Dark Remains (2005) User Reviews

Very, very dark, indeed...

[mrdemail · 6/10 · 30 June 2006]

I had the luck to watch this wonderful oldskool scary-flick on the weekend-of-fear.com in Erlangen this summer. It was, like the headline already said, very dark. More then half of the movie plays in the dark. Less music - more sound- and lots of "jump"-effects. Excellent camera and a descent story about a mountain full of mysteries.

The plot is simple. The daughter of a married couple, Julie and Allen, gets murdered in the beginning by a killer in her own bed in a locked house. Strange - no murder can be found... A year later, the couple tries to escape their past and to begin a new life in a lonely mountain cabin away from the big city. But, like always, they live in a spook-house and ghosts soon appear. Julie blames herself for the death of her daughter and something evil lurks in the woods... The movie slowly begins to walk into the "poltergeist" direction just to get the "ring" turn...

Like I earlier said, the movie is dark and you can really get scared, when Julie walks straight through the woods into an abandon prison in the middle of the night just equipped with the flashlight of her camera.

If you a bored of major movies and enjoyed the recent screenplay "Silent Hill" or the haunted house tales, you we like this small independent production. The effects are placed very nicely. Not too gory and the acting is nice. Hands up for this fresh scary-movie. A good popcorn rent.

Flimsy But Creepy Indie Horror Flick.

[drownsoda90 · 5/10 · 18 March 2007]

"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.

A Promising Dark Tale With a Disappointing Resolution and Flat Performances

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 22 October 2006]

When the daughter Emma of the technical writer Allen Pyke (Greg Thompson) and the photographer Julie (Cheri Christian) is found slashed in the throat and wrists in their locked apartment, the couple decides to move to an isolated cabin in the mountains in Kingspike. Julie is very depressed and blames Allen for the death of Emma. Once in the new home, Julie sees the spirit of Emma in a photo she took in a nearby abandoned prison and she becomes obsessed shooting pictures of poltergeists. Allen is advised to move from the place by the local Jim Payne (Scott Hodges), and on May 21st, Allen finds that the former dwellers of the cabin have committed suicide, and he investigates the death in the spot and finds that many people died around May 22nd. He decides to move with Julie to a hotel, but she does not want to give up on Emma.

"Dark Remains" is a well constructed dark tale, with a great potential, but unfortunately awfully resolved. I did not like the flat performances of the Greg Thompson and Cheri Christian in the role of the lead characters. The makeup and special effects are good, considering that this is a low-budget movie, but the director uses too much the glances of spirits in the mirrors or on the back of the characters, and in the end they do not scary anymore. With some improvements in the screenplay and better performances specially of Greg Thompson this movie could be great, but my advice is to watch "Dark Remains" without great expectations, and the viewer that likes horror films might appreciate some good moments. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Espíritos do Mal" ("Evil Spirits")

Do not trust the votes and comments: It's awful!

[LaserLounge · 1/10 · 13 March 2007]

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.

Coulda been great but got confused

[BoulevardPark · 3/10 · 9 January 2009]

Acting was weak, but in a horror flick, I can live with that if the story is good. It wasn't. The initial event was an clumsy and obvious ploy to exploit most people's adoration of kids. OK, fine. Fast forward to the "place in the country" where they will recover emotionally. I like the revelation of the ghosts. OK, cool--this will be a supernatural kinda horror story, with rotting things partly in our world partly in...where ever. Then the action starts pulling like a three headed dog in a flurry of cats and birds--Is there an evil force trying to attack them directly? Is there an evil force trying to attack them INdirectly--make people do awful things they wouldn't really do? Oh, wait, no, maybe the whole REGION is some kind of psychic echo chamber where ambient discord can reverberate into murder? OK, hold on--maybe it's really just one little mentally tangled "Delbert"-style redneck boy who misses his Mommy and is on some kind of spree like a K-Tel Norman Bates knock off? Oh, yeah--extra points off: the only Black character seems to be the grandson of an "Our Gang" pullman porter. The actor plays it as straight as he can given the crummy dialogue, but the fact is, his purpose is "Y'all done betta get outa heah, Boss!" At least they wrote him smart enough to GTF outta there. The bit with the little girl being silenced and pulled away was definitely creepy, as was the chick in the shower. Those were just two of quite a few really delicious tidbits in this movie. The problem is that they are combined in disharmonious ways, like a bite of steak, a bite of chocolate and a bite of a Gummi bear. Each is great on it's own, but mixed up? Bleah! Such potential. Wasted.

