Residue

When you've been watching a lot of prestigious award winners and Hollywood commercial blockbusters as I have then you need to change the record slightly and throw yourself in to a guilty pleasure . RESIDUE sounds like the film I might be looking for . A sort of conspiracy thriller come horror movie . In some ways it sounds like a British version of THE CRAZIES . I'll say one thing for it - it's definitely guilty . I'll say something else - it's not a pleasure

An explosion kills 246 people at a nightclub in London and the area is evacuated . Four weeks later murders and bizarre suicides start happening on the periphery of the area . Is there a connection ?

Reading this synopsis it does sound rather like a pulpy James Herbert pulpy trashy horror tale . No one involved with RESIDUE is kidding themselves they're going to winning an Oscar but there is a potential of a good seed there somewhere but instead of growing in to a mighty tree it ends up shrivelled in fungi and quickly dies

To be fair to director Alex Garcia Lopez some shots are very well framed for what is very obviously a film constrained by a very small budget . However he doesn't do anything else well at all . Everything is overdone with constant creepy music drowning out the soundtrack . It's a horror film ? Yes Alex we noticed and can you spend more time developing the story instead of the constant and non stop reminder of the genre we are watching ? What drags the film down is the dire screenplay by John Harrison . We can forgive the ridiculous idea that the government have kept a chemical weapons dump in the heart of London if it's just used to set up the story but many things wrong with the story are unforgivable . The dialogue is always on the nose , unnatural sounding especially when voice over is used and quite frankly just bloody awful . Considering the actors weren't very good to start with their job is made impossible with the tools they're given and I doubt if Anthony Hopkins , Ian Holm or Daniel Day Lewis couldn't have given much of a performance with the lines they have to spout here

Some people on this page have mentioned RESIDUE isn't in fact a stand alone feature length movie but a pilot for a much longer project . In that case let me remind everyone of the Joan Armatrading song lyric " Drop the pilot smell my perfume" because RESI-POO stinks

Overall the idea of this show is fantastic. People unknowingly developing supernatural abilities that cause disaster amongst the city, while a detective and journalist try to solve it is great. The only bad thing about this show is it is only 3 episodes in a single season. It is a total tease, the British always do this, they suck at television. That is why the It Crowd is only like four episodes a season. Learn how to do television seasons right you damn British! I mean the minimum for American television shows is at least eight episodes, some shows push for over twenty season which is freaking incredible. The fact that there are only three episodes in this entire first season is downright stupid. Overall I would give the show at least three more stars if they learned how to not tease the audience and at least did eight episodes per season.

I'm just about never the one to complain that a movie is 'too slow'. 4 hour silent Russian epic? Sign me up! But this movie got the better of me. I'm fine with slow if there's a purpose. Letting a mood or scene sink in... letting characters establish themselves... but in Residue there were loads of scenes where nothing happened and while it established a good mood/atmosphere early on... after a while it just felt like padding. Stylish and good looking, but padding nonetheless.

No surprise then that this is a pilot for a TV show. That leads me to think it's like one of those overwritten Stephen King novels that weighs in at 500+ pages when it really could have been a short story. As it is, since there is a mystery at the core of this setup it has me thinking Lost... do I really want to keep watching for some trumped up ending that won't satisfy?

Also, the characters. If it weren't a pilot then the main character would have been one of the three main ones here. As it is they're all spread thin and none of them engage. The cop doesn't do much of anything, the photographer just stares at her picture and types in her thoughts, her public relations boyfriend is the most proactive but even he doesn't get much to do.

I came away irritated... lacking good will to continue on with the series. I just expect more drawn out stylish nonsense with no real tale to tell.

They might have said before I wasted over two hours of my life that this "thing" doesn't have an ending. Three episodes for a pilot ? Seriously ? No wonder it wasn't taken up by anyone. I think they spent more of the budget on polythene than actors.

I sat through all the 3 TV episodes on Netflix in one sitting over Easter. Being a Game of Thrones fan was enough to get me to watch it plus Mr Lopez always does good stuff like Utopia and Misfits. Thought it was beautifully shot and well cast - the story left you wondering a little what really went on - but its a pilot - so you'll either want more of it or not. Hoping they'll make more. Had me hooked. Bit spooky in places. Reminded me a little of blade runner at times, but not that far in the future. I'm always looking for good new stuff on Netflix and this one did the job. I'd watch this again or the next series if they make more. Right....whats next on netflix for me to watch?