Dark Remains (2005)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Too much of everything

Just what I expected

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is one of my favourite horror movies from the west. I love horror movies and I've seen most of them, Dark Remains was the first and only horror movie that I couldn't finish watching alone. Sure it is a B-movie, but it's a good one. I loved the acting and the story. I loved the characters in it and the horror elements. Dark Remains is not a jump-scare movie, it's not very typical western horror. Dark Remains is a psychological horror movie that builds up a suspense. I was surprised to see this type of horror from the west because the western horror films is often "not scary at all" jumpscares, that are way too predictable.

Two things about this movie… Number 1: It does NOT deserve all the extreme praise it is getting. Nothing about this movie was cringe-worthy or made me jump. If anyone truly found this movie "jump-worthy" they need to get out more.Number 2: It does NOT deserve the bashings it is getting either. Personal attacks on the lead actress Cheri Christian are unwarranted and while it lacked in many areas, the ghosts at times were very cool--especially the one on the floor.Okay. I am going to do it. I said I was not going to write an IMDb review of this movie (but rather was just going to review it for my magazine, Twisted Dreams) but I lied. Here is my review.I have been waiting for three years to see this movie. I was one of the celebrity guests at the Halloween Horror Picture Show three years ago in Tampa and Dark Remains was fresh on the market and one of the movies playing. I saw the cover and was hooked.Unfortunately, I was not able to stay and watch the movie but contacted the production company after the show and asked how I could find it.Long story short, I just found it for rent a few nights ago at the local Hollywood Video. I snatched it up and eagerly watched. I tried to keep an open mind, realizing that this movie is Indie and that if I got too excited, I might be let down.While I was not impressed, I was not let down either really.Allow me to explain. Julie and Allen lose their daughter to a vicious murder. It appears that Allen thought he locked the door before bed, and when Julie got up during the night to check, it was unlocked. Okay so their daughter Emma is dead.They move to the country to a beautiful log cabin and as others have said, have a host of Deliverance type neighbors to choose from--from the scum that got them the home, to the creep down the way who lives in a remarkably nice home to have the IQ of a turnip. Not a personal attack…just stating that the effect to make him seem dim-witted wasn't bad.Then the ghosts start appearing.This is where I have mixed emotions. I am an Indie horror author myself and tend to cut other Indies (no matter what Indie path they follow) some slack. However, I do have a serious issue with many movies nowadays due to the fact that most plots are either non-existent or they are not developed. Dark Remains falls into the latter category. What could have been a good plot was simply not developed well enough.I was confused from the first shots of the movie. They were run together and made for a very confusing foundation. I had to wait until the end of the movie to figure out, "oh…that is what that scene was of!" I agree with some of the comments that the acting was flat and that there were just too many ghosts.Also the prison really was not warranted in the movie. In the special features though, it was really interesting hearing about the ghost Big Red that haunts it, and so forth. However, for the movie, it simply was useless.Though the scenery was really beautiful and if I bought a house like that cabin, the ghosts would have found themselves seriously evicted no matter how many priests I had to call, I think that the plot line needed a LOT more development rather than just rushing to the end of the movie and climaxing with, "oh and by the way…here is why there are so many ghosts." In layman's terms…it took too long to get to the real story. The movie could have been much shorter and filled in with a better story development or at least some filler that wasn't so boring…yes I said it…boring to watch.Could have been fabulous and wasn't honestly bad. Old school definitely which is a nice change…but simply took too long to get from point A to point B.

If you have ever seen a movie by Brian Avenet-Bradley and compares it to the feedbacks it gets on IMDb, you know that most of the comments and votes are faked. TRUST ME: you will be bored! People of the production team write their feedback themselves (sometimes they even admit it). But that's not enough: They also click constantly "no" whenever there is a negative comment on the movie. That's why negative critics are always placed behind the hyped ones.The movie itself is bad, bad, bad: bad acting, bad lighting, bad script, bad ending. Believe me now! If not, you will believe me later!Brian Avenet-Bradley might be quite a good business man. Otherwise it cannot be explained that he finds people who still finance his movies. (Okay, they are cheap, but nevertheless.) But as a creative person, he is a complete failure.

Okay. Look- I've seen LOTS and I do mean LOTS of these types of films. You know, the ones where the DVD cover just look SO good and scaarrryyy that you just cant WAIT to see it? Well, I got GOT again. And I'm getting' pretty tired of it. But I digress. It's pretty simple. It sucked(I know, rather juvenile) but it did. AndI SO agree with the other poster that if we had to sit through the boring thing, why oh WHY did the lead actress have to be so unnattractive?Distractingly so if I may add. And the scowl she used convey unresolved pain/grief over the death of her daughter did little help. I mean, Jesus.. Oh, but the crawling-on-her-back-demon thingee was pretty neat...