Only for horror fans with too much time

[soundwall · 1/10 · 29 December 2006]

I'm writing this because I somehow felt being led to believe Dark Remains was a good movie. Whilst it's not the worst I've seen, it certainly isn't good.

A Weak script, weak actors, and weak directing. Even if they can't afford big name cast, would it be too much to ask for a more attractive lead actress? It was painful to watch a plain actress through out the film with her dull performance. The story was a cliché and poorly scripted. The special effects were minimal. The "suspense" tricks employed repetitively here were hard to swallow.

To be fair, Dark Remains is no worse than quite some of the Masters of Horrors' episodes. But not quite on par with quality movies yet. Dark Remains is only recommended for the hardcore horror fans who don't want to miss any movie in the genre, even if it's a poorly made one. As for anyone else, time should be spent on something more valuable - which should be extremely easy.

Very Very Jumpy!

[Kezzizzle · 7/10 · 19 March 2007]

Well, this film is a difficult one really. To be straight with you, this film doesn't contain much of a riveting story, nore does it make u 'want' to know how it'll end...but I'll tell you something now...never have I been as tense and jumped up before in my life! This film sure does deliver the jumps and thrills! To be fair, I did watch it at almost midnight so I was kinda sleepy anyway, so maybe that explains why I was jumpy...or maybe it's because this film does deliver in that aspect! It's basically about a couple who lose their child in a tragic event. They decide to move away and rent a cabin looking thing in the mountains...all looks peaceful and calm until they have their first visitors (i think it's it's the sister of the main character, and she brings along her husband)...during the night, the husband hears noises...checks it out, and thats when things start to go really really wrong...they don't stay for another day and tell the couple they should leave asap as something isn't right...to cut a long story short...eventually they find out what has happened in that house in the past few years and decide it needs to be taken care of.

It's not a Hollywood blockbuster, nore does it have a huge budget, but please don't let that put you off. It's creepy, tense and very very jumpy! Just give it a try :)

Too many ghosts spoil the plot

[belairjacques · 5/10 · 30 October 2006]

I saw this one at the cinénygma festival in Luxembourg. Dark Remains nearly makes it, it just tries too hard to frighten us too often. There must be 20 loud jumps with Asian style ghosts appearing everywhere. Quickly it just stops working, you stop jumping and sit waiting for the next one.

Dark Remains is also much too long, and with this running time there's no excuse for leaving questions unanswered.

In its favor, its very well shot and looks as good as many far more expensive productions, and Greg Thompson does very well as the leading man. Also a couple of the ghostly appearances (particularly the upside down crawling one) are pretty scary.

Too summarise, a different (shorter) edit could make a much more satisfying movie, but having said that, its still much better than many similar efforts.

Spotty, but well worth the rental

[BlackSox1919-1 · 7/10 · 30 December 2006]

What's Good About It: Some inventive and genuinely creepy little effects that will get under the skin of even the most seasoned horror fan. Doesn't rely on the hackneyed soundtrack stabs for its "gotcha" moments. Even if you've seen everything, there's still a few things in this film that will make your jaw drop.

What Could Have Been Better About It: The acting was, at times, flat and unconvincing. It had a "shot-on-video" quality in some places (though,it mostly achieved the atmosphere it was striving for), and the camera work is full of needless close-ups of meaningless actions. Though the effects are genuinely creepy, I think they may have gone to the well a few too many times with some of them. The ending seemed rushed, and glossed over what could have been more impactful moments. The viewer is left to figure out a lot of things for themselves, not as a challenge by the filmmakers, but because they just missed it.

Still, a good little indie horror film that is easily several steps above the average. Well worth the rental.

l.a.m.e.

