"Dark Remains" caught my interest when I'd seen it mentioned in Fangoria magazine, and it seemed like an interesting flick. The story follows Julie and Allen, a young city couple who find their young daughter savagely murdered in her bed one night. To retreat from the stress of the city, the two move to a remote mountain cabin home for awhile. Things seem normal enough, and it is a nice house. As the relationship between the couple deteriorates, Julie spends most of her time taking photographs, and becoming fascinated with an abandoned prison near the house. But after inviting some friends over one weekend, and having a very strange experience, they realize something isn't right in the home, and uncover a series of previous, numerous deaths in the area - and they may be the next victims.
I was half surprised and half disappointed with his film, as strange as that may sound. I liked the storyline - it was an attempt at originality and it was nicely written, with a few problems here and there (mainly being with the way it all ended). The atmosphere reminded me a bit of a mixture between "The Shining" and "The Evil Dead" - I don't know if I'm crazy, but for some reason those two films kept popping into my mind as I watched this. It may have had to do with the basic setting (being an isolated cabin with a dark past) and the makeup effects on the ghosts, which was very reminiscent of "The Evil Dead". I did find the film sufficiently scary, and I was creeped out on quite a few occasions. The sets were great, and added to the film's atmosphere as well. But with these positive points, there are quite a few downfalls too.
First off, the biggest downfall in this movie was the acting. I've seen worse, but it was pretty mediocre at best, reminding me of something you'd see on a soap opera. Lines were delivered sloppily (although this may have been in part the fault of the script, because some of the written dialog was a little ridiculous), and the chemistry between the two main characters (husband and wife) just wasn't right. They seemed more like father and daughter to me, and that was a little strange. Overall, the acting was pretty flat, which is unfortunate and really hurt the movie. Along with this, there are some problems with the story too. Things don't quite "mesh" I guess you could say, and I was a little bit confused with the entire thing when it ended.
Overall, "Dark Remains" is really a mixed bag. It has some good things about it, but also some bad as well. I liked the story and the setting, and there were some really creepy things about it. But on the other hand, the acting was pretty flat and the script wasn't the best. It felt amateurish to me, although it was pretty good for being amateur. I'm not quite sure, I can't really figure out my opinion on this movie. Basically, rent it if you like indie horror films, because there is some stuff worth seeing - but there is also some stuff that you could do without that will be carried along with it. Half and half for me. 5/10.
