Genre: Horror | Action

Air Date/Time: Friday, December 16 at 10/9c

Network: Chiller

Summary: Based on the highly acclaimed IDW Publishing graphic novel written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and illustrated by Kieron Dwyer, Remains is set in a chilling post-apocalyptic Reno, Nevada, and follows the survivors of a bizarre accident that reduced most of the world’s population to zombies. The group takes refuge in a vacant casino and fights a losing battle against the undead, who grow steadily stronger, smarter and more aggressive by the minute.

Remains stars Grant Bowler (True Blood, Ugly Betty), Lance Reddick (Fringe, Lost, The Wire), Miko Hughes (Pet Sematary), Tawny Cypress (Rescue Me, Heroes) and Evalena Marie (Are We There Yet?). Remains is written by John Doolan and directed by Colin Theys; Andrew Gernhard and Zach O’Brien serve as producers for Synthetic Cinema International.

Steve Niles said in a recent interview that he loved the TV movies of the 70s, so that when he was approached to have his Remains adapted into a TV movie, he loved the idea. I couldn’t agree more. While, like with any good production, you are left wanting to see more, the TV movie format of this production feels just right for the material. Remains is not The Walking Dead nor does it have any wish to be. This is a straight-on, no-pulling-punches, B movie-type of zombie story, and if that’s what you love, you will love this movie.

But it’s actually a little bit better than that. There were plenty of times when they could have taken an obvious route, or done something more eye rolling, but this is more – can you even say this about a zombie movie? – believable. Realistic. In the way that the characters act, and interact. Again, as Steve Niles said in the interview, if this had been a Hollywood movie, the people would have been more perfect, less flawed. The same can be said for the path of the movie. But they don’t always follow the well-worn path.

Don’t worry, though, this isn’t exactly a character study. There is plenty of EWWWW! and OH NOOOOO! and WOOO! and WHEW! along with some great surprises and a couple of straight out laughs. As gross as it is, though – it IS a zombie movie, so come on –  it isn’t a relentless gorefest. You won’t want to be eating, say, pizza, or spaghetti, but popcorn was manageable for me. In the daytime.

One of the things I like about horror productions is seeing which rules they choose to apply to the monsters. Picking and choosing (and us not knowing) helps to keep it fresh. They definitely did that here. These are not your Walking Dead zombies. They – wait, I’m not going to tell you. Like I said, learning which rules apply is part of the fun. Some of it you learn through exposition, but most of it you learn by watching, just like our non-zombie friends in the production.

Now, what about reading the graphic novel first? When people ask me if I recommend reading source material before watching a production, I always advise against it. How many times have you read a book and then seen the movie, and NOT found yourself saying during the movie “but they left out [fill in the blank].” If, on the other hand, you see (and hopefully enjoy) a movie first and then read the source book, it’s like seeing a much longer and more detailed version of something you love, which is rarely a bad thing. This allows you to enjoy both the production AND the source material.

I reassert that recommendation here, with one caveat. This time I AM recommending that you read that interview I keep mentioning, with Remains creator Steve Niles which we posted here, to get just a little bit more insight. When you have less than two hours to show something, you can easily miss some cool things. Reading what Steve has to say about Remains is will help you enjoy this movie even more than you would have otherwise. Slightly spoilery, but no more than a preview is.

So, a great B movie-type zombie show, a little too short but also not too long, gory but not relentlessly so, with slightly better-drawn characters and storyline that you might otherwise find in this sort of production. Congratulations Steve Niles on a cool TV movie. Well done, Chiller, you are very welcome in the world of original productions, and I’m looking forward to more, if you promise to keep it at this level.

I give Steve Niles’ Remains Four Out of Five Stars.