[sfdjinn · 4/10 · 23 July 2008]

Granted, I'm not the connoisseur d'horror my partner is, but a well put together, clever flick is worth the time. My quibbles, in brief:

• Dialog often weak and at times unbelievable coming from the given character.

• Unconvincing acting.

• Storyline never really caught fire.

The writers plucked choice bits from half a dozen mainstream films, tossed into a kettle, simmered not nearly enough and tried feeding us poor saps the resulting mess, al'dente.

Long and short, while not absolutely terrible, it was definitely not worthy of absorbing one of my NetFlix rentals.

This is what indie horror should be like!

[laura-584 · 8/10 · 19 August 2006]

For years we've been watching every horror film that comes out, from the dull Hollywood retreads like Saw 2, to awful indie releases that are completely unmatchable... we suffer through all of bad films in hopes of finding little gems like "Dark Remains".

We managed to catch a screening of this film at Shriekfest 2005. The audience loved it and I believe it ended up winning the award for the best film.

While it may not have the budget or star power of studio films, it packs a serious punch in the creepy atmosphere and scare category. The acting and cinematography are top notch, but it's the direction that makes this film worth the view. The story and characters develop at just the right pace to provide some fantastic scares.

The editing and visual fx are also top notch. And while many horror films don't manage to use music to their benefit, the score for "Dark Remains" only adds to it's creepiness.

I know the film has shown at a bunch of festivals, but none have been near me, so I can't wait to hear when it'll finally be coming out on DVD. Trust me, even if you're sick of the current state of horror films, give this one a try... you won't regret it!

Occasionally creepy indie horror film.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 16 May 2007]

Following their daughter's brutal murder,Julie and Allen escape the city to find solace and grieve in a solitary cabin on a remote mountain.Allen's intentions are good,he wants his wife to get out of her depression by resuming her photography.Julie stumbles across an ancient prison and sees the perfect creepy,decaying setting for her photography.But when the photos are developed they are full of dead people-and Allen quickly discovers the tragic history of suicide in their new mountain."Dark Remains" is a pretty decent indie horror flick.It offers some genuine scares and plenty of tension.The acting is fairly good and the cinematography is great.7 out of 10.

Repetition is NOT scary

[giotto80 · 2/10 · 1 October 2006]

How many fricken' times do we have to see a spook walking by in the background & peaking through a mirror's reflection? It's been done in two dozen movies in recent memory & four dozen times in this choppy, poorly done film. There were only two freaky moments to appreciate....when the ghosts invaded the personal spaces of two characters. Speaking of characters, the acting was as flat as the Diet Coke in the 64 oz. cup I was drawing it from. The side characters could have been pulled from various Scooby Doo cartoons. There was the friendly, aged sheriff. There was the kooky weirdo living in the backwoods with the Alabama drawl. Lots'o'characters with no development. The most disturbing image was that of a murdered child in the beginning. But rather than explore the child's murder, which would have been interesting, they just let us know that she was dead & her parents had a hard time reconciling her death with the community & each other. When they reach the cabin, the scenes rarely flowed together....with flashing images of the dead daughter interjected here & there. Oh...and the eerie sounds were also overdone. You know what I mean....creaking doors that open by themselves, crickets in the forest, yada yada yada. Ooooohhhh. Haven't seen that before. Again, you'll see the amazing self-opening door in the movie over and over an over again. NOTE TO DIRECTOR: a scary scene is only scary if it's not repeated every 5 minutes in the same film. Think these things out before calling out "it's a wrap!"

Scowling throughout the ENTIRE movie?

[stefinipink · 2/10 · 12 January 2007]

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...

Dark Remains

[Scarecrow-88 · 4/10 · 9 October 2009]

Grieving couple move to a cabin on a mountain after the loss of their daughter, discovering that there may be ghosts haunting the place, restless spirits of past occupants who committed suicide. Julie Pyke(Cheri Christian)blames husband Allen(Greg Thompson)for the horrible death of their daughter due to leaving the door unlocked and the marriage has deteriorated because of it. Julie remains in a zombie state, eliciting next to no emotion, remote and numb, only photographing a nearby abandoned prison, finding a startling image of a ghoul girl clinging to the bars of a cell. Though Allen doesn't see anything out of the ordinary, Julie continues to take pictures and we can recognize that something isn't quite right. A local handyman, Jim Payne(Scott Hodges), a rather distant fellow who harbors a secret becomes a dangerous threat when it is revealed that his dead mother might have something to do with the haunts occurring to the Pykes. Meanwhile the neighbors who sold the Pykes the cabin find themselves victims as well, alcoholic Mr Booth's abuse to his wife coming back to haunt him. Allen will conduct an investigation into the history of his cabin, attempting to unravel the mystery about the place.

