perkin2000

Right-o', here we go.

I heard about this film on one of the Smersh podcasts. Three very funny people, including one cast member, talking about Shadow of the Missing.

Yes, it's cheaply made, tonally uneven, visually wobbly and largely Welsh. However, if you ask me, all of these things add to its unique charm.

The first half-hour is the weakest, although the film fest joke-off is a genuinely funny highlight, as are the scenes involving Dan the hotel manager, a man who appears to have as much concern for his missing friends as he does the day-to-day running of his establishment. Big fan of Quincy though, apparently.

The last half-hour is where it comes into its own. The people stuck in the haunted church convey a genuine sense of confusion and fear, the priest viewing the footage of their (assumed) final moments is performed very well. As with all found footage films, the camera is shaky first-person stuff, events on-screen poorly lit and ambiguous but, well, what kinda ghost film is brightly lit and blessed with full narrative clarity, eh? (Ignoring the ones that are, but they're really bum-hole.)

The actor playing the priest is called Doc Benson, if anyone's writing a TV show about a rural 1950s vet, there's yer character name. Just post him a few quid for royalties etc.

Anyway, look, it ain't Spielberg alright. It's low-budget fun that makes good use of limited locations, gets the best out of an amateur cast (one or two scenes aside), and has makes an earnest attempt at giving you some laughs and spooky stuff.

Is my rating of 8/10 too generous? Perhaps, but it also deserves better than its current score so I consider it a fair attempt at addressing the balance.

Also, it's free to view on Amazon Prime, so ain't gonna cost you anything.

As I've said on my film blog many, many times, I'd rather watch a flawed low budget film made with a little passion and ingenuity than a megabucks effort made only for profit.

Also, Dan the hotel manager REALLY deserves his own TV series. How else will people learn that burning faces float upwards or that amorous dogs can easily be mistaken for a witches coven?

Go in knowing its flaws and enjoy it for what it is.

Cheers!

Fantastic, fun, low budget, daft horror film made for peanuts. Just the sorta thing we here at Plop Towers love watching.

Written and directed by Joe Begos who also done the cracking Almost Human.

If you ask me, the horror genre, and films in general, need chaps like young Begos. People who won't let the lack of budget get in the way of telling a story, and doing so well.

Same goes for anyone who reads this, if you want the world to hear your voice, do it now. Don't wait for external endorsement, sponsorship or someone to hold your hand, it won't happen. You'll probably fail, but what do you wan't to say when your ticket's punched? You tried your best, or you thought about it a lot?

Good luck.

(Originally at www.filmplop.blogspot.com)

Comprised entirely of silent footage taken during the Mallory and Irvine expedition of 1924.

I doubt I'm revealing much of a spoiler when I say it didn't end well. Knowing the fate that befell the young men on the mountain, it makes the footage all the more poignant, particularly the early scenes featuring smiling, optimistic faces at the beginning of their challenge.

Although digitally remastered, it's hard to believe your watching footage that is (almost) a century old. The skies, the mountain peaks, and the small, close details captured on film look almost as fresh as anything from the modern era.

There is a subtle ambient soundtrack played throughout the film that really adds to both the impressive, otherworldly landscape of wonder and the creeping, inescapable finality of how it will play out. A strangely disturbing mix of the ephemeral and the eternal. (Easily the most pretentious thing I've typed in years!)

Brilliant.