The Remains

The 3.8 rating put me off, but after reading some of the reviews that said people were being too unkind about this movie I decided to give it a try. It starts in 1891 and instantly comes across as one of those old Italian horror movies that you would rather poke your eyes with a short stick than watch any more of, but after the first ten minutes the film comes back to the modern day and stays there.

The acting is okay. The story isn't particularly original, in fact it reminds me of the first season of American Horror Story just not so good, though it's still watchable (depending on your individual standards of course). It has all the usual goings on you'd expect from a horror film, and I guess it's on a similar quality level to The Visit, but I preferred this one; maybe because I was really looking forward to The Visit and got seriously let down, whilst I had serious doubts about this one and it turned out to be not so bad as I feared.

If you watch this with the 3.8 rating in mind then you might just get pleasantly surprised. It's by no means perfect, but it kept me watching until the end and that says something as I've rolled my eyes at plenty of films in the past and have switched them off, but I made it through this one with only a few heavy sighs and a stern look or two at God for letting the makers put some things into this movie's story-line. I've given this 5/10, but it may be around a (watchable) 4.5, really.

The synopsis for "The Remains" is what lured me in, well, and also because I have always enjoyed horror movies. But I wasn't familiar with this movie prior to stumbling upon it by sheer random luck.

And now having seen it, I can check it off the list, and say that I have seen it. It wasn't a particularly impressive movie, to be bluntly honest. The movie had a huge potential, but director Thomas Della Bella didn't utilize the potential. And the few scare moments there were to be found throughout the movie ended up as being nothing impressive, mere moments that you shrugged off with a casual shake of the head.

I will say that the atmosphere in the movie was good, and Thomas Della Bella was good at building up the suspense, but he just lacked the conviction to bring it to a fulfilling climax. As such, then the movie suffered terribly, and ended up being less than mediocre.

For a horror movie, then the only really frightening thing about the movie was the lack of scary moments and things that actually made you want to turn on the light. It was a dull, slow experience if you are looking for a good scare.

The acting in "The Remains" was adequate, and it was Todd Lowe who was carrying the movie with his performance.

Usually a good horror movie also has fairly good special effects. "The Remains" hardly used any special effects. So don't expect this to be a glorious Hollywood special effects galore.

The best thing about the movie was actually the ending. That took me by surprise, and I hadn't seen that coming. So that was an upside to an otherwise flaccid and monotone movie.

"The Remains" is the type of horror movie that you watch once, then you bag and tag it, put it on the shelf, most likely never to see the light of day again.

God this movie was AWFUL!!!!

I created an account just to warn people not to spend money or time on this pile of crap!

Not a good movie at all.... TERRIBLE ACTING and overacting 🙄

If you like spoiled, bratty kids that curse, slutty teenage daughter, oblivious mourning father who's an idiot who's never heard of Google who purchases a house no questions asked then this is the movie for you...

I've always wondered during the process of shooting a movie if anyone ever says "wow this movie is really crappy, this acting is really crappy, what's the point of this movie"

So listen, the set design and style works and the basic premise is nothing special but it could work. The problem is there are many scenes that literally feel like the first take, as if actors are holding their script in their hands reading their lines out loud for the first time. It's rather painful at times and either they were short on time and could only do a couple takes, or the director needed a lot more experience directing actors. Some of the actors are in other projects and have performed much better so this really does fall onto director's responsibility. I don't recommend this movie.

The first thing you notice is the film looks cheap, the special effects are shoddy, some of the costumes look like people dressed up for Halloween, and it's a story that's been done to death. Despite the negatives it's watchable enough.

Todd Lowe is rather good as the central character, the tormented father, not unlike a young Kenneth Brannagh.

Some decent scares, although just as the film starts to get into its groove, it comes to an end.

I wouldn't watch it again, but it was a decent watch.