Plenty of ghosts moving about in the background in this somber supernatural tale with practically every character miserable. Cheri Christian remains so vacuous and lost, it's incredibly hard to connect with her despite the fact that you understand her plight. The acting, as is often mentioned, remains frustrating because none of the characters exactly are easy to latch on to. I guess it's supposed to be this way, under their circumstances, but the trouble I had was never being able to properly embrace the Pykes due to their constant state of aloofness. Cheri comes off as cold and detached, as I figure a mother would tend to be when you lose a child in such a way, but the icy nature left me pleading inside to embrace her which I just never could. I think the right performers, even if the characters are going through an emotional turmoil, can grab the hearts of their viewers, if a humanity reaches out to us..in this movie's case, the leads are unable to do so, for whatever reason. It could've been me, I don't know. I wanted to care for them, but nothing in the characters tugged on my heart strings. Anyway, as the film continues, Allen slowly uncovers certain truths and must defend himself against his wife who has convinced herself that their daughter is among them and she won't lose her little girl again. Jim, the unstable neighbor who believes that to stop the hauntings plaguing the area he must kill the Pykes, becomes a vital threat. The ghosts remain a central part of the movie, their presence, particularly Jim's mother, established throughout, off in the distance. The finale reveals all of them as Allen must find help for his wife while trying to thwart Jim's mission. I had a hard time getting into this one due to my unease with the leads and their characters.

Give me my money back

[Cemetarygirl · 1/10 · 8 August 2007]

Give me my money back! Give me my life back! Give me a bit of credit. This movie was vomit worthy. Useless and time consuming. What a waste of energy and totally pointless. Okay I understand the premise and the idea sound but, give us a break! Next time just give me the money and let me spend it. Lost child, mothers remorse, blamed husband! Cliché yes~! Get a life! Sorry but this movie was a total waste of my time, my money and my being. I would rather watch eggs cook! No real explanation to why this happened. Prison? Why? Loss? obvious but Why? Acting deserves a What am I doing here Oscar and the cinematography a Am I just doing this for a Wage? How much did this movie make? Well this silly fool hired a copy. Enough said

Not Great But Not Bad Either...Possible Spoilers...

[AndyVanScoyoc · 6/10 · 6 October 2008]

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.

Ridiculous movie with some good scares

[dschmeding · 3/10 · 1 September 2007]

I think I agree that a lot of the comments here must be fake. Even if the movie is not necessarily bad its definitely below average. "Dark Remains" is basically a Ghost Movie with a premise of your own ghosts and bad emotions haunting you. The movie starts off already with 2 stories loosely inter-webbed which even later are not tied together. A couple loses its child which is found slashed in its bed. They move to a country house to flee their past and guess what... the house is haunted, kind of. From here on Dark Remains starts off very slow with some scary moments indeed (The first ghost appearances are nice and the flashlight sequence also worked very good). OK, then... Woman sees ghost of daughter, other ghosts of people died in accidents or suicides appear, man tries to solve secret of houses past, woman gets depressed, strange neighbors appear. Its pretty much all been there, but the premise of it being their own emotions is nice, so you wait for the twist. There is no twist, you are just confused by a haunted house history story, the strange neighbor, a totally pointless creepy prison and the dead daughter thrown together with a photo-idea reminding me a lot of "The shutter". The end is ridiculous because when you start and end a movie this slow and with piano music its pretty lame to include some hoards of ghosts at once which look like a zombie flick, of course just to return to slow pacing and piano music.

