One Remains (2019)

Online Screener

Directed by: Josh Hodgins

Written by: Nancy Criss, Josh Hodgins,Vanessa Leigh, Laura Megan Stahl 

Stars: Vanessa Leigh, Ryan O'Quinn, Christopher Atkins, Katelyn Gault, David Thomas Jenkins, Nicole Criss, Chandra Bond, Taylor Cole, Aaron Bennett, Brianna Heller

From the official synopsis: 

Seeking to document the accounts of an ailing eyewitness, a group of young filmmakers travel to a remote cabin where they quickly realize nothing is as it seems. Horrifying realizations lead to a race to discover the truth behind these mysterious and gruesome deaths. As the facts become more and more evasive and the body-count begins to rise we are left wondering: Will anyone survive long enough to discover the truth? As the list of possible survivors begins to dwindle, this cast of fresh-faced, up-and-comers, find themselves caught in the ultimate moral dilemma; save yourself or save your friends? Will the group survive? Who will be sacrificed? Who will be the one that remains?

"Only one can live to tell the story"

Huge thanks to Nandar pictures for letting me check out One Remains which releases this week stateside! Always a pleasure to review a 'group of people goes to shoot a documentary' style movie which is a personal love of mine - particularly one with such a tantalizingly eerie trailer!

The crew concerned travel out to a huge woodland to stay overnight and interview Samuel Mahoney, a man who found the bodies of a group of teens after they initially disappeared from the area while out hiking. The effects of making such a grisly discovery has had a profound affect on Samuel and his long suffering family and now he wants his story to be told.

However soon after the crew arrives - bickering and personal lives blowing up along the way, it becomes very clear that all is not well over at the Mahoney's - and these innocent souls are about to be sucked right into a grisly nightmare with little hope of escape.

There is a particular scene in the movie - just before all hell breaks loose - that gave me serious chills. I dont want to spoil anything so will just say that once the group go back to their accommodation and start to watch a videotape stolen from the Mahoney family well....REALLY chilling. It is then things get super messed up and I feel like the film makers have a great understanding of balance in terms of its scares and violence. It not over the top  gory but what is there is really quite nasty and wince inducing. However some scenes let the audiences imaginations do its work  and is just as effective.

I cannot rate the acting in this movie enough. There honestly isn't one weak performance from the entire cast. Vanessa Leigh is quite the find as lead character and documentary filmmaker Molly- her reactions are incredibly realistic and she has this impressively natural way with dialogue.  Ryan O'Quinn, Christopher Atkins and Taylor Cole play the Mahoney family and all three are just wonderful to watch. There are so many question marks over their intentions and motivations and all of them portray this to the- extremely tense- hilt.  Aaron Bennett plays Russell who starts out as the comic relief as such of the film but this is slowly but surely flipped as we learn more about Russell and we learn that he is a far deeper character than the crude clown he initially presents. In fact Russell goes through some truly horrifying experiences as the film moves towards its conclusion and I felt like Aaron really conveyed  terror, confusion and sadness. David Thomas Jenkins plays the remedy for the Russell's poor behavior, Michel, who is faced with constantly keeping the peace between his team members. Micheal's character has to play one of the most shocking and harrowing moments in the movie so I applaud how this comes across as I actually covered my eyes!  Chandra Bond and Nicole Criss are a hoot as the bickering sisters, and really show their range as actresses as they are forced to forget their sibling rivalry once danger engulfs them. Brianna Heller plays my favorite character of the group, Wendy, who is the presenter of the planned documentary. She has this effortless playfulness about her as she flirts her way round the group but always shows a caring and protective side to her personality

Honestly if you get a chance to check out this movie and you don't require answers to all your questions in order to appreciate it please do - its a very good reason to be afraid of the woods again! 

Here are all the links you need to find out more about the movie and buy your own copy/watch digitally:

Official movie website: http://oneremains.movie/

Official Movie Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/OneRemainsTheMovie/