Shadow Puppets

"Shadow Puppets" is movie that has a great cast and a great premise! The biggest problem with this movie that it isn't thrilling! Not one moment you get scared! The ghost isn't threatening enough! The shadow ghost is an interesting concept! It is too bad that they didn't use this idea to it's full potential! But this is a problem the whole movie has! The lack of ambiance! It should be key in a movie like this! It could have been overlooked if they had put in some wonderful twist that would have explained the ghost and actually showed how this ghost was created! We do get some explanation on the situation! But by the time we do you couldn't care less because you were bored to death! The predictable story and the lack of thrills make this a movie that is not worth watching !

I hadn't heard about this 2007 movie titled "Shadow Puppets" before now, as I sat down in 2021 to watch the movie. All I knew was that it was a horror / thriller, and I do like horror movies, so of course I gave "Shadow Puppets" a chance.

And talk about being a snooze fest. This movie was incredibly slow paced, and to make matters worse, then the storyline was completely devoid of anything interesting, which just prolonged the suffering of sitting through the movie.

As the movie trotted on, slowly losing me in the curve, then all the sudden Tony Todd showed up, and my interest in the movie was given a jolt. But it was short-lived, as not even this horror icon could do much of anything to improve on a dying storyline, nor to quicken up the monotonous pacing of the movie.

I made it about one hours into this ordeal, and believe you me, I wasn't impressed, much less actually entertained. But I wanted to give the movie a proper chance. But writer and director Michael Winnick just utterly failed to deliver anything worthwhile watching here.

Now, the acting in the movie was, for the most parts, wooden and rigid. The performances, generally speaking, were just lacking conviction and enthusiasm.

The movie does, however, have a nice enough atmosphere to it. But that could only do so much to lift up an otherwise complete train wreck.

My rating of "Shadow Puppets" lands on a generous three out of ten stars, mostly because of the atmosphere, but also because Tony Todd was here after all. If you enjoy proper horror movies, then "Shadow Puppets" is an ill-advised choice to watch.

You know those times in Star Trek Enterprise when we were wondering what the hell does Steve Bakula do and then the writers of the show would gave us one of those "almost naked T'Pol" moments to calm us down? Well, somebody thought making an entire movie on the concept would be nice.

It is not such a bad movie, after all, though. I mean, yeah, the premise is ridiculous, the monster pathetic and the acting poor, but then there is Jolene Blalock, in her underpants! And if it is not enough for you, Natasha Alam looks good enough to eat and she gets a completely naked scene. And if this doesn't do it for you, Buffy fame Spike is there, joined by Candyman's Tony Todd.

BTW, look Tony Todd up. He is at his 136th movie and still acting strong, even if only in secondary roles. When they say supporting role, Tony understands supporting the movie industry. Lol.

So, let's sum it up: the smoke monster from Lost hunts T'Pol, Spike and Candyman in an underground facility where no one remembers who they are. And that's the original part of the movie ;)

Man I was hoping for so much more here. I am a die hard Buffy fan and eagerly anticipated a featured role for Marsters. Tony Todd in my view is one of the great actors working today in any genre, and Jolene was one of the bright spots of a dreary Enterprise. Not to mention I love the basic premise, and am a big fan of Cube. Sadly Shadow Puppets mostly falls into the average category. The acting is good, and there is a twist at the end that may surprise you. I believe the majority of the budget was spent on assembling the cast. I was okay with the generic smoke monster, it was what it was, and it was probably better to do something simple instead of a poor CGI creature. The film is never really that scary or suspenseful and there aren't any clever kills or gore moments so that may hurt it in the eyes of those looking for a Saw or Cube. Because of the cast I was hoping for more, but if it were Lorenzo Lamas and Shannon Tweed headlining my review would be less critical. Still it's a "slightly" above average film with a good cast.

A woman wakes up dressed only in her underwear, in a padded room, with no memory at all. She soon discovers there are more people like her with no recollection of anything. While trying to figure out where they are, a shadow creature is picking them off one by one.

This wasn't bad. Tony Todd joins the cast playing the patient with violent tendencies. The film is similar to Cube (1997) with the unknowns and how they find more people as they explore. They up the ante by throwing in a shadow monster.

Moves along at a good pace revealing more and more as the film progresses.