To make it short... Dark Remains could have been a nice scary ghost story if the script was not trying to go everywhere and arriving nowhere.Too many stories mushed together which just don't make any sense and contradict in the basic atmosphere of the movie. And beside... please never use abandoned prisons again. Its so worn off and in this case it even makes no sense at all. "Hey, there is this creepy prison uphill, lets shoot there". I guess a lot of ingredients in Dark Remains were thrown in the mix like this.

What remains?

[manchester_england2004 · 2/10 · 17 February 2010]

DARK REMAINS is a low budget American horror movie that somehow managed to win 2 awards.

The plot seems to involve 2 separate strands. First, a woman commits suicide by slashing her wrists whilst bathing. Second, the young daughter of a technical writer is found with her throat slashed. The grieving couple decide to move to an isolated cabin in the mountains. It later transpires that the cabin and surrounding locations are haunted.

As the movie goes on, the 2 separate strands of story eventually converge as one might reasonably expect. However, the execution is haphazard and results in confusion that could perhaps only be resolved by multiple viewings. Unfortunately, the movie is simply not enticing enough to attract most viewers into watching it more than once.

Just about everything that could go wrong with this movie goes wrong - and fast! And the low budget cannot be used to justify all of the shortcomings found here.

I believe it would be wrong to pass judgement on the actors involved in this production as the material was simply too poor.

The characters are uninteresting as pointed out by other reviewers on this site. The badly written script introduces too many people without giving them interesting dialogue, without creating opportunities for character-driven situations and without adding depth to any of them.

The direction is uninspired. The inspiration from J-Horror movies such as RINGU, THE GRUDGE and ONE MISSED CALL is evident. Unfortunately, the directors of DARK REMAINS did not pay close attention to the style of J-Horror. J-Horror works so effectively because it plays on fear of the unknown. Tension is created by constant shifts between a bizarre situation (a ghost on a CCTV camera walking towards it for example), and the reaction of a central character who is faced with it without any warning. There is no humour or tongue-in-cheek element in these movies. Everything is played so straight and without remorse or limitations that you can't help but be convinced and captivated by it. The foreboding atmospheres set up the suspense and ensures the horror has psychological impact, very much unlike the "jump scares" used in Hollywood movies.

The directors of DARK REMAINS made a brave attempt to avoid Hollywood clichés and also successfully avoided using CGI. The homage to J-Horror could have been well intended. Unfortunately, the lack of inspiration is likely to make the viewer laugh at the supposed "scares" on the screen. The make-up effects of the "ghosts" weren't too bad given the low budget but their actions just defied logic. I was scratching my head quite a few times during this movie.

I couldn't give away the ending even if I wanted to. I simply couldn't understand it. All I could deduce was that it was something of an anti-climax.

What remains? The answer as a reviewer on a different website has pointed out is boredom. The movie is a chore to sit through. Thankfully, the pain ends after an hour and a half. However, most would probably switch off long before the end.

There are only 2 positive things I could find in this movie - the successful avoidance of scare clichés and the absence of the "f-word" in every single sentence like one would normally expect to find. This is what the 2 stars are for.

Those who like supernatural or psychological horror relating to ghosts and haunting might do well to stick to movies such as THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE CHANGELING or the J-Horror sub-genre.

If you think you have seen too many established movies and want to see an obscure ultra-low budget "R-rated" horror movie about ghosts, watch DEATH OF A GHOST HUNTER. It may not be the greatest horror movie ever made but it is surely a lot better than DARK REMAINS and does have a few genuine surprises in store.

I advise everyone to avoid DARK REMAINS like the plague.

Amazing cinematography

[lioness2010 · 8/10 · 20 January 2007]

This movie was very good. If you are one who likes to watch horror movies, I recommend it. The acting was very good although I thought that the actress playing Julie could have had more emotion behind her lines. Allan was very good and I thought the cinematography was amazing. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time while my friends were freaking out and screaming. It was a complete success in my opinion and should have made it to the big screen. I give it two thumbs up! I definitely would say that if you haven't already seen it then go rent it. If you have seen it and didn't like it go and watch it again because there are parts that were completely unreal. I also liked how a lot of the movie was filmed around and on my school's campus.

A promising film that had a lot of potential!

