Worth: $12.00
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Cast:
Megan Bell, Isabelle Weiskopf, Nicole Pritchard, Remi Webster, Tsu Shan Chambers, Django Kulak
Intro:
... those with a taste for a blend of genres will certainly get a kick out of this ...
Remnant marks the directorial debut of Australian filmmaker Mike Horan, sipping at a cocktail of sci-fi and horror tropes.
Surviving a horrific car accident that killed her parents, Grace (Megan Bell) is extremely lucky to be alive. Part of this luck is down to the machinations of Dr Adriana Stone (Tsu Shan Chambers), whose experimental brain technology has got Grace up and running again. Think Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade but with less murderous nanobots. Despite the good doctor thinking it’s been a success, there’s suggestions that not everything is okay.
Perhaps the biggest hint is the five-minute opening, which sees Grace running around the Australian outback chased down by opaque monsters and flashbacks to the crash; like she’s in the Matrix from Tom Baker’s era Doctor Who. Waking in fright on a hospital bed, Grace checks herself immediately, much to Stone’s chagrin.
Once she returns home, with the support of her friend Kate (Isabelle Weiskopf), Remnant changes gear to show off its horror credentials. Instead of rest and recuperation, Grace continues to be haunted by visions of the accident and nightmares of a mysterious hooded person stalking and slaying women. On top of that, our hero is still grieving the suicide of her friend, Sophie, while being unable to shake off the feeling that the latter’s brother Tom (Django Kulak) knows more about it then he lets on.
If this sounds like a number of sub-plots piled up like lasagne, then that’s fair. Horan’s plotting is labyrinthic and refuses to break things down easily for the audience. Once another thread is pulled involving Dr Stone stalking Grace, it’s fair to say that Remnant becomes quite dense in terms of plot.
While that’ll be off putting to some, it should be underlined just how good Remnant looks. Built on a low budget, Horan and his cinematographer Mason Grady ensure that all that’s violent certainly pops off the screen. There’s always a bit of pride when Australia is used as a backdrop to horror, and Remnant is certainly no exception.
Overall, those with a taste for a blend of genres will certainly get a kick out of this and with a mid-credit stinger suggesting some kind of sequel, there’s a lot more to come from Horan.
