What Still Remains is a 2018 thriller about a young woman, after the loss of her family, struggles to survive in a world long-since destroyed by disease.
By now, it’s a little hard to get excited about a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by (insert zombies/infected/aliens), especially in a time when young adult-themed stories continue to dominate the cinematic landscape. What more innovation could there possibly be in a genre constricted by so limiting a premise? And yet, they get churned out like chips in a factory every year, appealing to our more baser impulses, the chills and thrills luring us in with hope for something fresh.
Enter writer/director Josh Mendoza‘s take on the matter, a small budget, small cast story that serves much more as a character study than a straight-up action thriller, bending the definition of post-apocalyptic adventure right from the start. It stars Lulu Antariksa as Anna, a nineteen-year-old woman who has grown up after a viral outbreak twenty-five years prior nearly left mankind extinct. Her mother just passed and she left her younger brother behind after he injured himself (on his demands), he presumably killed or kidnapped by the roving “changed” or perhaps worse, “berserkers,” people who have clung to a brutal existence hunting the landscape for supplies and victims. Eventually, a man named Peter (Colin O’Donoghue) comes upon Anna’s small fortress and convinces her to join him at his Christian community by a lake. It seems like a paradise in the wasteland until she realizes that their interpretation of the Bible is not for her. It’s a whole new nightmare.
A rather quiet film, with sporadic encounters that would otherwise be the bulk of most in the genre, What Still Remains is more than a tale of personal survival. Anna is a resourceful girl, yes, yet not ready to try to make it in on her own. Her home is well-fortified and safe, but is leaving home with Peter better? Many films like this have their heroes venture through packs of some truly bad people, and Medoza keeps that tradition in place while layering in a bit of commentary on religious fanaticism. Are the civilized Christians any worse than the bands of berserkers just trying to survive? That’s one of a few questions that pop up as Anna finds that darkness looms wherever she goes.
Filmed on location, the wooded countryside and densely forested hills lend a terrific sense of authenticity to the film, as do a good script that puts the young Anna against a group of villains you might not expect in such a story, perhaps redefining the premise of the film entirely. Or at least our expectations. Truthfully, the film is more aligned with the story of Jonestown than Dawn of the Dead or Mad Max. Mendoza, in his feature film debut, manages to put together a few good moments of suspense, especially in the second half as things get even darker.
Look for Mimi Rogers in a small role, and some good performances all around. While it might lack the gloss of its big budget brethren, including a rousing score, What Still Remains offers an alternative to the typical end of the world flick, with some good work from Antariksa and plenty to think about from Mendoza. Strongly recommended.