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.
46 Reviews
Strange Movie
robinson_al3 August 2018
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.
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.
Perhaps Too Minimalist?
gavin69428 October 2017
Two scientists who share a romantic history are tasked with investigating unnatural animal behavior on the site of a Manson Family-style cult's compound.
Laird Barron is the author of several books, including "The Croning", "The Imago Sequence", "Occultation", "The Light Is the Darkness", and "The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All". Despite this impressive list of titles, "They Remain" is the first film to be adapted from Barron's work.
In horror, there is something known as the "slow burn", a film that relies more on building a sense of tension and tone rather than a fast-paced scary, in-your-face gorefest. "They Remain" is definitely going for the slow burn method, though some might doubt whether it has been achieved. The film can fairly be described as "minimalist", and as such viewers may find there is very little actually burning. Does the thin plot pay off in the end?
Because of its screening at a Lovecraft film festival, it seems appropriate to discuss any themes that might be Lovecraftian. And indeed, the idea of there being a connection between geography and madness is very much a Lovecraft-inspired topic. In fact, this may be the most interesting part of the film: is the cult a one-off, or is there something otherworldly that causes such behavior time and time again? And if the latter, what is the cause? Lovecraft dabbled with the ideas of non-Euclidean geometry affecting areas (architecture) and radioactive meteors altering moods. But what does "They Remain" offer?
For the horror fans, there will likely be some disappointment with the average makeup effects, particularly the burn wounds in one scene. In other technical areas, the film excels. The framing, cinematography, score and so on are all top-notch. The acting is excellent, and the two leads successfully take a thin plot and carry the run time's weight.
"They Remain" debuted October 7 at the H. P Lovecraft Film Festival. It should be reaching a wider audience in the near future, presumably by late Fall 2017 via Paladin Films.
Laird Barron is the author of several books, including "The Croning", "The Imago Sequence", "Occultation", "The Light Is the Darkness", and "The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All". Despite this impressive list of titles, "They Remain" is the first film to be adapted from Barron's work.
In horror, there is something known as the "slow burn", a film that relies more on building a sense of tension and tone rather than a fast-paced scary, in-your-face gorefest. "They Remain" is definitely going for the slow burn method, though some might doubt whether it has been achieved. The film can fairly be described as "minimalist", and as such viewers may find there is very little actually burning. Does the thin plot pay off in the end?
Because of its screening at a Lovecraft film festival, it seems appropriate to discuss any themes that might be Lovecraftian. And indeed, the idea of there being a connection between geography and madness is very much a Lovecraft-inspired topic. In fact, this may be the most interesting part of the film: is the cult a one-off, or is there something otherworldly that causes such behavior time and time again? And if the latter, what is the cause? Lovecraft dabbled with the ideas of non-Euclidean geometry affecting areas (architecture) and radioactive meteors altering moods. But what does "They Remain" offer?
For the horror fans, there will likely be some disappointment with the average makeup effects, particularly the burn wounds in one scene. In other technical areas, the film excels. The framing, cinematography, score and so on are all top-notch. The acting is excellent, and the two leads successfully take a thin plot and carry the run time's weight.
"They Remain" debuted October 7 at the H. P Lovecraft Film Festival. It should be reaching a wider audience in the near future, presumably by late Fall 2017 via Paladin Films.
I start to think that the good reviews are fake
satucahayalangit4 September 2018
I watched They Remain because it looks mysterious, the synopsis mention cult, and I expect some creature or monster in the cult environment, like The Ritual. I also watched because there are many good reviews.
I never felt so disappointed after watching a movie like I felt like this. I dislike Buried and Drive because they are so boring, but this is another level of boring.
This is my first review and I just wrote to express what I felt.
I never felt so disappointed after watching a movie like I felt like this. I dislike Buried and Drive because they are so boring, but this is another level of boring.
This is my first review and I just wrote to express what I felt.
Only horror if you equate horror with nausea.
