Review of The Remaining (2014) by Chris L — 05 Sep 2014

I saw THE REMAINING yesterday! For those of you who don't know, The Remaining is a film centered around 5 friends whose lives are turned upside down and inside out when The Rapture suddenly occurs, leaving them to face the mania and chaos of complete apocalypse and by apocalypse I mean THE BIBLICAL APOCALYPSE complete with earthquakes, tornados, boiling rivers, flying demons, the works! I have been saying for the longest time that someone in Hollywood needs to green-light a biblical apocalypse movie and play it just like it is in the book. No need to jazz it up or make it sexy, just shoot what's in the book because it's absolutely terrifying just the way it is.

Well, someone finally listened to me because this is exactly what this movie is about. The Remaining takes 2001's Left Behind and fuses it with Paranormal Activity to make a really good movie for the most part. It's got a good story, a surprising level of BRUTAL violence and the way it's shot, with a mixture of different handheld styles, does a really good job of grounding the chaos of the situation and making it feel real. This movie is not all aces though. It could have really done well with better dialogue as it gets a little too preachy at points and the cast is a little underpowered which, in a way, helps to sell the indie nature of the film but it shows in the acting at points. In fact, there is a really strange introduction of one character that left not only me, but even some people in the movie itself saying "...okay?" Things come off the rails in the third act when it just inexplicably ends about 15-20 minutes shy of where you'd assume it would bringing to mind the haphazard finale of The Last Exorcism 2 which is a shame because despite it's faults, this movie really had me hooked and ready for what would come next.

All in all, The Remaining has the makings of a really good flick that even church audiences would love, it just doesn't stick the landing. Even still, I did like enough of it to recommend it so I'll give it a 3...out of 5.