Simply Perfect

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A friend rented this movie, and he liked it so much he wants to get his own copy now. He had me watch the rental. I don't understand what he liked about it! I'm going to have to ask him.In an opening scene set twenty years in the past, as I recall, a couple is concerned about their son, who's killed a dog. I think. They both get killed by someone in a mask before the opening credits begin. Maryam D'Abo plays the mother, and does a convincing accent, assuming she's not dubbed. This scene, apart from the father wandering around a lot in his underwear, and talking talking talking, wasn't terribly bad.However, after that it's a heck of a lot more talking. In a scene with Kurtwood Smith and one of the twentysomethings, they have a conversation in which the scene continually cuts between two static one-shots. How about a different angle, or a two shot, or something to break up the monotony?A bunch of unsympathetic twentysomethings go out to the house from the opening. It's surrounded with a lot of animal traps. It's dark inside and the camera jerks around a lot. They talk a lot. People get killed, though you can barely see them. The end.Even this director's Witchcraft IV, a pretty unmemorable movie in a generally pretty poor series, was better than this.

Stop and think about it...did anyone NOT notice the "old haunted house" that on the outside looked like it just came off one of those new siding commercials, yet the inside looked abandoned? Who was mowing the lawn and taking care of the flowers by the steps - hey this is in the swamps and grass grows year long.Some of the reviewers comments, especially the ones that rated this film a "10" well, yeah, I used to smoke that stuff too before going to a movie...I was surprised to see the soundtrack in Dolby, not Ultra-Stereo or some other second rate sound system. Did anyone notice how s-l-o-w the end credits rolled and that horrible sound (some call music) that went with the end credits?

This movie is great. I really wish this didn't go straight to DVD because even though I now own it and can watch it over and over again I think that the movie would have done pretty well in theaters. I think that all the stars of this movie deserve the money from theaters seeing as how great of a job they did in this flick. Estella Warren is really the only one I think that doesn't put on a great performance.Daniel Gillies puts on an awesome performance as Mark, Clayne Crawford puts on a brilliant performance as Tyler and Ashley Scott is more brilliant than ever having her role down perfectly and easily steals the show.The killer who wears a mask made out a dogs head looks kind of cool, but not that frightening. Overall though the kills more than make up for it and the atmosphere or the movie is brilliant. I highly suggest anyone of the horror genre to go and pick this up asap.The Ending is really good as well. This is something all horror fans should enjoy.

Evil Remains references, pays homage to, or just blatantly rips off every classic as well as recently released horror movie. In the first two scenes, there are snippets of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Blair Witch Project, Jeepers Creepers, The Hills Have Eyes, The Evil Dead, Halloween, and fill in the blank, because when the credits roll you will be hard pressed to name at least one slasher film that hasn't been scavenged.Nonetheless, this is a solid if not very original movie. Director James Merendino forgot it takes a lot of humor to glue together so many disparate pieces but that doesn't stop him from referencing two similar scavenger films that were quite funny, House of 1,000 Corpses and Cabin Fever. As a result a movie that could have been good is just a cut above the average slasher flick, no pun intended. Merendino also left out another essential ingredient for this genre: T&A. This will not start a trend.The story is otherwise boilerplate slasher. Five students prowl around an abandoned plantation that is the subject of a vague legend. Four will die and one will live, and with this movie that isn't a spoiler. Two of the three male students are brothers, bonded by what apparently was a bad childhood (guess what happens before we know).Yeoman acting is bolstered by standout performances from an uncredited Kurtwood Smith as the sagacious shrink and Estella Warren and Ashley Scott as lesbians who tag along to help on the ill-defined graduate work. The on-location New Orleans scenes also lend a creepy atmosphere to this otherwise ordinary film. Yet this is somewhat offset by production and continuity flaws, which include an abandoned house that is fully lighted in one scene.