S_Soma31 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I found THEY REMAIN to be absolutely god-awful to the point of being unwatchable. Unfortunately, because of the basic genre of THEY REMAIN, it's very difficult for me to differentiate between instances of poor workmanship and the fundamental nature of the movie simply being subject matter and artistic expressions that I am innately incapable of connecting with. So, to be absolutely fair, you should take my observations, and indeed my entire review, with a grain of salt; it is entirely possible that there are people out there who might view aspects of THEY REMAIN as high art whereas I view the identical aspects as steaming, reeking manure.
The plot of THEY REMAIN is uncomplicated. Two scientists have been sent out on location to study some woods by a corporation wishing to know if there is, in those woods, "a previously uncharacterized element, genetic, environmental or otherwise. One that might change the way we view our relationship to the natural world." Essentially, a Manson-family like cult apparently went crazy and killed a lot of people, and there is also some suggestion that a CSI team subsequently sent out to study the area also went crazy. The corporation wants to know if there's something about the area causing people and animals to go crazy apparently with an eye towards profiting from it, although how they would do so is specifically never made clear, or even vaguely comprehensible. The pair of scientists live in temporary scientific-looking structures and make sorties out into the forest to gather pictures and samples to analyze. At a glacial pace, the two scientists evidently go insane themselves. Roll ending credits.
Here's a partial list of the things that made this movie particularly unenjoyable for me:
1. There's no actual music in this movie as such. What passes for music is an endless succession of synthesizer-generated noises accompanying specific scenes. Most often they are completely tuneless and repeat over and over and over and over and over again as long as the scene continues. The noises themselves are not particularly interesting or innovative or sophisticated; pretty much any fool with a synthesizer could easily create them and loop them incessantly. I cannot claim that this is a result of poor workmanship because I'm pretty certain these fingernail-on-a-chalkboard repetitive noises were absolutely intentional and aimed to create discomfort in the viewer. Not fear, not apprehension, not anticipation... discomfort.
2. There are no protagonist or antagonist as such. Therefore there is no nominal conflict as such. There's just these woods that have an unpleasant and deleterious effect on people and then the two people (the two scientists) who experience it THIS time. The two scientists, which you would sort of assume are our protagonists, aren't really. Throughout the entire picture they operate at some level of conflict with each other (and their boss and the words and life and air and...), at first just light bickering and then increasing as the "insanity" progresses.
3. Every element of the movie is characterized by no attention to any sort of detail whatsoever. It's just a collection of crap thrown at the viewer to make of what they will. There is no detail or specificity or accuracy about absolutely ANYTHING. Throughout the movie, for example, there are collections of latitude/longitude readings that prove out to be around Salem New York and crossing into The Green Mountain and Finger Lakes national forest area with altitude changes of as much as 3000 feet. The male character regularly jots out to check the cameras and take samples on hikes that would actually cover as much as 72 miles over rough and mountainous terrain and apparently does it all in a few hours. At one point in the movie he "calls for pickup" by helicopter when he is surrounded by roads. The male character finds a Winchester repeating rifle in the forest that he claims is "very old" and dates back to the 1800s. But the gun itself looks like it just came off the shelf at Walmart's. If it was 150 years or more old, having sat out on the ground in the forest all that time, it would be a rusted lump barely recognizable as a gun at all.
4. The vast majority of the movie are shots where the actors are just staring blankly at leaves or trees or nothing. Cut scenes with trippy hippie types killing people are interwoven with no explanation. Insanity is portrayed as selectively blurred images or bizarre dreams or color distortions or surrealistic images of people standing around, all with no explanations.
5. Nothing about anything is ever explained. No causes, no explanations for behavioral changes, nothing. Just unpleasant people behaving unpleasantly in unpleasant circumstances.
6. THEY REMAIN has its philosophical roots tied to H.P. Lovecraft style storytelling. Its ill defined, nauseating presentation, its every scene and word and sound intended to make you uncomfortable but otherwise bereft of traditional storytelling elements are all straight out of the H.P. Lovecraft playbook.
Again, it's entirely possible that people who are of the opinion that H.P. Lovecraft wrote good horror might actually like this movie. Personally, if you're a member of that group, and you really want to experience a top-notch, nauseating H.P. Lovecraft -like experience, OD on Ambien first, turn it up loud, then sit back and enjoy.
