Shadow Puppets

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 ;)

I was fortunate to see a special preview of Shadow Puppets. I don't want to give away anything but I will say this: The movie keeps you in suspense from beginning to end, has a believable script, unique special effects, an original premise, and many jump-out-of-your-seat moments. The soundtrack and unusual sound effects increase the terror-level in many scenes. Jolene Blalock and James Marsters are excellent but newcomer Mark Winnick is an actor to watch: he has the best lines and delivers them with adorable ingenuousness. I will definitely see this movie again when it is released in theaters, and look forward to more films by director Michael Winnick.

I found this refreshing from the usual vampire, zombie, slasher movies. This movie fits in to the mold of the classic The Thing for the simple fact that you don;t who is out to get you. With that the story was good. On the other hand the acting could have been better. Some of the characters seem lost in the scenes and I give Tony Todd props for trying to keep the story up and going. But it still falls short. It's worth a one time watch if nothing more. If you are streaming for a movie to watch for a long trip just to go to sleep. This is the one. Or a overnight party with friends that like horror flicks that are some what campy but easy on the eyes.

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.

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.