A stalker places a bunch of tiny cameras inside of a beautiful young girl's apartment in an effort to learn her secrets -- and more.

Now here's a pleasant little surprise of a thriller. I don't mean the movie is pleasant, but I sure wasn't expecting from ALONE WITH HER, and it turns out the 79-minute indie is quite the dark and clever "grass-roots" experiment.

The entire film is displayed by way of the surveillance cameras that Doug (Colin Hanks) places around Amy (Ana Claudia Talancon), which sounds like a gimmick, sure, but it's a gimmick that works. First-time director Eric Nicholas is not interested in lurid displays or obvious chills, and his movie plays out with a lot of assured confidence. We start out just "kinda curious" about the stalker and his prey, but as the story moves on and Doug and Amy become semi-friends (as he constantly manipulates the playing field) ALONE WITH HER becomes pretty damn engrossing.

The two leads are quite good throughout, the video-cam "gimmick" evaporates as the simple-yet-fascinating story unfolds, and Nicholas is smart enough to know when to wrap things up. A solid indie chiller, and one that's already earned the Arrow seal of approval, so there's two thumbs up from the JoBlo crew.

Although the film was shot entirely on Hi-Def video cameras, the video quality is surprisingly strong. The flick is presented in an anamorphic widescreen ("matted") format, and it might be one of the best-looking Hi-Def movies out there.

Audio is delivered in a fine Dolby Digital 5.1 format. Optional subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

Writer/director Eric Nicholas provides a low-key and entirely informative audio commentary. He starts out by promising not to sound "like a pretentious asshole" and then proceeds to dole out tons of solid indie-shoot info.

Also included are a small handful of deleted scenes (with optional audio commentary), a creepy collection of "stalker facts" and some other WeinsteinCo. trailers.

A novel spin on an oft-told tale, ALONE WITH HER is a fine little indie indeed. What could have been just another gimmick flick turns out to be a pretty intense ride.