DEMONS EVERYWHERE…but not really.

External Ratings (as of posting)
IMDB – 4.3/10 from 206 users
MetaCritic – TBD

Audience and Scoring:
Ross – 3.0/10
Weber – 3.0/10

Weber
First, this is a tricky movie to review. It’s bad, like whoa bad, and it may be hard to criticize the movie without also appearing to criticize the message. Overall from a marketing standpoint, the movie was terribly misrepresented by its trailer: if you are expecting an end-of-the-world, Biblical style Rapture action/survival/horror flick as the trailer would lead you to believe, steer clear. What you are treated to instead are moments of action serving as the punctuation to overly drawn-out and incredibly forceful diatribes about finding God in the post apocalyptic world. As if the large ephemeral demons slaughtering people wholesale aren’t enough proof that He exists and, by the by, is quite angry with the leftovers of humanity for not believing enough in Him.

So let’s cover the good. The directing, filmography, and sound (particularly) were well done. The direction is apparent in a distinct lack of cheesily delivered lines (as in reading out loud vs. actual line delivery) that you would expect from a typically “bad” movie.

That’s about it for the “good” parts. The script, decently delivered per the directing, is still just shy of atrocious. (It’s no Plan 9 here, but it’s probably worth the guys at MST3k taking a crack at it, for sure.) It should be noted that the director and writer are the same person, a Mr. Casey La Scala whose only other directorial credit is “Grind” released in 2003. Acting, while not terrible, falls apart when any of the performers were asked to emote beyond a vague shock at the current Rapture proceedings. I doubt any of them managed to shed a real tear during any particularly heavy moment.

As far as Christian horror movies go however, I’ve seen worse. While The Remaining may have punched its audience in the face with its message on occasion, it was still far less preachy than some things I’ve seen.

TL;DR - Don't go see this movie unless you enjoy a good echo chamber 
of the particular brand of Christianity that exists in the American mid West.

Ross
Have you ever seen a movie with a metric ton of demons coming from the sky that didn’t display that particular event in a, “cool” light? The Remaining achieved that feat today. It’s a movie that beats you over the head with a message and then seems to attempt to make it alright by showing off mild gore alongside.

Obviously I wasn’t enthused by the 83 minute Christian survival “horror” movie but that is not to say it is entirely without merit. The cinematography, while not for everyone given the occasional use of shaky cam and found footage style filmmaking, is at least of decent quality. By no means was I blown away by any camera work, but it was solid. The sound direction and music was of a higher quality as well, with trumpet blasts from the heavens coming through very distinct and jarring, oftentimes nearly deafening the characters.

That’s pretty much the end of the good in the movie. Editing was spotty and strange, with transitions in space and time for the sake of moving characters to the next setpiece moment instead of naturally. Acting across the board was stiff to say the least, and hammy in places. The writing is what does this movie it’s largest disservice, being both on the nose and at times, downright abusive to the viewer in terms of pushing a message. The message itself isn’t a problem. The key issue is the stereotypical ghosts of characters that abandon a “sinful” worldview in light of the apocalyptic events around them. That isn’t to say the transitions that they all make are unfounded, instead that none of them appear to have any true characterising qualities outside of the wrongs they’ve committed during or prior to the movie. The main characters represent a deadly sin trope at one point or another and none seem to truly resolve the problems they had, instead just choosing belief over any real progression.

TL;DR: Sound and cinematography are the only real high points in this 
faith-based thriller that assaults you with it's message.