Shadow

I was sort of iffy about watching this due to the rating and such and I try not to watch trailers or read reviews so I don't get my hopes up but decided to watch the trailer and was surprised. The beginning of the movie is slow but is done excellently. The story line was a great idea and was also done great. The kill scenes were not gory or gruesome but I let it slide. I for once didn't expect the ending or the killer in a foreign horror movie and was glad I didn't. To cut it short this was a great way to spend some time and I would love to watch it again. I give "Shadow" an 8 out of 10.

~Joe

I got to say that I'm not big fan of Italian horror movies, but seeing trailer for this movie, got me interested.

Great beginning of the movie, intense (usually love outdoor horror movies) and fun. But, when started "bloody part" of film, I was disappointed. As I love to see blood, cutting, torturing and things like that on horror, I was not so satisfied with "killing scenes", 'cause they were not showed (camera would go up in the air or would be filming from distance). I was expecting a little bit more gory scenes in movie. Plot was good, main actor was good, not great, but at least good looking (watched with my friends, so we liked to see him on screen :)), the killer was creepy and convincing and for the first director's horror movie it was really good.

Watchable movie, definitely didn't waste my time, but could have been a lot better.

This was... most certainly indi to say the least haha it was a little all over the place but still had some positives.

Conceptually I found this decently interesting and in a big way was saved from being unredeemable by the twist in the end. Nothing all too interesting happened until about half way through and I think a lot of the beginning filler could have been cut. In all honesty, keeping it as close to its original form, I think it could have been most successful as a 30 minute short.

They had some really neat filming locations and set dressing so props for that. Also main guy and girl did a decent job, the two bad guys... not so much. And the bad bad guy, while he didn't say anything he was super creepy. Honestly, could have done with more of him all around.

You have to have a true appreciation for indi for this one. Also I think the concept could inspire something really interesting to work with. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't recommend.

When a young soldier leaves for a mountain biking excursion he meets the girl of his dreams as well a group of violent locals who want to see them dead at any cost.

What really attracted me to this film was seeing Fabrizio Bava as assistant director. Bava, as you may guess, is the son of Lamberto Bava and the grandson of Mario Bava. To see a third generation of horror films directed by the Bava clan is quite a treat. Not saying this is a great film (it really is just so-so), but I am still happy to see the tradition continue.

The best part of this film is the villain, a toad-licking Lord Voldemort. He looks as if Doug Jones played Buffalo Bill playing Ingmar Bergman's Death. Throw some Nazi symbolism in there for good measure. A great villain, both creepy and mysterious, not to mention senselessly vicious.

The sad thing is that while the film is alright once it gets going, it just cannot keep the momentum. As always, I cannot talk about spoilers, but I will say the twist and I did not get along. Maybe you will be thrilled. I was let down.

If you liked Wolf Creek, then this funny little movie (and it is short for a movie) will probably please. It manages to remain serious enough throughout to genuinely scare, although at the beginning, to my mind, there is a slight caricature issue. I may be wrong about that, as this is an American movie made by Italians, so I'm not sure what was the intended audience. There is some beautiful forest to be ridden through, though the cameras used could have had better colour, and there was no artistic cinematography which would have been nice, although the shots of the deer were OK. Is it scary though? The first half is action, light on the dread, the second half is dripping with dread, and light on the action. It is frightening, absolutely, but I feel, in my humble opinion, that there was much more scope to develop more creepiness and tension, and I certainly wouldn't have minded the movie going a bit longer so as to enjoy that. It's like a painting that's only 80% and needs some art direction in any case. Shadow has great ideas that are slightly undernourished. Similarly the soundtrack was really original and modern, until the final frantic stages leading to the credits, when it devolved into something off-kilter and slightly distracting. Again, an unfinished painting. The flashbacks needed work, I thought, and to be more convincing. OK, I'm being really picky. Basically, Shadow is a good horror movie with plenty of skin to crawl and seat to edge onto, with excellent acting, good looking leads, and a profoundly devilish evil that's worthy of a minor award. Yea!