Shadowzone

Ah, the 80s, when Full Moon/Empire/Whatever movies still had a budget and were actually watchable. This one does it's best to remind the viewer that he has seen this story countless times. However, "Shadowzone" is competently made and directed, the cast is o.k. and the special effects are EXCELLENT for what they must have cost. It delivers the gory goods, too (nice exploding head...). Monster movie fans will surely get a kick out of this...

It's always a lot of fun to encounter a horror film with lousy production values and an overall shortage of talent, but simultaneously an incredibly ambitious plot to compensate for all that! "Shadowzone", for example, is a very cheesy and often ineptly accomplished B-horror movie, but you certainly wouldn't think so after reading the plot synopsis! J.S. Cardone, the weird guy who also made the early 80's video-nasty "The Slayer", thought up a complex premise with dream weaves, secret NASA-sponsored medical experiments and alternate dimensions … only to arrive eventually at a movie about a shape-shifting creature stalking and gruesomely killing people in an abandoned subterranean science lab. Dig this: our brain actually protects us when we sleep, because we naturally dream about horrific stuff during our nightly subconscious journey to a parallel dimension. The acclaimed Dr. Van Fleet is working hard to control and regulate this process by isolating the brain instructions. NASA is interested in the experiments, for their astronauts on future missions, but when of Dr. Van Fleet's guinea pigs dies under mysterious circumstances, Captain Hickock is sent in to investigate. When he requests to repeat the modus operandi on another living specimen, a murderous type of shape-shifting creature is unleashed and everyone is trapped down in the hermetically sealed of base. Once the monster is loose, all the pseudo-intelligent mumbo jumbo about alternate dimensions etcetera is thrown overboard and "Shadowzone" becomes an ordinary but nevertheless entertaining little horror flick. This is actually one of my first acquaintances with the works of Full Moon Studios. A friend of mine gradually intends to introduce me to this cheesy B-movie studio's greatest "classics", and I must admit he did a fairly good job starting off with "Shadowzone". The kills are inventive and the make-up effects are enjoyably nasty (there even is a delicious head-explosion). There's some welcome gratuitous nudity and wondrously hammy acting performances from washed-up cult veterans. James Hong stars as the fanatic scientist and Louise Fletcher, the unforgettable Nurse Ratched in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest", is awesome as his assistant. The finale is kind of dumb, but hey who's complaining. Good trashy fun from Full Moon.

Experiments in sleep have unleashed a monster in an underground government laboratory. A good B-movie cast (Louise Fletcher, Shawn Weatherly, James Hong) and great special effects (for what they must have cost) allow the suspense that is built to sustain til the finish. Sci-fi & horror fans should not be disappointed. Fletcher is first-rate.

J.S. Cardones' spooky and sinister low budget retread of "Alien" and "The Thing" does have some good ideas going for it as a result, and is fairly well produced and directed on a low budget.

A top secret government project (they'll never run out of those in genre movies), located deep underground, is hard at work conducting sleep related experiments. One of their subjects has died violently and a NASA captain, Hickock (David Beecroft, 'Falcon Crest') arrives to investigate. What the project team has discovered is that these experiments have opened a path to some other dimension and now a hideous creature is on the loose, a creature that will make quick work of the characters while they try to figure out how to fight back.

Even if rather routine in the end, "Shadowzone" is a good example of its genre, with Cardone creating a solid atmosphere and some decent suspense. Karen Grossmans' cinematography is quite stylish and moody, and the production design by Don Day is likewise impressive. Richard Band supplies the spooky music score. Mark Shostrom creates some appropriately nasty monster effects and gore.

A solid cast including several familiar faces is fun to watch, especially old pros like James Hong ("Big Trouble in Little China"), as the scientist in charge, and Louise Fletcher ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), as his assistant. They're old fashioned mad scientists, to be sure, but this does add to the overall comfortable predictability of the material. Co-starring are Shawn Weatherly (Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss South Carolina of 1980) as a fellow scientist, Lu Leonard ("Starman") as the tough talking cook, Miguel A. Nunez Jr. ("The Return of the Living Dead") as reliable technician Wiley, and Frederick Flynn (Cardones' "The Slayer") as agitated, panicky custodian Shivers. Some of you will be interested to note that there is some nudity provided courtesy of bit players Maureen Flaherty and Robbie Rives.

The movie begins on an effectively ominous note and is consistent in tone and pace right up until a rather underwhelming finale. It's definitely recommended if you're a lover of B movies and Full Moon productions in particular.

Seven out of 10.

I can First off say that I am a huge Full Moon Pictures Fan. There is not a Movie they make that I Don't love and want to watch over and over again. They did nothing more than Deliver another Masterpiece with "Shadow Zone". The Movie itself was very Good in all Categories. It was packed with Suspense and Very Delivering Scares. Sure, it wasn't the best Movie ever made from Full Moon (Puppet Master will always be the Greatest movie made), but probably up there in the Top Ten. I love this Movie and if you are a Full Moon Pictures or Horror Fan, you will too.

It wasn't just the Killings themselves that made the movie. It was the Sense of Reality I Felt. I felt like I was In The Movie, being chased, etc. As far as the Musical Score Goes, Don't expect Much. Just put in this Move with a Good Attitude, If you say or think you'll hate it, You most likely will.

My Final Rating: 10 out of 10 (**** out of ****)

People who liked this Movie Might like: Puppet Master, Blood Dolls, Arcade, Seed people, Night of the Living Dead, Hell Asylum, Prison of the Dead, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on elm street, as well as other Titles from Full Moon Pictures.