Remains of the Walking Dead

I'm really getting burned out on modern day zombie films, so here we go with yet another walking dead film that sometimes is good, but for the most part falls into all the usual traps that drag these films down. Munch munch, argue argue, dwindle cast, dwindle, drama here, gut munch there, textbook doggy.

A bunch of hugely unlikeable people survive a blast of some sort in Reno and find themselves surrounded by the living dead. There's our hero (I've forgotten his name), waitress Tori (who is really annoying), a tiny magician, and a jerk. At first thing go quite well for the film as these folks try and survive various zombie attacks, but far too soon into the film it becomes obvious that we're going to get a lot of bored folk trapped in a building surrounded by the living dead. Remember that bit in Dawn of the Dead where the characters gain power over the shopping mall and realise that all those material goods mean nothing spiritually when you're under siege by zombies? Well, that happens here too, within the first half an hour.

Eventually some other survivors crop up, armed to the teeth, and there's some bickering and double crossing and what not. You've seen it hundreds of times before. Reamins doesn't do anything new really. They should have kept up the zombie attacks and kept down the interpersonal drama, because when these folk go toe-to-toe with the zombies, it's fine. When they're shouting at each other, you can't help but wonder how much time you've got left before you can switch it off. The stop start nature of the film really drags it down, despite some subtle humour and the introduction of super powered zombies.

I'm gaining nothing from watching films like this now. If anyone knows of any recent zombie films that actually do anything new – give me a shout.

I have definitely seen worse movies but given its premise Remains should've been much better. It gets brownie points for its idea, a good music score and Grant Bowler's likable lead performance. Unfortunately that's it for the good points. Remains is very poor technically, with slapdash special effects and choppy editing. The make-up also makes the zombies look goofy rather than menacing. The story had potential but doesn't come anywhere close to living up to it. It isn't dull pacing-wise as such, but the whole thing doesn't flow, there isn't much of a focus and the sense of suspense and horror just aren't there. The dialogue is truly dire, always coming across as trite and hackneyed, and the direction goes through the motions but does nothing else. The characters are as interesting as a plank of wood, and with the exception of Bowler the acting especially from Evelanda Marie does nothing to elevate that. All in all, Remains has its moments but essentially it is limp and not recommended. 4/10 Bethany Cox

If you can get past the terrible production values, poor makeup FX, and mediocre acting, you have a somewhat decent script that might have worked in better hands. The director just doesn't make the best of anything and couldn't they give them another 350k come on guys can we at least make it a solid Million Dollar budget. I don't come to expect much from a Chiller Premiere but I have come to know that on a shoe string one can make a decent compelling TV movie. While they didn't exactly have Emmy Winning Actors they had a workable cast under better directorial guidance might have given us something a bit more entertaining. Its really to bad sometimes its better to have 5 good zombies in great makeup instead of 15 that are useless untrained locals.

I can understand why a lot of people haven't rated this movie above 5. I thought this movie was pretty decent for something of a lower budget, but I'm really into the survival horror and zombie genres. If you aren't a fan of those types of movies, then it's unlikey you'll think much of this film.

Cheaply made but entertaining nonetheless. Decent setup but fell away due to dodgy characters.