[Docktorluv · 4/10 · 9 February 2007]

For all of the hype about this film, I kept an open mind as to what I would ultimately think. And, although a bit slow at times, the first 90% of the movie is quite good, with more than a few "old time" scares that make one jumpy and unsettled. I actually thought the cinematography was excellent regarding many of these scenes. Where Dark Remains fails, however, is in its climax. The ending of the film and the denouement are what seems to be MILES APART from its body. The storyline completely falls on its face with an illogical conclusion and, the answer I was seeking most - what REALLY happened to Emma? - was not elucidated upon! The rationale for the negative energy was ludicrous at best, and in the end, I felt very cheated. What could have been a superb horror film was ultimately haunted by a terrible ending.

This was scary????

[ksgillihan · 2/10 · 20 June 2021]

Wow some really bland acting and terrible characters here. I won't even go into it in detail as the details don't matter in this movie! The main aspect of the movie centers around the death of the two main characters little girl and it isn't even explained at all! What? There are several ghosts that come in and out of this story and they all seem to have a connection but that isn't explained either. This movie looks like Hallmark decided to try their hand at a "scary" movie. Complete crap.

Mixed bag

[begob · 5/10 · 27 June 2015]

A grieving couple move to a remote house after the death of their daughter, but they find a deadly spirit in their new home, and the locals aren't helpful ...

The opening is grim, then the daughter dies and it's not clear if it was suicide. She's maybe 7 years old, and they discover her in bed with her wrists all bloody. Ugh. Anyway, I was reading this as a metaphor for the horrible inevitability of suicide, but it got more literal and ended up fairly spooky.

The direction/editing is plain, with a soundtrack of plinky-piano/twangly-harp, just right for TV melodrama. Lots of poor attempts at jump-scares, especially the back-fitting of a figure that wasn't there the last time you looked, the figure moving across the background. The tumbling down the stairs one worked, both times.

Greatest weakness is the script, because it doesn't combine things into each scene, and there are too many characters for such an intimate story. Plus the dialogue is weak, leaving lots of meaning on the table.

Overall, a cheesy production, but the theme is strong and sort of breaks through in the end.

OK, this one was actually scary.

[innocuous · 8/10 · 10 February 2007]

After all the crap that Hollywood (and the Indies) have churned out, we finally get a movie that delivers some scary moments. There are some clichéd moments, but I'm not sure it's possible nowadays to make an entirely original movie. There's not much new here...it's just done well.

Make sure and pay attention, as the "subtle" scares come quickly and often. This is not a movie to watch while you're eating pizza.

There's one very well-written red herring in this movie and, unfortunately, one very poorly-cast role. Cheri Christian just doesn't make an effective Julie (the wife/mother). For one thing, she's totally unsympathetic. I know, I know...she's just gone through a traumatic experience. But the viewer never gets to know her as she "normally" is and the relationship between her and her husband is rather discomforting (in an unintentional way). I think that the director had meant for us to have some sympathy for her, but I never did.

Finally, a thumbs-up for the ending, which is both disturbing and satisfying. It could easily have been cheapened with a sound effect at the beginning of the end credits, but the director wisely resisted.

This is not a masterpiece by any means, but it IS a good, old-fashioned scary movie...something that's rather rare nowadays.

Finally, an indie film that delivers some scares!!

[LAIFG · 8/10 · 9 November 2006]

Finally, an indie film that actually delivers some great scares! I see most horror films that come out... Theatrical, Straight-To-DVD, cable, etc... and most of them suck... a few are watchable... even fewer are actually good... Dark Remains is one of the good ones. I caught a screening of this film at the South Padre Island Film Festival... the audience loved it... and my wife and I loved it! Having no name actors, I assume the budget on this film was pretty low, but you wouldn't know it... the film looks fantastic... the acting totally works for the film... the story is good... and the scares are great! While most filmmakers focus solely on the scares, they often forget about story and character development, two things that help to deliver the scares more efficiently. Brian Avenet-Bradley must know that character and story are important. He develops both to the point where you care about the characters, you know the characters, and are therefore more scared when they are in danger.

Watching horror films that cost anywhere from $80 million to $5000 to make, I find "Dark Remains" to be one of the gems out there. Check this film out!