The plot of THEY REMAIN is uncomplicated. Two scientists have been sent out on location to study some woods by a corporation wishing to know if there is, in those woods, "a previously uncharacterized element, genetic, environmental or otherwise. One that might change the way we view our relationship to the natural world." Essentially, a Manson-family like cult apparently went crazy and killed a lot of people, and there is also some suggestion that a CSI team subsequently sent out to study the area also went crazy. The corporation wants to know if there's something about the area causing people and animals to go crazy apparently with an eye towards profiting from it, although how they would do so is specifically never made clear, or even vaguely comprehensible. The pair of scientists live in temporary scientific-looking structures and make sorties out into the forest to gather pictures and samples to analyze. At a glacial pace, the two scientists evidently go insane themselves. Roll ending credits.
Here's a partial list of the things that made this movie particularly unenjoyable for me:
1. There's no actual music in this movie as such. What passes for music is an endless succession of synthesizer-generated noises accompanying specific scenes. Most often they are completely tuneless and repeat over and over and over and over and over again as long as the scene continues. The noises themselves are not particularly interesting or innovative or sophisticated; pretty much any fool with a synthesizer could easily create them and loop them incessantly. I cannot claim that this is a result of poor workmanship because I'm pretty certain these fingernail-on-a-chalkboard repetitive noises were absolutely intentional and aimed to create discomfort in the viewer. Not fear, not apprehension, not anticipation... discomfort.
2. There are no protagonist or antagonist as such. Therefore there is no nominal conflict as such. There's just these woods that have an unpleasant and deleterious effect on people and then the two people (the two scientists) who experience it THIS time. The two scientists, which you would sort of assume are our protagonists, aren't really. Throughout the entire picture they operate at some level of conflict with each other (and their boss and the words and life and air and...), at first just light bickering and then increasing as the "insanity" progresses.
3. Every element of the movie is characterized by no attention to any sort of detail whatsoever. It's just a collection of crap thrown at the viewer to make of what they will. There is no detail or specificity or accuracy about absolutely ANYTHING. Throughout the movie, for example, there are collections of latitude/longitude readings that prove out to be around Salem New York and crossing into The Green Mountain and Finger Lakes national forest area with altitude changes of as much as 3000 feet. The male character regularly jots out to check the cameras and take samples on hikes that would actually cover as much as 72 miles over rough and mountainous terrain and apparently does it all in a few hours. At one point in the movie he "calls for pickup" by helicopter when he is surrounded by roads. The male character finds a Winchester repeating rifle in the forest that he claims is "very old" and dates back to the 1800s. But the gun itself looks like it just came off the shelf at Walmart's. If it was 150 years or more old, having sat out on the ground in the forest all that time, it would be a rusted lump barely recognizable as a gun at all.
4. The vast majority of the movie are shots where the actors are just staring blankly at leaves or trees or nothing. Cut scenes with trippy hippie types killing people are interwoven with no explanation. Insanity is portrayed as selectively blurred images or bizarre dreams or color distortions or surrealistic images of people standing around, all with no explanations.
5. Nothing about anything is ever explained. No causes, no explanations for behavioral changes, nothing. Just unpleasant people behaving unpleasantly in unpleasant circumstances.
6. THEY REMAIN has its philosophical roots tied to H.P. Lovecraft style storytelling. Its ill defined, nauseating presentation, its every scene and word and sound intended to make you uncomfortable but otherwise bereft of traditional storytelling elements are all straight out of the H.P. Lovecraft playbook.
Again, it's entirely possible that people who are of the opinion that H.P. Lovecraft wrote good horror might actually like this movie. Personally, if you're a member of that group, and you really want to experience a top-notch, nauseating H.P. Lovecraft -like experience, OD on Ambien first, turn it up loud, then sit back and enjoy.
goes nowhere, slowly
rmarkd8 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
They Remain is a move about two scientists, Keith (William Jackson Harper) and Jessica (Rebecca Henderson) who are left alone in a makeshift cabin to research a weird animal behavior in an area that used to be a cult compound. As Jessica does sciency stuff and Keith walks around, things get weirder, Jessica starts hearing things, Keith gets more paranoid. This goes into overdrive when they find a horn that seems to be an artifact of the cult members. Then they go super crazy, try to kill each other, but in the end, go into a cave to apparently join those cult members who remain -- hence the movie title.
