THE REMAINING: END OF DAYS

A number of family oriented movies based on faith have been coming out over the past year to decent reception by the public. But for the most part they deal with someone’s conversion or discovery of faith more often than not in a country setting where the most difficult temptation found is whether or not to marry the good girl or the bad one. As for faith based horror films they’re even harder to find. Not so any longer.

THE REMAINING takes the concept of purgatory found in movies like LEFT BEHIND and turns it upside down, combining it with the found footage idea to make an interesting and at times terrifying movie. Young couple Dan and Skyler are getting married. Their best friends Tommy, Jack and Allison are there to enjoy the festivities with them as are their family and other friends. After the ceremony and during the reception a loud noise erupts and the entire reception hall shakes, windows begin to shatter and people begin to fall in place on the floor apparently dead in their tracks.

In a state of panic everyone begins to wonder if we’re under some form of attack or bio-hazard. Before long they realize that this is the end of days and those who were believers have been taken to Heaven leaving the rest behind. The friends finally find one another and start to find some place safe to hole up. As they head out to the streets their barraged with falling hailstones the size of footstools, driving them into another building. When this dies down they decide to try and find a different place for shelter and a young girl named Sam joins them.

On their way to that different location something swoops down and scoops up Skyler, flying into the sky with her before dropping her in the middle of the road. Torn and broken, the group comes to her aid, picking her up and heading for the nearest building, a church. There they find a number of other survivors and as the film progresses they begin to discuss why they each think they are there, what caused them not to be taken.

As the night progresses they discover more about what it was that came down to take Skyler. They realize that the loud noise they heard from time to time was what could be Gabriel’s horn. The church is attacked by the demons they faced earlier forcing them to hide in the cellar as a last resort. Their faith is tested and in some strengthened. But will it be enough to still be saved in the end?

While I’m not a fan of found footage movies this one actually works, moving back and forth between the found footage and the standard movie style. It still makes you wonder why someone would continue to shoot a movie with everything going on around them but that’s been a big problem with all movies that use this style. Not only that but I’d love to find out just what battery these people are using for the camera and their cell phones since mine would have died long before any in this film did.

Being a movie that’s talking about the rapture and end of the world you would think the film would be preachier than it is. But the fact is that it offers a nice combination of story and discovery of faith than most. Not only that but the acting here is better than the majority of the horror films being released these days not to mention better than some major Hollywood releases. Even though you won’t recognize most of the names on view here they all do a tremendous job in this film. In addition to this being a faith based film it is also a horror film of sorts with enough jumps and scares for even the most jaded of horror fans.

In reading several reviews and comments on this film I’ve found that those without faith tend to offer the most violent and insulting critiques of the movie. Rather than base those reviews on the content of the film they instead go off on rants about religion and Christians and continue to call this propaganda rather than a movie based on the beliefs of those involved with the production. Had it been a movie with a coven of witches chanting around a campfire they’d have talked about how cool and evil that was, not because they believe in it but because it doesn’t offend their superior attitudes toward religion. If you don’t believe fine, at least take away a good story and great acting from this movie. If you do believe though you’ll get more from it. Either way it’s still a solidly made film that entertains as well as making you think.

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