HAWTHORNE — Blood spatter, creaky floors and a secluded cabin in the woods.
All of the classic tropes that one may expect to see in a suspense movie this time of year turn up in “Alone Together,” a new feature-length picture by borough native William Kresch.
Yet the movie, released this month, diverges from most Halloween film fare in that it explores societal issues on a deeper level.
Kresch, who lives in Oradell with his wife, Cassandra Kresch, and their 2-year-old son, Remy, said the nail-biter is an allegory for female empowerment and generational trauma.
“I love scary stuff,” said Kresch, 36. “I love things that test the limits of human ability and resilience.”
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Set against the backdrop of the pandemic, a woman is trapped in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend. To escape the chaos of those early days of the COVID lockdown, she reluctantly leaves Brooklyn with him to quarantine at a family cabin in remote Vermont.
Their intimacy is shattered by a host of problems. First, there is the obvious fact that the woman, played by actor DeAnna S. Wright, does not want to be there. That is compounded by her hallucinations, nightmares and overall paranoia.
The boyfriend is fighting demons, too — he witnessed the suicide of his war hero father in that very cabin.
As the tension mounts, Wright’s character discovers — despite spotty Wi-Fi — that calamity has befallen her own father back home. She also finds out that her remorseless boyfriend is spying on her by tapping her cellphone and by using surveillance cameras.
She later gets him drunk, anticipating that he will be too groggy and hungover to notice her attempt to make a break for it the next morning. But when that does not work, the plot unwinds to a violent climax.
Kresch directed the movie and co-wrote its script with his friend, A.V. Bach, whom he met at Syracuse University. In fact, most of the crew were college pals. That is the reality of indie filmmaking, he said, and trying to finance a project on a shoestring budget.
Raising money for such a movie is difficult, Kresch said, adding that it is “one of the surest things” to fail. “It’s the ultimate gamble,” he conceded.
Kresch said he was fortunate to have the backing of his hometown. Mark Fiorina, a borough resident whose family once owned Boylan Bottling Co., a Manhattan soda manufacturer known for birch beer and cane cola, helped to pay for the production, he said.
The movie is dedicated to Fiorina’s son, Christian Fiorina, who Kresch said was a constant presence on the set and a “guarantor of everything.” Tragically, he died in May 2023.
“It can’t, but haunt me,” Kresch said. “I want to share this victory with him so badly. We never could’ve made the movie without him.”
“Alone Together” debuted a year ago, at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival at the famous TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. It has won multiple awards, including best thriller feature at the Atlanta Horror Film Festival and best supernatural feature at the Philip K. Dick Film Festival in Queens.
Another achievement for the movie came just last month when Buffalo 8, a California-based film production company, acquired its worldwide rights.
Kresch, who is also a freelance EVS operator and a podcast host, said the positive reception could be the springboard he needs to continue making movies. He said he is working on another script about a female warrior whose tribal village is destroyed by miners. The story delves into a similar theme of women’s liberation, he said.
“Whether a movie is successful, or not, is decided on the page — way before anyone gets a chance to see it,” Kresch said. “It’s that script — it’s the characters and the narrative. If it exists there, it’s your job to keep it alive.”
Buy or rent “Alone Together” on Prime Video. The movie is also streaming for free on Tubi, an ad-supported online platform.
Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
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