The Remaining - B

​Quick Hit: Another found footage film that surprised me with just how effective it proved to be.

After the opening trailers of this DVD, I was terrified. Not because they were scary, but because they were the same people that were behind the atrocious War Room. I had not realized this as we planned Horror Movie Month here at DFP, but here I was about to watch it. I steeled myself and pressed play… and was treated to a decent horror movie. Surprise!

The Remaining is another found footage horror film (third one this month after Creep and The Blair Witch Project). It follows a group of young people as they attend the wedding of one of their number. Aside from the obvious plot points of unrequited love and such, you can’t much see where the film is going to take you for the first fifteen minutes. And that’s good – whereas some Christian films begin to Bible beat you from the opening salvo, The Remaining holds off, allowing suspense to build.

Even when the Rapture occurs, and people begin to drop dead, it’s still not clear to the viewing audience what is occurring. As our characters find themselves running to the safety of a church, we begin to see where the movie is going, but by this point, you have been treated to some decent CGI effects, some nice foreshadowing, and a great unseen demonic force.

The acting throughout is mixed. Some performers like Liz E. Morgan and Alexa Vega really shine, while others such as our leading male trio of Tommy, Jack, and Dan (played by Johnny Pacar, Shaun Sipos, and Bryan Dechart) lay it on a bit too thick. One of my favorite performances was that of the left behind preacher Pastor Shay, played by John Pyper-Ferguson. He illustrates the angst and fear that you would feel if you had lived the equivalent of a lie for your whole life.

This leads me to why this film is ultimately so scary: it illustrates that it could happen.

It doesn’t matter to me what you believe; despite the fact that this is called DoubleFeaturePreachers.com I’m not here to preach 

(besides about movies). But I think the movie does a great job at showing what could happen in the Rapture: the terror of being Left Behind (capitalized because the books were such a huge Christian phenomenon), the fear of unknown devils prowling the air, the sacrifice of certain people for the good of the group, etc. Whether the movie does a good job selling its point for a belief, I’m not entirely sold – but for me, it didn’t matter. The movie was enjoyable throughout.

I enjoyed The Remaining and think that most people would too. The grungy, dingy, blue-tinged city had a distinctive The 100 type feel to it, and the story was decent. I’m going to give it a “B”.

Any ideas for our upcoming 100th post? Send them in to DoubleFeaturePreachers@gmail.com!
Thanks for reading!

For more on this film, check out IMDB.