‘You Won’t Be Alone’ | Sundance 2022 Review

You Won’t Be Alone is set in an isolated mountain village in 19th-century Macedonia. There, a young mother is approached by a witch that causes her to hide away her baby for years. The witch later rediscovers the girl, and turns her into a witch as well, doomed to roam the forests, the daughter now a grown woman will need to learn as much about the world as she can if she’s to survive.

This is quite a fascinating horror film and character study, but I was immediately struck by the use of practical horror effects that immediately sets the tone for what type of witches we are dealing with. There is depth and layers to explore in this film’s interpretation of witches and I loved what we are shown here.

The performances are all nuanced and have to be for any of this to work. A lot of performers are playing the same character, so to keep those mannerisms while changing from one actor to another is a huge accomplishment. Not only the performances, but the cinematography of the mountains and forest are stunning. Perfectly paired with a horror that punches hard, fast, and in shocking ways.

The narration feels almost like it’s being whispered right behind you. Like an ASMR narrated film almost. It’s both calming and unnerving at times and may overshadow some moments in the film but overall is a strong creative choice that paid off.

This isn’t a movie you wanna go into with a big tub of popcorn, so be warned that there is a lot of disturbing imagery in this. But man, if this is the first horror film so far this Sundance, I don’t know what else could top what I’ve seen.