THEY REMAIN

THEY REMAIN MISSES MARK

Film Review by FIORE

There are many films concerning cults, like THE SACRAMENT, THE MASTER and HOLY SMOKE.  They range from thrillers, horror films, action films to documentaries.  THEY REMAIN is a new Independent film attempting to straddle two camps, posing as an action thriller, with elements of horror.  While it is an interesting view, it never succeeds in either genre.

In true indie fashion, the story is reduced to bare elements.  There are two main stars who carry the bulk of the tale.  William Jackson Harper (member of the dreaded three name people) is Keith, while Rebecca Henderson is Jessica.  These two have been working together for some time.  There seems to be tension between them, though it is never explained.   Keith and Jessica are dispatched by a nameless company to investigate and research an area previously owned by a cult.  Apparently, the cult members died in a mass suicide- murder spree and the two researchers are supposed to discover if there are any abnormalities in nature that could have caused the cult to flourish and become violent.

Why anyone would want this information, or what it could possibly be used for, remains a mystery.  Jessica is supposed to stay indoors and collate data while Keith inspects numbered areas around the base collecting samples.    Its not long before Keith is slacking and sleeping on the job, discovering a plethora of items he is not reporting to Jessica, while she is wandering away from camp and exploring things on her own.

Cinematographer Sean Kirby cuts in flashes of cult action which have no relevance to the story.  Director and screenwriter Philip Gelatt adds a sub plot of a previous cult on the same land decades ago, but the story is lost in the mishmash of events and never given true course.  Gelatt’s primary background is in comics and video games.  THEY REMAIN is more akin to one of those formats than film.

Based on a short story by Laird Barron, THEY REMAIN is a film in search of a platform.  The events unfold far too slow to rise viewer tension levels, and there are too many repetitious segments of the couple’s disintegration from a dynamic duo to a dysfunctional duet.  The few horror elements involved are effective, but minor.  The conclusion is predictable, and too abrupt to make sense.  

THEY REMAIN is a struggling Indie film, constantly striving to be a thriller or a horror tale, and never triumphing in either.  It may be a good view for those who particularly like tales of cults, but no one else.