Shadowzone

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.

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.

The first thing you need to know about 'Shadowzone' is that it's a blatant rip-off of a dozen other films from the same sci-fi/horror genre. The first that comes to mind is 'Alien,' but there are elements of plenty others in there, too.

It doesn't have much of a budget, which is a shame because there is a decent idea buried somewhere in it. What lets it down is that there isn't enough invested in the characters. Every one is a total stereotype and you know who'll be monster-fodder and who's going to make it from the word go.

It's about an investigator who does to a top secret military base to investigate the death of a worker. Once there, he finds the scientists are dabbling in doorways to other dimensions (never a recipe for 'happily ever after'). Then, we have a monster who - remains relatively unseen - as it bumps them off, one by one.

The acting isn't great, the special effects are stretched and what tension is pretty much directly lifted from Alien (check out the 'motion tracker' type scene which is almost totally taken from the scene in Alien where Ripley observes Dallas while he treks through the vents, plus the music which sounds almost identical).

It's not the worst 'monster-munching' movie out there. There are some nice moments here and there, but the overall vibe of 'seen it all before' outweighs what little good is there.

"Shadowzone" is a typical horror film from Full Moon Entertainment.In the underground laboratory a group of scientists are doing experiments with dreams.They accidentally kill one of the volunteers.David Beecroft is sent to investigate the death.When he arrives there,he finds out that the scientists have released a monster from a dream dimension.All of them are stuck under the ground while the monster kills them."Shadowzone" is a surprisingly well-done horror film loaded with nudity and graphic violence.The acting is decent and the characters are well-developed.The climax is disappointing,though.The film is still worth checking out,if you like bloody monster flicks.My rating:7 out of 10.

Late night TV as a kid, I would stay up in the hopes of coming across something so outrageously fun, or trashy, and that's how I initially came across this Full Moon production. This and "CRASH AND BURN" seemed to be on a loop every couple of months, becoming a staple of my late-night TV habits. Actually it's been quite awhile since I've last watched "SHADOWZONE", maybe around 15 years. My memory was rather fuzzy, but watching this little b-film again, after all these years. It remained a diverting, down-pat viewing. Mainly it reminded me of those plethora cheap Alien rip-offs, and boy, this film lifts some set-ups from "ALIEN". I must admit, it wasn't as exciting as I remembered; nonetheless it was actually efficiently made by J.S Cardone, for such a limited looking production.

When it's not simply splashing blood against walls as the victims get attacked for most part off-screen, there are a few effective moments of suitably grotesque make-up FX and a touch of splatter. You can't fail with a head explosion. Even the creature design, and we do get a good look at it, provides solid enough practical effects despite the stiff movements. The script's theory behind its origin, structural metabolism and how it adapts to survive is rather creative, yet it's hodgepodge, as the science behind all of this commotion is nonsensical and poorly expanded on, sometimes even stalling and taking away from the simple-minded fun.

The mystery of what's going on in this underground facility slowly builds up to the danger that will unfold. Now that's when stupidity comes into play, to keep the story moving and to cause some deaths. Don't you just love it when our heroine needs something to destroy the computers, so he heads out the corridor to find an emergency axe in a glass case. Um, just wait a minute -- It's been there all this time, untouched, no one thought of using it when you got a hostile creature from a parallel dimension lurking about. Things don't start off that seriously though, with the script providing moments of morbid humor, but once the creature hits the scene, that changes and the cheap, tight surroundings gets claustrophobic trapping the occupants inside.

The turning point is when James Hong (who was appearing in nearly everything that was low-budget horror related in the late 80s to early 90s) decides to get himself knocked off. I was disappointed by that, but Louise Fletcher, Miguel A. Nunez Jr and Cardone regular Frederick Flynn do make something of their characters, even providing quirky shades, as our heroine played by David Beecroft, whose character is sent there by NASA to investigate the death of one the researchers' subjects, had all the personality of a wooden plank.