The movie goes nowhere for the first 30 minutes, then continues to go nowhere. Weird stuff happens, the two get sexual, then try to kill each other. All of this seemingly is either due to the magic horn the uncovered, which was a centerpiece for the supposedly extinct cult, or was an effect of their location, or maybe both. But it's basically weird stuff until some semblance of a point provided at the end, where Jessica asks if Keith is there to save her or join the cult.
Other comments pointed to how this is similar to Picnic at Hanging Rock. I appreciate that comment as it makes me realize the type of movie this is and that it's not supposed to make sense. Yes, there's some magic object that causes them to go crazy, (apparently) but the how or why is a mystery.
Picnic at Hanging Rock worked for me because it starts out bucolic and almost lazy, then turns dreamy and mysterious, then goes back to reality. It's bookended with normalcy and that touch of mystery makes it fun to try to piece together what happened, then finally accept you just don't know.
Why They Remain didn't work for me is that it's just a bunch of weird stuff linked to the magic horn. Why'd Keith stare at ants? Magic horn. What's with the dreams? Magic horn. Why'd she poison him? Magic horn. Why'd she go out? Magic horn. There are no rules, no clues, just weird stuff because of magic horn. So you're left wondering what the heck is going on until pretty much the end. And, in the end, it just didn't warrant the 90 previous minutes.
4/10. I can see how some can just sit and just be absorbed in the weirdness and deliberate slowness of the movie. It's a movie where I think you either love it or hate it, so I can see alot of 1-3 or 8-10 ratings, but I can't see alot of people saying, "yeah, it's okay. I'll give it a 6". Not saying you can't, only that, more than other movies, I think this will get more love/hate then "it's okay" or "pretty good".
The movie goes nowhere for the first 30 minutes, then continues to go nowhere. Weird stuff happens, the two get sexual, then try to kill each other. All of this seemingly is either due to the magic horn the uncovered, which was a centerpiece for the supposedly extinct cult, or was an effect of their location, or maybe both. But it's basically weird stuff until some semblance of a point provided at the end, where Jessica asks if Keith is there to save her or join the cult.
Other comments pointed to how this is similar to Picnic at Hanging Rock. I appreciate that comment as it makes me realize the type of movie this is and that it's not supposed to make sense. Yes, there's some magic object that causes them to go crazy, (apparently) but the how or why is a mystery.
Picnic at Hanging Rock worked for me because it starts out bucolic and almost lazy, then turns dreamy and mysterious, then goes back to reality. It's bookended with normalcy and that touch of mystery makes it fun to try to piece together what happened, then finally accept you just don't know.
Why They Remain didn't work for me is that it's just a bunch of weird stuff linked to the magic horn. Why'd Keith stare at ants? Magic horn. What's with the dreams? Magic horn. Why'd she poison him? Magic horn. Why'd she go out? Magic horn. There are no rules, no clues, just weird stuff because of magic horn. So you're left wondering what the heck is going on until pretty much the end. And, in the end, it just didn't warrant the 90 previous minutes.
4/10. I can see how some can just sit and just be absorbed in the weirdness and deliberate slowness of the movie. It's a movie where I think you either love it or hate it, so I can see alot of 1-3 or 8-10 ratings, but I can't see alot of people saying, "yeah, it's okay. I'll give it a 6". Not saying you can't, only that, more than other movies, I think this will get more love/hate then "it's okay" or "pretty good".
Ponderous, pretentious and emotionally stunted......
s327616931 May 2018
Ponderous, pretentious and emotionally stunted, those are my lasting impressions of They Remain.
Whilst the back story holds together well enough, any promise this film might have had is wasted. This is a ponderously slow burn thriller that's laboriously wanders from vague pretentious symbolic abstraction to abstraction, offering the viewer a visual feast but a contextual famine.
