THE REMAINING (Cert. 15) is claimed to be the
first-ever faith-based horror film (News,
24 October). Hardly. Universal Studio's Frankenstein
(1936) begins with a "friendly warning" regarding someone "who
sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon
God". And what about The Exorcist (1973)? Plenty of
faith-based frightening to be had there.
This new horror film might be more justified in seeing itself as
unique (at least in modern times) in taking its inspiration from
the Revelation of St John. Post-apocalypse movies such as The
Road, The Book of Eli, and 28 Days Later
attribute their dangerous characters' roaming bleak landscapes to
natural disasters or nuclear meltdown. The Remaining is
about divine judgement - or, you could say, judgementalism.
Things start to fall apart at the hotel wedding of two lapsed
Roman Catholics, Dan (Bryan Dechart) and Skylar (Alexa Vega). Amid
plagues more akin to Exodus 7-11 than the film's much-quoted
Revelation 9, certain guests are whisked off to heaven just as the
bride says "I do." Wherever did movies get the idea that couples
say that rather than "I will"? Perhaps the ensuing chaos wouldn't
have happened if they had got the vows right and married in
church.
The film argues that it is self-inflicted demons doing the
damage; but why does the Lord save only some from the Great Ordeal,
and then pick on a few hedonistic youngsters to take the rap for
the total sum of human wickedness? Either way, it doesn't put God
in a very good light, as the world subsequently turns into
hell.
These Leftovers have choices to make. Believe (but in what?) or
be damned. As the director and co- writer Casey La Scala - best
known for Donnie Darko - ratchets up the tribulations,
conversions start happening. Even so, things still get worse. It
all seems too late. The film is uncomfortable viewing if your
conclusions from scripture don't envisage the God of love as
wreaking vengeance on Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and
others who haven't accepted Jesus as their personal saviour. St
John's vision of the new heaven and new earth appears to use
contemporary apocalyptic symbolism in order to subvert it.
Arguably, his intention was not to frighten the life out of us, but
to encourage worshippers of the sovereign Lord to engage with a
tormented world and find a way through it. What kind of
compassionate Christians who have been saved could enjoy their
Rapture if, as the film has it, all "non-believers" are put through
hell?
Of course, such a theme provides an opportunity to open a
cinematic box of tricks: lots of things go crash, bang, wallop. In
this respect, this film differs little from last year's Left
Behind, and others about mass destruction.
The Remaining soft-pedals any understanding of
Revelation which would sees God's desire as for the healing of the
nations rather than their obliteration. If cinema-goers want the
equivalent of a page-turning novel, it is a romp. But the
Christianity portrayed here is based on fear of hell, not love of
Jesus.
On release from today.