Tags archives: Philip Gelatt
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7 years ago
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They Remain, Philip Gelatt’s adaptation of Laird Barron’s short story “--3--," is a mysterious, slow-building thriller, as disquieting as it is visually striking. With an unsettling electronic score to match Sean Kirby’s stark, atmospheric cinematography, the film is haunting and hallucinogenic, with no straightforward answers and a somewhat open-ended resolution. Anyone looking for a tidy narrative or classic horror story won’t find it here.
The story concerns two young scientists, Keith and Jessica (William Jackson Harper and Rebecca Henderson, both very good), who have been sent to investigate a secluded wooded area to find an explanation for inexplicable changes in animal behavior. They are both aware that the area was once the site of a massacre by a Manson-like cult; in Jessica’s case, the subject is an admitted obsession. Aside from being told that the mission “could make you famous,” they’re not altogether clear on the motives of their shadowy corporate employer. As the days go on and they experience increasingly disturbing phenomena, their relationship becomes fraught, veering from wary professionalism to paranoia and worse.
Camped out in a triad of high-tech geodesic domes housing a lab and sleeping quarters, Keith and Jessica at first banter philosophically about the mission and the area’s history, as they get to know each other. During the day, he goes out exploring and sets up several cameras in the woods; Jessica runs tests on specimens he brings back, but t[...]
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