Awaken the Shadowman

Currently half of the reviews for this movie (the earlier half) are 8-10 stars, while the other half is very low. The high ratings are all from new accounts who have written no other reviews. Hmmmm. This is a pretty good indication that the high ratings are coming from people involved with the film, which I think is really shady. I would have given this 5/10, but am rating it lower to counter the obvious astroturfing.

Anyway, this is an OK indie project that does its best to be eerie/creepy/subtle, and I can appreciate that. No part of this production is Hollywood-grade, but that's not always a bad thing. My main gripe is the rushed ending. It feels like they ran out of time/money and had to wrap it up as quick as possible. There are so many things left open. Not "open to interpretation," but completely ignored. Like parts of the story are missing. Near the end everyone is spouting overly cryptic things at the main character, and he keeps saying, "What are you talking about!?" Then someone says, "Now you know. Now you understand." And he's like, "No actually I don't." This is the moment I really connected with him.

Oh, and then right after that exchange, we flash forward an unspecified amount of time, with no explanation of what happened after the cult did its thing, why it was doing the thing in the first place, or how the guy escaped them and got out of the basement. Roll credits. ...ok thanks?

This movie is horrible. It's slow, excruciatingly boring, annoying...the story isn't interesting, the characters aren't likable, and most of the acting is garbage. I watched it because I'll watch anything with 5 or more stars...how this got 5 stars boggles the mind. To say this is an average horror movie is shameful. Avoid this dumpster fire...

This concept had a ton of potential, it was filmed in a neighborhood I love, centered on a subject close to my heart (recovery from wildfires), and the shadowman concept is hard to f*ck up - but even with all of these positive elements this was an absolute disaster. It's slow, it's shockingly poorly acted, the cinematography was basic and the script was a meandering, dull snooze fest. The filmmakers owe me the $5.99 On Demand rental fee, plus the cost of 90 minutes of my life. Shame on you!

Sadly it really is one of those boring, unoriginal horror movies, that makes ma crave the horrors of the nineties. There is a big difference between deliberate suspense and out and out boredom, and sadly the latter fits this film. So little seems to actually happen, apart from the melodrama among the rather odious family. I think they tried to make a statement with the content, and provide a shock with the tone and plot, but sadly it simply fell flat.

It's hard to find many positives, the acting wasn't bad in fairness, but that alone couldn't make up for the film being so boring. 4/10

When a young couple and their newly born child learn that their mother is missing they race back to their home town to assist in the search only to learn that the town holds a dark secret.

Sadly the dark secret is never fully explained and the film is an anti-climatic empty 90 minutes of boredom.

It's not that nothing happens, it's that nothing even remotely interesting happens.

The movie ends on about 50 question marks and that simply isn't acceptable.

The Good:

Jean Smart

The Bad:

Everyone else