Devorados Vivos

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

On the day of the celebration of worldwide peace, there is a nuclear accident and people are turned into zombies. In Reno, a group of survivors are trapped inside a casino: Tom (Grant Bowler), his girlfriend Tori (Evalena Marie), the gay Jensen (Miko Hughes) and the stranger Victor (Anthony Marks) clean the place and stay inside with supplies for a long time. When Tom hears a transmission in the walkie talkie, he believes that help is coming and the use a searchlight to indicate their location. However, Tori suspects that the group under the leadership of Ramsey (Lance Reddick) is not what they think they are. Would her feeling be accurate or is Tori paranoid?

The trash "Remains" is a funny zombie movie despite the bad reviews. The plot is uneven, with good but also bad moments but the result does not disappoint at all. There is a hook in the conclusion for a sequel. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Devorados Vivos" ("Devoured Alive")

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.

An accident turns the world's population into flesh-eating zombies, meanwhile a handful of the survivors holdup in a small, seedy casino.

Remains (based on 'Steve Niles' graphic novel) has an interesting concept and some nice ideas including sleeping zombies. The backstreet lower end of Vegas setting add a visual, uneasy feel and the closing act and last thirty seconds stop it going to the grave.

This budgeted post-apocalyptic flick is commendably filmed by Colin Theys and is better than most productions of its kind, that said, it sadly falls short on delivery with pacing issues and uneven effects. In addition, it simply lacks the tension it should have due to inconsistencies across the whole offering.

Nevertheless, Remains is worth viewing if only out of interest and for the delightful and talented Evalena Marie.

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