THEY REMAIN (2018)

Studio:       Giant Interactive
Director:    Philip Gelatt
Writer:       Philip Gelatt
Producer:  Will Battersby, Philip Gelatt, Linus Hume
Stars:     Rebecca Henderson, William Jackson Harper

Review Score:

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Summary:

Paranoid fears overwhelm two scientists investigating animal biology at the former site of a murderous cult’s compound.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Keith and Jessica, fellow scientists with a romantic history, arrive at a remote woodland research station to investigate the lack of animal activity where a murderous, Manson Family-like cult recently lived. Keith sets up remote cameras and goes on regular canvasses to collect samples while Jessica predominantly remains in the mobile laboratory modules examining data.

Keith and Jessica learn that their company withheld information about the assignment when they uncover evidence of a previous dig. Keith’s corporate contact explains over the phone that a CSI team excavated the area, but their activities were not pertinent to the biological analysis.

Keith begins seeing brief visions of the cult. He also begins having odd encounters, including one with a German Shepherd found roaming the forest. Keith sees the dog again later when the remote cameras inexplicably switch to heat detection mode.

Jessica tells Keith that she heard knocking on the hatch door. She also shows Keith a recovered nest of insects that uncharacteristically refrained from stinging her. As strange events and hallucinations continue troubling both scientists in minor instances, Keith hears Jessica moaning oddly in the night.

Keith returns from an overnight canvas to find the lab unexpectedly empty. When she finally returns, Jessica claims to have been drawn away by someone calling her name. Jessica adds that the voice asked, “where’s your friend” in reference to Keith. Jessica tells Keith about a troubling nightmare. Keith starts wondering if a cult member might still be in the area.

Keith finds a 19th century rifle, indicating that people lived on the land before the cult. Keith and Jessica dig up surrounding ground and discover the remains of the area’s original settlers.

A helicopter pilot from the company comes to collect the skeletons. The pilot mentions that someone from the CSI team lost his mind at the site and slashed one of his research partners. Later, a report comes back from the company concluding that the settlement deaths are unrelated to Keith and Jessica’s animal activity research.

Keith and Jessica drink around a campfire while discussing their parents. Strange visions continue as the days go on.

Jessica recovers a large animal horn that she claims to have found in a cave.

As though entranced, Jessica has spontaneous sex with Keith. Jessica is missing when Keith wakes up the next day, although they later have an odd conversation over their radios. Keith experiences hallucinatory sex with Jessica near the horn.

Knocks on the module hatch wake Keith during the night. Jessica finds Keith in the morning guarding the door with a rifle.

Having discovered there was no cave where she claimed, Keith confronts Jessica for the truth about the horn. Jessica confesses that she actually found it in bushes near an anthill.

Keith sees a strange shape on a camera feed. While spying on Jessica through a riflescope as she bathes in a pond, Keith repeatedly whispers to himself, “who’s your friend?”

Keith reports to headquarters that Jessica is lying, obfuscating, and potentially dangerous. Assuring him that everything is fine, HQ refuses Keith’s request for evacuation.

Keith tries shooting the dog the next time he sees it. Keith finds the pilot’s aviator glasses while surveying the area. A voice says, “we love you” through distortion over Keith’s radio.

Keith experiences a vision of Jessica and the pilot standing at the horn with a man in a black robe. The man in the robe removes his hood to reveal he is actually Keith.

After testing his drinking water, Keith concludes that Jessica poisoned him. When he confronts her, Jessica says, “you have no idea what this is.” Keith lunges at Jessica. Jessica disfigures Keith by throwing acid on him. Keith locks himself inside one of the modules. Strange voices call for Keith through the door, including Jessica asking for help.

When Keith eventually emerges, he finds the mobile lab destroyed. Drawn outside, Keith crawls into a tight tunnel dug into a mound. Her own face scarred, Jessica kisses Keith in the darkness and asks, “did you come to save me or to join us?”

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Review:

One of the primary reasons why people consult reviews is to gauge whether or not a given film might be personally appealing.  Should that be what brought you to these words, the most pertinent thing to realize about “They Remain” is that it heavily emphasizes intangible tone over tangible action.  So if you’re someone whose preferences don’t align with the A24 aesthetic of something like “It Comes at Night” (review here) or the slow burn suspense of Ti West, understand upfront that “They Remain” will break your patience in half.

Keith and Jessica, scientists with corporate overseers as nebulously defined as their relationship, have arrived at a remote forest research station.  A Manson Family-like cult committed mass murder on the land before being captured, but now there is a curious lack of animal activity in the area.  With Keith conducting outdoor canvassing while Jessica examines data in the mobile laboratory, it falls on this two-person team to figure out why biological behaviors changed.

Odd occurrences soon start fraying nerves.  For Keith, it’s an occasional nightmarish flash or stare down with a stray dog.  For Jessica, it’s a troubling dream or knock on the hatch door when she should be alone.  Whether the cause is stir craziness or something more sinister, these two are positioned for head-on collisions with paranoia, each other, and whatever weirdness may lurk in the woods.

With only two actors and a straight arrow setup, “They Remain” is a minimalist movie in conception as well as execution.  That doesn’t mean its low budget defines the look though.  An open-air location featuring lush long shots adds visual mileage that the choking confines of a single interior couldn’t capture.  Top-grade professional commitment also ensures proper lighting, focus, set dressing, etc.  Its leanness may be misleading.  This is a case where Spartan doesn’t equal slapdash.

Because the film purposefully runs on low fuel, the roles of Keith and Jessica cannot be categorized as particularly “meaty.”  Nevertheless, Rebecca Henderson and William Jackson Harper give the duo all the depth necessary for their performances to read as authentic.  Simple, sincere work by the pair communicates characters who say more with mannerisms than they do with words.

Working from the novella “-30-“ by Laird Barron, writer/director Philip Gelatt uses suggestive horror to build his sense of subtly tightening tension.  While waiting for that slow burn to heat up, “They Remain” threatens to polarize viewers by playing tug-of-war between a traditionally linear narrative and a psychodrama woven from implied dread.  Those anxious for explanations behind the eeriness may instead encounter frustration with artfully-edited hallucination sequences that have unconventional ideas about being indirectly disturbing.  Again, this is a movie where monsters are not the main attraction.  The unidentified threat of one is.

Although effective more often than not, “They Remain” isn’t the most successful exploration of cerebral chills.  Even the slowest moments milk all the mood they can, usually with liberal assistance from appropriately unsettling music.  Tom Keohane’s infectious score earns the MVP award for lifting the lion’s share load of supplying ambiance.  But long lingers and inconsequential cutaways add up to a tax that substance doesn’t fully fund for payment.

Burdened by a 100-minute runtime that feels fat, Gelatt could have mitigated a portion of the malaise with a few more scissor snips in the editing room.  Gelatt has a handle on how he means to construct a story through atmosphere.  His sense of rhythm just doesn’t balance what is essential with what is excisable.  End results equate to a movie whose creeps feel incomplete.  Indeterminate terror certainly stirs in the movie’s ambiguous air.  However, you can’t put yourself completely in the hands of its fiction, what with pacing providing regular reminders that you must actively engage your own imagination.

Myself, I appreciate the vaguely Lovecraftian texture “They Remain” aims for, though I admit its arrows land away from the bullseye.  Muted thrills and introspective arcs mean the movie won’t strike the same sensory chords with everyone.  Consider complementing calibrated expectations with a willingness to mentally meet the movie’s effort halfway.  Then “They Remain” can, and will, act on its peripheral ability to crawl on the underside of skin.

Review Score:  60

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