so of complete drivel and rubbish. Don't bother to download this tripe.

NOT TOO SOLO

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 4 October 2018]

Gillian (Annie Clark) is a troubled chunky teen who is suicidal and has bad dreams. She takes meds. Gillian takes a job as a camp counselor at Camp Kaya. In order to prove she is worthy, she must spend two nights by herself on an island in the lake, one that is said to be haunted. She never seems to be solo on the island as she is visited by Fisherman Ray (Daniel Kash) one of three bad actors which include Camp owner Fred (Richard Clarkin) and his son Marty the Martian (Steven Love).

The solo act turns out to be a boring fight for her life.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Just...not....good.

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 3/10 · 9 October 2020]

Okay so Gillian gets a job as camp counselor. All counselors must spend 2 nights on this island alone. It's called her SOLO.

So chick is on the island.... and she panics and uses the RADIO which is only supposed to be for EMERGENCIES.

Then she runs into some guy camping with a tent. What is he doing there???

So anyhow she is there at night and hears stuff and goes out all scared and looks around with a flashlight. Nothing.

And then the next day she hears something and calls out and sees a figure running from or around her camp. Then someone is in her tent!!! Oh NOES IT'S JUST MARTY!!!! HE Scares Gillian and scatters her schiff everywhere!!! Oh wait, he denies scattering her schiff! Now something is missing. Her DOLL?? What the heck???

So she asks MARTY to stay!!! Please stay!!! And Marty stays. Now why are they wandering thru the woods now???

-1 Star for Wandering thru the woods aimlessly for apparently no point....

Oh they find another TENT! So many tents on this deserted island where Gillian is supposed to be SOLO!!! Marty looks in the TENT and he finds GILLIANS DOLL!! Gillian is angry!!! Now Marty hears... and wait a bunch of photos are taped to the inside of the tent!!! Marty rips them down!!! He runs off!! Gillian chases him!!! They run back to Gillians tent! Marty hides a picture! But after a COARSE questioning by GILLIAN, MARTY THINKS THAT TENT BELONGS TO HIS DAD!!

Okay so fisher hunter man shows up. they all chat. Marty goes off with fisher hunter man and gets bashed over the head. Much hilarity ensues as fisher hunter man eventually reveals himself as the bad guy.

Gillian starts to swim from the island with her phone to get a signal.. The phone is in a plastic baggie. But then when she can't get a signal she throws her phone??? So the phone is floating aorund in a plastic baggie.

-1 Star for the throwing her phone thing....

Gillian tries to trap fisher hunter man with smoke trick. It fails.

Then much fun happens between Gillian and hunter fisher man. And then Fred camp council master comes to the island and hunter fisher man bashes him good with a shovel. O rly???

But Gillian slips her bonds and runs!! Back to her tent!!! Hunter Fisher Man in hot pursuit!!! He catches her again!!! What is this like the 4th time?? She stabs him with a tent spike!!! She runs to the boat and he catches her AGAIN!! 5 TIMES?? cAN HE FINALLY FINISH HER???? NO!!! IT JUST WASN'T MEANT TO BE!!!!

SHE CREAMS HIM WITH THE BOAT ANCHOR!!!!!

And what? Marty is still alive??? She collects up Marty and the DOG, and makes a nice boat ride home.

Congratulations Gillian!! You have completed your SOLO!!!

3/10