The result is an aimless affair where the key characters are so caught up in the visual symbolism and inexplicable, moody, mono-tonal narrative, that any emotional range, that might have helped build the tension this thriller desperately needs, is lost.
In conclusion, a dissatisfying film, that wants to go somewhere but forgot to ask for directions. 4/10 from me.
Whilst the back story holds together well enough, any promise this film might have had is wasted. This is a ponderously slow burn thriller that's laboriously wanders from vague pretentious symbolic abstraction to abstraction, offering the viewer a visual feast but a contextual famine.
The result is an aimless affair where the key characters are so caught up in the visual symbolism and inexplicable, moody, mono-tonal narrative, that any emotional range, that might have helped build the tension this thriller desperately needs, is lost.
In conclusion, a dissatisfying film, that wants to go somewhere but forgot to ask for directions. 4/10 from me.
Less than the sum of its parts
ebeckstr-19 September 2018
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.
Interesting and a decent watch
harryhoustonastros2 March 2019
I can honestly say that this was intriguing from start to finish. It's well shot and there seemed to have been a lot of passion and talent behind the camera.
Overall it is very moody and dark. Definitely has some great moments, but anytime there is soectuacular momentum, it kind of lulls a bit.
Definitely not bad. If you're into horror thrillers, this is an okay watch
Overall it is very moody and dark. Definitely has some great moments, but anytime there is soectuacular momentum, it kind of lulls a bit.
Definitely not bad. If you're into horror thrillers, this is an okay watch
It isn't scary or fun to watch.
jegd-847-63140730 May 2018
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.
'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.
Green has never been so foreboding.
ursalav6 June 2018
They Remain is a lean and mean movie. As a lover of cosmic/weird horror I tend to like stories that bring no easy answers and create scenarios that force the viewer to work a little and play detective. The film stays very true to the original story "30" by Laird Barron and most of the dialogue came straight from the text. Both the novella and the film live in that strange sub genre of small groups of people in remote areas freaking out. Films like "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "Long Weekend" come instantly to mind in vibe for me. From the opening scene, there is a decidedly uncomfortable tension between the two characters. And having only an awkward coworker who you don't trust as your sole confident makes for a tense little slice of sci-fi/ horror. The real star of the film is the camera work, there is so much nature in this film, verdant, green and often swallowing up the actors in it. The film makes the mundane hostile, the lush greenery and daylight as oppressive as anything shot at night. The pace of the film is slow and dreamy and the score really helps create a strange un-reality. These scientists go into this assignment not sure what they are researching exactly and in doing so become the experiment. We as viewers are not privy to the corporate higher ups (or ancient evils, or cults, or who knows) that have poisoned this land and we, at the end, are left to decide for ourselves. Is the cult still active? Is the land haunted? Is there an evil giant goat looking for its sex horn? Or something else entirely? Gelatt takes the hard roads on this one, allowing characters to be unlikeable and hard to know and leaving few safe spaces for the wayward viewer. But like The VVITCH and The Blackcoat's Daughter last year and Annihilation this year, there is definitely an appetite in the horror/sci fi community for the stranger and more subtle stories within the genre. And I think They Remain succeeds on that front. Worth the watch and the thoughtfulness afterwards.
Ultimately goes nowhere, but beautifully.
blarkk9 September 2019
Finally forced myself to sit through this...
realityinmind4 August 2018
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
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
Getting tired of these pretentious horror movies..
TerribleKatherine24 November 2019
This film is slow, boring and pretentious. It's very hard to try to enjoy something that doesn't really seem to have any point. With some films the clinical way of representing the plot works but this isn't one of those. The surroundings are beautiful, but that doesn't save the film. The source of the paranoia amongst the colleagues isn't explained very well, but it's certainly boring to watch. If you want to see a meaningful horror movie with zero pretentinuousness, watch 'Midsommar' instead.
They...should go elsewhere.
RussHog29 August 2019
Bad horror movie about ..who knows? The main actor is great but poorly cast. He looks ridiculous with a gun and neither he nor the co-star say anything that sounds like what a scientists would say. We never care about the characters or what happens to them. The film is low budget. Has a bad script. It's not scary at all. And the ending is stupid. HP Lovecraft could not dream of a horror as bad as the zzz's this movie brings about.
