Evil Remains

I rented Evil Remains because I saw James Merendino's SLC Punk and liked that film allot. I thought since SLC Punk was so clever, I bet Merendino writing and directing a horror film would be equally as such, not to mention a good idea. But in my opinion I my judgment was made premature. Evil Remains is a decent little horror flick when compared to most of the b-schlock that is out there. In fact after my initial viewing I found out that this film was at one time slated for a national release, but after the executives watched the film it quickly changed to home video. You see as negatively as I'm painting this picture for you, there is some decent acting with several fleeting minute's enjoyable slasher fun. All in all I liked this film but the storyline and ending really don't make for a great ride. But then again the films premise may have been made to avoid that feeling of a great ride. So in conclusion I liked this film, but if was to watch the film again, I wouldn't rather check out one of the great films that everyone has already viewed.

Estella Warren put on the best performance in the movie, period. There was not much more going on than a lot of idle blather. I really tried my darnedest to listen intently and learn about the five main characters as they interacted with one another, but my attention span kept flipping over to what may be in my fridge because there was absolutely nothing of interest in Evil Remains.

The opening scene allowed the movie to clearly prove it was a horror film but it also set up the tempo for the movie with that long drawn out eerie music and then the anti climax when a friend or family member jumps out rather than the serial killer.

Oh, the serial killer? Well he happens to be an abused son who retaliates by first murdering his abusive father and then his dear mom at home. The movie then flips forward several years and a student decides to do his thesis on whether the house is still haunted and whether or not the son is still alive and living on the property so many years later. The psychiatrist who assisted the disturbed killer (before he was a killer) tells the student that rumors abound of the killer living on the property and running around with a dogs head covering his face. I believe the intent of covering the killers face with a dogs head is for the audience to still have some questions in their mind as to who the killer is. Is he the abused son all grown up? Or is he actually one of the five (5) students who are out to investigate if the killer still lives. Actually four of the five students just ran their mouths so much that I didn't care whether they lived or died.

The ending was predictable and the movie continued to deteriorate from the opening scene. Estella Warren seemed to actually be fighting for her life, too bad she didn't stay away from making this movie, as it will be a blemish on her career.

A group of friends investigate an allegedly cursed plantation that was the scene of a horrific murder twenty years prior. Of course, as soon as they arrive they split up.

Strange things start happening.

EVIL REMAINS uses paranoia, claustrophobia, and the unknown to keep the atmosphere thick with dread. There's a growing sense of disorienting insanity as the trespassers find themselves in a trap that gets tighter and stickier.

Not a bad movie, though it's more unsettling than terrifying. It's best watched in total darkness as most scenes are... well, dark...

The graduation student Mark (Daniel Gillies) is developing a monograph work about contemporary myths, and he interviews the psychiatrist Dr. Theodore Rosen (Kurtwood Smith), who was treating Carl Bryce (Jeff Galpin), a deranged teenager that killed his parents twenty years ago. The body of Carl has never been found and there is an urban legend that the spot is a cursed place since slavery times, causing madness and death to those that trespass the area. Mark invites his friends Eric (Jeff Davis), Tyler (Clayne Crawford), Kristy Goodman (Estella Warren) and Sharon (Ashley Scott) to help him in his research in the old real estate. Once there, a mysterious killer starts to execute and chase the group, with the survivors trying to escape alive.

"Trespassing" is a predictable and forgettable low-budget movie, with a promising beginning and a deceptive ambiguous conclusion. The story is another rip-off of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", but with an awful handy cam that shacks and trembles the images, most of them too close and without permitting to see the surroundings. Ashley Scott performs the annoying and totally incoherent character Sharon, taking the worst possible attitudes under stress. The conclusion is ridiculous, probably with the intention of a sequel. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Invasão Mortal" ("Mortal Invasion")

Indie teen slasher actually entertains but lets itself down with a frankly criminal ending.

It is pretty much staple horror fare throughout, but it does succeed in doing what any half decent film should do, and that is to entertain the viewer.

The story here is a curse apparently engulfs an area of land where a boy allegedly slaughtered his parents. A bunch of students decide to go in and investigate the house of the atrocities and sure enough, 'crazy kids in the dark mansion' ensues and a fight for survival begins.

The characters are pretty mediocre, and fairly unconvincing, but they serve the purposes of the film acceptably. The best character is the killer, as for once he does not lumber slowly, rather, running at pace and looking capable of actually catching victims.

The direction is stable for the course, and hardly inspiring nor dull. It does its job without being anything especially flashy bar a couple of fairly interesting moments.

The plot, if you can call it that, is pure killer chase and cat and mouse. There's nothing original or exciting there.

The movie's strength is its atmosphere. It really does do a reasonable job of making the environment chilling. Sure, it's no Ring or Blair Witch et al, but there are far worse in this field than Trespassing.

Indeed, all the above would surely qualify it as a decent enough way to fill in an evening, if maybe a bit forgettable. Unfortunately, it is not forgettable thanks to an ending on a par with My Little Eye's for sheer lousiness.

Yes indeed, the conclusion of this movie is up there as one of the worst I've ever suffered. There *is* no real conclusion, and as a result you end up totally unsatisfied and replaying the last minute to see if you missed anything.

You didn't.

The ending is rushed, weak, answers nothing, and simply whimpers out, rather than giving us some kind of closure.

I feel quite cheated out of 2 hours because of that finish, I really do. A pathetic and unconsidered way to cop out of giving the audience what they actually deserve.

Thanks to it, this movie was a complete waste of time.