It’s the end of the world in I Think We’re Alone Now and Del (Peter Dinklage) is feeling fine. Well…maybe not fine, but he’s certainly made his peace with his status as seemingly the only survivor of a mysterious apocalypse that has wiped out almost all the world’s population. He is living alone and filling his days with cleaning up the town and whatever diversions he can manage.
His solitude is interrupted by the appearance of Grace (Elle Fanning), a fellow survivor who has mysteriously arrived in his town and would like his attention. Del is unwilling to accept this, though, and pushes her away.
The Posters
A lot’s happening on the first poster, which takes an artistic approach showing Del and Grace at the top of the image, him looking slightly annoyed while she’s screaming into the sky. Goldfish float around them while at the bottom we see cars left abandoned on the highway, the road flanked by fields that are covered in fresh graves. “In the end…chaos will find you” the copy reads, filled with meaning about the story.
The Trailers
There’s not much happening in the first trailer, nor is there much of the story that’s explained. We hear some of the dialogue between Del and Grace, but all we see is him walking down an empty street toward a crashed car with its alarm going off. A second teaser hits some of the same beats, but has Del stating more explicitly that he just wants to be left alone amidst all this chaos.
The first full trailer, released in late August, offers a bit more of the story. It starts by presenting a nearly empty town that Del is systematically cleaning of bodies and other refuse. When he meets Grace he’s suspicious of where she came from and how she survived and indeed there does seem to be some kind of mystery to her background, though it’s not explained here. It ends with Del going off by himself, an off-screen voice assuring him it’s alright and that it’s time to come home now.
Online and Social
There doesn’t appear to have been an official website created by Momentum, but there were Instagram, Facebook and Twitter profiles created to give the movie some online presence.
Advertising and Cross-Promotions
I haven’t seen or heard about any paid promotions for the movie.
Media and Publicity
The premise of the story and a popular cast helped the movie make the “most-anticipated” lists of films screening at the Sundance Film Festival. While there Dinklage, Fanning and the rest of the cast and crew talked about what it was that attracted them to the story, it’s themes of solitude and companionship and more. Momentum Pictures picked it up a few weeks after the festival ended.
Fanning made an appearance on “Late Night” to talk about the movie. Morano was profiled in a piece that allowed her to talk about not only the story and characters but her unique position as both director and cinematographer.
Overall
It’s really the festival buzz that makes an impression in the campaign. There’s some good stuff in the trailers and teasers and the poster certainly makes an impression, but it’s such a high concept story that the word of mouth element, where the concept can be explained a bit more thoroughly, that makes the strongest case.
That high concept will likely turn off some people along with the fact that it isn’t scheduled for wide release any time soon. What strikes me most, though, is that this is the kind of movie that Netflix has turned into a cottage industry, so it would seem to make more sense there, where it can be explored at people’s leisure.
PICKING UP THE SPARE
Peter Dinklage shares how he got involved with the movie and what he finds most interesting about how it was produced.
Editor Madeleine Gavin speaks here about how she worked to keep creating tension in the story. And director Reed Moreno offers additional thoughts on the movie, its themes ands what it means for her career so far.
Cinematic Slant 