As the group tries to compose themselves, planes are falling from the sky and they hear a loud blast; then an earthquake begins, followed by a dangerous hail storm where huge chunks of ice are falling from the sky. What could be happening? Skylar, who was raised in a Christian family, suspects the Rapture has occurred and they are among those left behind.
As it grows dark outside, the group travels the deadly streets in search of a church that Ally had recently started attending, something Tommy knew, but Jack didn't. Along the way, they pick up a Bible from a library to confirm Skylar's suspicions and they also meet Sam (Liz E. Morgan), a spirited young girl who lost her family and decides to tag along with the group. As they near the church, they hear strange sounds and Skylar is viciously attacked by something and badly injured. When they make it into the church, Pastor Shay (John Pyper-Ferguson) confirms Skylar's worst fears. They are The Remaining. Kinda scary that the pastor himself is still around.
As Skylar's wound worsens, the group decides to seek out medical supplies to help her. As more trumpet blasts occur and things begin to deteriorate rapidly, some of the group find themselves angry at God, while others turn to Him. Secrets among the group are revealed and egos clash, but in the end, each of them will come to realize that simply being a good person wasn't enough. They will need to decide whether to choose God at great peril to themselves, or to simply wait to be killed by one of the disasters happening all around them.
The Remaining is a movie with a religious basis, so don't come into it thinking it's your typical disaster film. It's also not a Michael Bay experience, although the special effects work well enough to reasonably suspend disbelief. That being said, I really liked the way the Rapture was depicted, with folks simply falling over dead rather than floating up towards Heaven. It was far more chilling and sold the situation better, in my opinion. As for special features, there's only one deleted scene and a brief behind the scenes featurette, but they were interesting to watch and the featurette gives more insight to the ending of the film, in case you aren't quite up on your knowledge of Revelations.
The Remaining is definitely a film with a not so subtle message, but I enjoyed it, even with the proliferation of handicam scenes. I am typically not a fan of "found footage" type films, but this one opted for a blend of handicam and cinematic shots and it actually worked well for the film and made sense. If you felt the world was ending all around you, you'd probably want to record a little something for posterity, assuming there's some posterity that survives.
