Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Dec 18, 2011 18:25:37 GMT -5
Plot:Set in a chilling post-apocalyptic Reno, Nevada. Where two lone survivors of a bizarre accident that reduced most of the world's population to zombies, reside. The pair take refuge in a vacant casino and fight a losing battle against the undead, who grow steadily stronger, smarter and more aggressive by the minute.
Cast:
Miko Hughes
Lance Reddick
Grant Bowler
Tawny Cypress
Evalena Marie
Bobby Rice
Jessica Alexandra Green
Anthony Marks
Greg Nutcher
Cristina Santiago
Terence Schappert
Kevin Shea
Sean Leser
Arlow Wayne
John Gorham
My Thoughts:They're all beginning to look the same now.
Review:Zombie movies are the ultra hot-commodity right now. Horror as a genre is hot these days. But zombie movies more than any other sub-genre. And zombie tele-dramas like "The Walking Dead". "Steve Niles: Remains". Is yet another capitalization on the zombie sub-genre. This time around. Well. I'll be honest with you. This time around, is just like the last time. Or the last few times. Zombies?...CHECK.
Trapped Humans?...CHECK. People Drama?...CHECK. A city beseiged by the undead?...CHECK. You can insert any title you wish now and eras "Remains" from the marquee. The only thing that sets "Remains" apart from previous zombie fodder films. Is it's set in Reno Nevada. But because this is a made-for-TV (Chiller) film...it's Reno on a budget.
Which means there's a lot of building CGI, explosion CGI, and we don't get many real good shots of Reno. Sucks I know. This is the problem with doing a zombie movie on a budget. Most zombie films on a budget are done in small town settings. Or some underground bunker. But Reno Nevada? I kind of felt the settings looked so shambled, cheap, and stock-footagey that it even gave Reno, the little step-brother to older brother Las Vegas...a bad name.
So a presentation goes wrong, and causes Reno to fall under a zombie apocalypse. A group of people then band together, and hole up inside of a Reno casino. And we wait while the zombies eventually find a way inside, and begin picking them off one by one. "Remains" has a lot of Romero influences you can tell. It has people trapped by zombies. It has people fighting with other people, and of course the rogues who show up to plunder the Casino of any valuables such as guns, food, etc.
Not a lot of creativity is on display in this one. And about the only plus to this movie is seeing Miko Hughes, who played Gage in "Pet Sematary"...in something current. Sadly though, even he cannot save this movie which is burdened by so many factors. Budget which was too small. And wasn't used and implemented very well. A story which is weak on its own. And instead pulls bits, parts, and pieces from previous post-apocalyptic zombie movies.
And characters who are hard to even give a crap about. Much less root for. We get a guy and a cocktail waitressl who work at the casino. They have one of those relationships where they have sex in strange places. And then fight afterwards about how bad the other is as a human being. She calls him a douchebag, he calls her the "B" word. Ah...isn't romance grand? Then we have Miko's character who also works at the casino but seems to be the resident nice guy. Which explains why he's "dateless" in this film.
Later on, a jock-looking guy, a daddy's girl, and natural born leader type are thrown in for good measure. Or in the viewers case, bad measure. None of these characters. Except maybe the daddy's girl. Who's father is Natural Born Leader guy. Are worth pulling for in this scenario. And you even stop caring about Daddy's Girl when she falls for the movies main douchebag guy. Who is still, by the way. Banging the cocktail waitress girl. And hitting on her whenever he gets a chance. Maybe the message of this movie is lost though.
As in this couldn't have happened to a nicer group of folks? Hmm...interesting to ponder that possiblity. But I prefer to think the script was just poorly written and conceived. *Shrugs". The movie has a sizeable amount of blood, gore, goo, and other zombie movie fodder. It is violent, gory, and people do get eaten, bitten, and the like. But there are so many negatives surrounding this movie that the zombie gore does not make up for the various other issues such as a terrible screenplay. And awful characters. The finale is pretty weak also.
CGI explosions, stupid decisions made by the few characters still alive, and the audacity to tease a sequel! They've got to be kidding! I can see Chiller franchising "Remains" though. And turning it into "Anaconda". Where one or two more CGI-laden sequels are produced. "Sigh". "Remains" is a movie, that you might wanna skip. Or allow to "Remain"...on the shelf if you ever come across it at the video store.
Positives:Casting Miko Hughes to let genre fans know he's still like, a working actor. Decent-looking zombies. Lots of blood and gore.
Negatives:Bad script, awful characters. The CGI was just used abusively here. And the ending is tragically bad. Not to mention the film was a retread of atleast 6 other zombie movies. Better ones too.
Overall:Half a star out of four.