Where is the cult????
p_neve10 June 2018
How this has scored so high and many of the reviews I do not know. Slow is not a good enough word for it, it makes me go and find a cult to join and they can put me out of my misery. But seriously I think many of the reviews are influenced by the partaking of huge amounts of spirited fruit juices, then only you are able to make it work. 2 is for the pretty scenery
So slow and boring
clovercomeaux-101585 October 2019
Mindnumbingly boring
bettillee14 November 2019
Yes I know, mindnumbingly is probably not a real word, but this movie was one of the most boring I've ever seen. I only watched it because I enjoy William Harper Jackson's performance in The Good Place, but his talents are totally wasted in this crappy movie. I watched about a half hour and knew things were not going to get any better. This is a definite don't waste your time movie.
trance like
fenbrad12 June 2018
Weird film but a good weird almost hypnotic....a dreamy atmosphere even the music is trance like. I was quite transfixed. Both of the leads were excellent. This is the type of film that leaves you to make your own conclusions...a very interesting watch!
If You Have Expectations of a Bad Movie, You Will Be Disappointed: It Is Awful
claudio_carvalho6 July 2018
"They Remain" is that type of movie without any character or situation development. The viewer sees two researchers seeking out something, somewhere in an undefined period of time and that is the mystery of the story: lack of information. Along the boring screenplay, nothing happens along 1:42 h in extremely slow pace. The Afro-American and the Caucasian have no chemistry, but they will certainly shag with each other in the last half part. And there is no explanation for the awful conclusion. Advice when most needed is least heeded but do not believe in the fake reviews and do not spend your time watching this crap. My vote is one (awful).
Title (Brazil): Not Available
Title (Brazil): Not Available
Speculative, Weird and usettling
jakewoodward-755465 June 2018
I can see why some people don't like this movie. It takes work, it demands your attention and makes nothing easy. You can't check your phone while watching this, you've got to let yourself just be with it. It's quiet and not "scary" but it is unsettling. What the hell is going on here? Is this science fiction, is it contemporary? The film is self-consciously oblique which I enjoyed; I enjoyed trying to fill in the blanks and I've enjoyed the moments when it has popped back in my head that maybe this is what something or other meant. This is one that you will have to decide for yourself; don't let anyone tell you you will or won't enjoy it, but if you like the Speculative and Weird, you should see this and make up your own mind!
Good
soheyl-989-53857217 September 2018
100 wasted minutes
onelonedolphin-3838923 October 2020
Self indulgent filmmaking doesn't begin to describe this.
dunsk1 August 2021
Let me get out of the way that I love a good contemplative mood piece. But masters of feature length mood piece films use meaningful images, perhaps have some level of narrative structure, have outstanding performances, or some amount of discernible plot points. Here when one character asks the other what is going on and the answer was I don't know, all I could think was that none of us do. Obviously even the filmmakers didn't even have a clue.
If you are going to make a go absolutely nowhere all mood film then please make it a short. One hundred and one minutes of nothing is intolerable. This filmmaker needs to grow up. Take some literature classes. Take some story structure classes. Take a class in semiotics and symbolism. Or maybe just make whatever film you want and screen for family and friends only. They love you so they will tolerate your self indulgence.
This review contains no spoilers because there are actually none to reveal. We should have been so lucky.
If you are going to make a go absolutely nowhere all mood film then please make it a short. One hundred and one minutes of nothing is intolerable. This filmmaker needs to grow up. Take some literature classes. Take some story structure classes. Take a class in semiotics and symbolism. Or maybe just make whatever film you want and screen for family and friends only. They love you so they will tolerate your self indulgence.
This review contains no spoilers because there are actually none to reveal. We should have been so lucky.
Interesting and confusing choices
xavierhollins17 February 2020
They remain had much more potential than it delivered. I kept waiting for something to happen and it just never fully came alive. As far as atmosphere and camera work, I could easily give it an 8. The problem is with the story or lack of story, any logic, and the choices made in the editing room.
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