They Remain

This seems to be an attempt to create intellectual horror, or intellectual dread. There are atmospheric moments, but since the mishmash of story and backstory are ultimately incomprehensible, not in an artistic and interesting way but in the manner of incoherence, the movie is much ado about nothing. If you want an interesting and strangely suspenseful movie which moves along at a similarly deliberate pace, try Phase 4, and excellent understated science-fiction drama/eco-horror. They Remain seems to be trying to achieve something similar, but fails in ho-hum fashion.

You know a movie is not really worth it when the top reviewer has to sell you a 10/10 by justifying it with "if you don't like really good slow creeping thriller horrors that really make you think about the plot, and instead like badly written half-scary slam-bam horrors, then you won't like this movie". Basically ANYTIME a review tells you that you won't like this movie if (insert generic comparison to good movie here) or you won't like this movie if you like movies that (insert generic comparison to horrible movie here) then you just skip over that review. THAT is not a reason to like a movie. THAT is a perfect example of paid reviews or reviews by people who are inflating the score.

The good thing here is that the movie was so bad that even the score can't be inflated past a 5/10. It truly is not worth more than that. This movie does not explain any of the back story or plot, whether subtly or through exposition. The viewer is just supposed to pay attention so much that they read the minds of the writer and director. (BTW, I have seen reviews that label the writer as some sort of MASTER horror author, yet the guy hasn't sold more than 100 copies of any of his books, and none of them are rated higher than 4/5. That means that the few people who have read them still didn't think they were MASTERFUL pieces, yet now we have movie reviewers that think his books are PERFECT and that this movie is a 10/10??? Please!)

How is anyone supposed to know that these two people have a romantic history with each other? It requires reading an explanation of the movie just to know that, because based on their acting and dialogue they are just two coworkers that have been assigned a job who constantly bicker back and forth with each other. The girl is always frowning, as if she has a lemon in her mouth, and speaks without any inflection. ZERO inflection. She sounds like a robot. And the guy is always staring at things as if he is protesting the concept of blinking. These people have no emotion, no character development, NO SOUL!

Are these people investigating a cult? Or are they the last people on the planet investigating genocide? Oh, now she discovered some wasps... are they biologists looking to see if an unknown chemical killed off all of the life? Oh wait, there is a hole in the ground with a crazy fossil of an unknown species... maybe there is a monster? Are they being stalked by hands? Is it a poltergeist that can fiddle with the cameras? Does someone live by with a pet dog? I mean, CMON... pick a direction and stick with it!! Its as if the director tried everything he could to make his own story scary (this is the guy who wrote Europa Report --- good movie!). Maybe he wrote this dribble years before.

At least the last 10 minutes or so of the movie is decent. It ends on a good note, but if you spend just a few seconds thinking about it you will realize that it is the type of ending that it just written into a story because there is nowhere else to go with it. It makes no sense and there is no explanation for anything. So many questions left unanswered, but not deeply profound questions.... just annoying distractions that leave you saying "huh? this sucks".

But the bottom line here is... DO NOT TRUST ANYONE WHO GAVE THIS A 7/10, 8/10, 9/10, or 10/10...... because what they are saying is that they think this movie equates with some of the BEST MOVIES EVER MADE. (Impossible). Even (biased) Rotten Tomatoes tried to make this movie stand out with their 60% positive reviews, but you will notice that the audience reviews gave it a score that more closely resembles the score on IMDB --- 30%. And the IMDB score has to wrestle with all of these fake 8/10, 9/10, and 10/10 ratings. Imagine what this movie would be rated if you got rid of all of the fake paid reviews???? Probably a 2/10 or 3/10.

I give it 3/10 because this movie sucks. Alternate recommendation: HALLOWEEN 3: THE ONE WITHOUT MICHAEL MYERS

I read a review somewhere online that called They Remain sort of like Annihilation but with a cult. I guess that's sort of true. The basic plot is that two scientists have been sent into a forest wilderness to investigate strange animal behavior. Their area of interest also happens to be where a large cult had recently conducted its rituals (including torture and murder). But as the scientists spend more time in isolation, they become more paranoid of each other and of their surroundings. Is it something in the air? For me, this movie was pretty inscrutable - and unenjoyable - although at the very end we do get the slightest bit of closure or satisfaction. But until that time, let's just say it's a bumpy and not always interesting road they travel. We see everything through the eyes of only one of the scientists; perhaps dualling perspectives would have helped. I kept wondering when something was going to happen that made some sense, but the movie kept tantalizing me, showing me strange occurrences without any sense of context or import. In addition, there are multiple scenes of hallucinations or dreams, but it's not easy to distinguish them from the "real" scenes. The acting isn't bad, and the photography is beautiful, but the meaning was lost on me.

Right off the start I have to acknowledge how good William Jackson Harper can act. I hope the best for him, but this film isn't going to make him a household name. But don't waste your time on this movie.

'They Remain' begins with 2 people in the woods studying "unnatural animal behavior" and yet, you're left wondering where that is; There's a german shephard that shows up every now and again. There are insects that interest Rebecca Henderson's character Jessica. There's certainly a lot of "what's that mean" thrown in to make some mystery, but the only real weird behavior is between Keith & Jessica. Jessica starts hearing things early in and then both of them act like they're on drugs near the middle of the film.

To describe this film, I would have to say it's about the lost cult members of the Charles Manson family. Jessica and others in the movie belong to the famous cult and they're trying to induct Keith into the group. As I watched the story unfold I was thinking how Keith should be yelling, "Why are you messing with me?" It's obvious - Why wouldn't anyone ask this question? 'They Remain' attempts to be psychologically unnerving with dream sequences & a 60's vibe effects, but all it really does is bore. Whatever emotion the direction was trying to invoke in the audience is a complete dislike of the story. It laid out visual mysteries and fails to connect any of it to the plot. We're presented with cameras malfunctioning, a cave, a pair of giant ram horns, and ooo scary "THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THE WOODS!" You waste your time waiting for the "slow burn" because it just ends without a climax and you never want to watch it again. Really nice set up for good story telling and it fails to deliver a coherent one.

There are so many things to like about this movie.

Amazing cinematography and great visuals. The actors are very charismatic and give great performances.

I loved the style and the suspense that the director basicallly built out of nothing.

This would be a great movie for film students to study as everything about it is great except... the plot was terrible.

I have not idea what happened, why it happened or where its going. I understand that so much has been done that movie writers are looking for something new. But going nowhere is not the way to go.

Movies are supposed to be entertaining and ones that leave all questions and no answers are not that, at least for me.