Pretty good slasher.

I enjoyed Evil Remains quite a bit, despite its apparent flaws, which are seemingly par for the course in this genre. Director James Merendino does a solid job of creating a creepy atmosphere and developing some decent suspense. The last half-hour even boasts a number of exciting, fast-paced stalk-and-slash sequences. Most surprising of all were the performances, which were all quite good, especially Estella Warren as the smart, likeable heroine. In fact, I was quite amazed by Warren's work here, since she showed no discernable acting talent in any of the other films I've seen her in.

The movie's obviously not without its flaws. Despite the solid acting, the movie does little to establish its characters, in particular two brothers with a troubled past that's brought up but dropped just as quickly in favor of some bloody slasher action. The decision to make the lead a lesbian is interesting (the only other slasher I've seen that made the same choice to make its heroine a lesbian was Deep in the Woods, but it only seemed like an excuse for nudity and sex in that flick), but it ultimately makes little difference, as Warren and Ashley Scott could merely have played best friends and no one would be the wiser (well, it does prevent Warren from having a forced romance with one of the male characters). The characters could also show a little more common sense; one guy sees a freaky-looking image on a photo he just took, but neglects to show it to anyone else as incentive to leave. Another guy leaps off the roof of the house to escape but actually ends up backing himself towards the front door!

I had mixed feelings about Merendino's use of natural lighting, which initially made it difficult to tell the male characters apart and even gave me a bit of a minor headache, but it does a reasonable job of giving the movie a stark look. This kind of lighting works best in a nighttime setting, which is only used in the opening and closing segments, but it works very well in those moments. There's also a potentially exciting chase scene through the woods that makes an abrupt segue that temporarily kills the momentum, and the whole movie ends on a somewhat anti-climactically abrupt note.

But I thought the movie was enjoyable for what it was, and certainly better than most of the straight-to-video (well, I'm not sure if this got a theatrical release or not) stuff coming out week after week.