Review of Are You in the House Alone?

I should probably start by stating that I don't regret watching "Are you in the House Alone?". On the other hand, however, if I had known from beforehand that this was primarily a family melodrama rather than a psycho stalk thriller, I never even would have bothered. The least you can say is that certain things here are slightly misleading. Yours truly is a horror fan! With such a title, film poster and plot synopsis like these, I was expecting a horror/thriller but there isn't a single casualty. I'll be the first to admit there are a few suspenseful moments and, more importantly, the film features many eerie trademarks that later would be copied & pasted in countless of other (and real) slasher movies like menacing phone calls, stalkers' notes and POV camera shots. Sadly, though, that's not what the film is aiming for. Even the whole "mystery" surrounding the stalker's identity is easy to predict, as the stare in his eyes pretty much betrays the perverted rapist quite early in the flashback already. The real story is about the - incredibly cute - teenage girl Gail Osborne of whom we learn at the very beginning of the film that she was raped in her own living room. What follows is a long flashback that clarifies how Gail arrives at a new school and quickly becomes a popular student among the male population of the school; and that includes teachers and boys. She finds disturbing little notes in her school's locker and at home she receives nasty phone calls with uncomfortable silences, creepy laughter and eventually the titular question. For some bizarre reason, there's also a totally irrelevant and dull sub-plot about Gail's father having lost his job and both her parents concealing this for their almost adult daughter. The final act, taking place after the rape, is reasonably interesting but, again, it's drama instead of thrills. Kathleen Beller is an indescribably beautiful lead girl in peril, but if you want to see a truly tense film dealing with similar themes I advise you to check out either "Black Christmas" (1974) or "When a Stranger Calls" (1979)