Writer: Thomas Della Bella
Director: Thomas Della Bella
Some things are best left alone
The Remains begins in 1891 at Madame Addison’s House of Spiritualism. A couple are arriving for a 3am with Madame Addison, played wonderfully in full-on-creep mode by Maria Olsen. Suffice it to say that the seance ends badly.
Jump forward today, and a family – single father, teenage daughter, two younger kids – is moving in to the same house. Creepy things start happening, but it’s when the kids find a box with items from the seance that the fun really starts. There’s an evil in the house and it’s targeting the kids, who start behaving increasingly strangely.
It’s a classic haunted house movie, which is fair enough. At first I thought I was going to enjoy it despite the lack of originality. Bella does a good job of creating atmosphere and there are some very nice shots. Unfortunately the mood is punctured rather than enhanced by the use of loud ‘jump’ music.
The problem is that the story becomes more annoying and less believable as the film progresses. The actors do a decent enough job, the trouble is the script. Eventually it all results in a final confrontation that is silly and unbelievable.
Bella has some skill as a director and editor, but he really needs to find someone else to write his scripts.