DVD Release
I’m about to say something that truly saddens me but needs to be said…truly scary horror no longer exists. Nowadays Hollywood is only interested in mining safe, secure fanbases with remakes, low budget horror filmmakers are only interested in getting picked up by a distributor and independent horror filmmakers are STILL only interested in how brutal they can be or how many masturbation jokes they can squeeze into 93 minutes.
While I do believe this has been the best damn 6 years for horror I’ve seen since the 80’s…truly scary horror is nowhere to be found. It’s like horror has forgotten how to be scary. Now…couple that with fans hardened by real world violence integrated into everyday entertainment and filmmakers interested in really creating a scary film have a major task ahead of them.
Who told Brian Avenet-Bradley he could go and make a scary movie? Doesn’t he know fans want flash edits, big name actors and CG? Doesn’t he realize his film can’t be “good” unless My Chemical Romance and Young Jeezy are on the soundtrack? Dammit, somebody stop this guy before he changes the fuckin’ face of horror!
*ahem*
Dark Remains scared me. I’m not ashamed to say it. After the film was finished I turned on lights as I walked through the house, I tucked my feet beneath the sheets so they weren’t exposed at the end of the bed and by God I had myself a good old fashioned nightmare. It was refreshing. I’m on cloud nine right now. Yeah baby back to good old fashion horror!
Julie (Cheri Christian) and Allen (Greg Thompson) is a couple on the brink of sanity and emotional ruin after their beloved daughter is discovered murdered in her own bed. No signs of forced entry indicate one of them may have accidentally left the door unlocked. Naturally, there are whispers that one of them may have murdered their own child!
Forced to take a break from the media circus and hopefully recover from their shock and grief, Allen rents a cabin in the hills for an extended stay. Julie doesn’t really take to the mountain cabin at first but soon picks up her photography again and begins taking interest in the nearby abandoned prison. What is it that draws her there?
After a family friend is startled by a terrifying apparition in the house, Allen is warned to leave the old cabin. Something is just not right there and he fears Julie and Allen aren’t safe. Not one to scare easily, Allen decides to stay though he does discover the former tenants both committed suicide in the cabin. Why had Phillip Booth (Patrick G. Keenan) not notified Allen of this prior to renting the cabin to them? What more does Allen’s strange neighbor, Jim Payne (Scott Hodges), know about the cabin’s history?
Allen decides to visit the local library and do some digging. The pattern that emerges chills him to the bone…almost all of the cabin’s residents have met with horrible demises by their own hands or by accident! Is there still time to get Julie out before whatever resides in the cabin affects them as well? What exactly is it that Julie is seeing in the house that has her wanting to stay?
Can Allen save his marriage and their lives or will he and Julie be the cabin’s next permanent residents?
Dark Remains is chilling; a true nail-biter that will have you jumping out of your seats and looking over your shoulder. This is low budget horror at its very best, crafted by a director that genuinely understands “scary.” You’ll be questioning every dark corner, empty room, mirror reflection and noise you hear in this film.
The acting in this film was just wonderful. Obviously, its low budget so not every actor is going to deliver a DeNiro performance but each and every actor turns in their very best and it shows. One never gets the feeling this is just a bunch of beer buddies with a camcorder or a couple hacks looking for a Sci-Fi Original slot. Fear is conveyed effectively and nobody comes off one-dimensional.
The “ghosts” were scary…plain and simple. They pop up everywhere and just when you think they won’t…they do. I can’t tell you how many times I jumped out of fright! To hell with people that whine about “jump scares” because the jump scare is only a cheap tactic when the film doesn’t actually build its own tension…Dark Remains does. Tension out the ying yang!
Not only do we get a damn fine film but we’re even treated to some great extras including an interesting little documentary on a real ghost and its legend surrounding the prison they shot parts of the film in. NOW THAT’S COOL!
I wouldn’t call myself a Brian Avenet-Bradley groupie or anything but I do own his two previous films and both (Cold Blood & Ghost of the Needle) are damn fine low budget endeavors. Unfortunately, Cold Blood seems to receive very little attention and Ghost of the Needle all but slipped through the cracks of obscurity over at The Asylum. What a damn shame.
Honestly, this is Brian’s best damn film. Hopefully he decides to continue making films like this because Dark Remains is what it’s all about! This is the kind of film we need to start seeing more of! I’m a very picky horror geek so it’s important for your readers to know that this film is in my top 20 horror films.
It’s that good.
