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Overall Rating : 4/10
Directed By : Michael Winnick
Jolene Blalock (Star Trek: Enterprise (TV)
Tony Todd (Candyman)
James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) )
Marc Winnick
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : July. 18, 2007
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| PLOT A group of strangers who awaken in a locked asylum ward with no idea of who they are or how they got there. and they are not alone. Who has erased their memories? Why have they been imprisoned? And what is the supernatural force that is slaughtering them one by one? The answers wait deep in the darkness where a beast hungers to feed, escape is virtually impossible, and the shadows of sanity may hide the most shocking revelations of all. |
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| THE REVIEW In SHADOW PUPPETS, 8 people wake up in what appears to be an underground, Government medical hospital/prison-like facility. They all wake up wearing nothing but under garments and none of the individuals seem to know who they are and how they come to be there. Eventually the 8 people would meet each other, and together they try and find a way out. But that seem easier than it actually is, as they are not alone, they begin being stalked by a shadow like creature, whose only intentions are to kill them one by one. Just by reading the back of the box for SHADOW PUPPETS, I knew it kind of sounded familiar to me, then it dawned on me - the plot is very, very similar to another indie Horror film I reviewed not long ago called THE SHADOW WALKERS. Both films, strangely enough involve a group of people waking up in a strange place not knowing who they are. So before watching SHADOW PUPPETS, I just hoped I wasn't in for the same exact film I had already seen, just with different actors and some script elements reworked. Well to be honest, as much as I do hate to say this, the two films felt basically the same, although, THE SHADOW WALKERS took place in an underground laboratory and the victims were being chased by genetically mutated creatures. SHADOW PUPPETS, the one of the two with a slightly bigger budget, on the other hand takes place in a underground medical facility, that somehow or another doubles as a prison(?), and it's victims get terrorized by a big CGI animated shadow creature with tentacles that it uses to impale victims. The two main things that SHADOW PUPPETS has going for it are the set, in which it provided for get surroundings and lighting, and it's actors, whom will be the film's likely selling point. In the three stars you have Jolene Blalock(from STAR TREK : ENTERPRISE), James Marsters (from the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER TV series), and Tony Todd(from such films as CANDYMAN and FINAL DESTINATION), all three have hugely devoted fans, and the producers and crew knew from the beginning just by having those three, good or bad, the film would likely appeal to those fans. With that said, it seems like getting them to sign on is where all concentration ended. Although SHADOW PUPPETS does have it's moments, the film is really drawn out and it's pace is a little on the slow side. It is one of those films that leave you hanging until the end to get the full conclusion of the story, but the thing is, by the time you reach that point, will you have enough interest still invested in the story to care? - I know my interest was a little less than what it was initially when it finally got to the point, to be honest I wanted it to be over. Perhaps the reason it did not keep my interest through out the film was due to it's like of originality. It was at times like watching CUBE, HOUSE OF 9, SAW II, SESSION 9.....you get the picture. People trapped in a bizarre location running from someone or some-thing, and in a shocking twist, you find out that one of them has been behind it all along.(SAW II, anyone?). It's explained that one of them, whom is an evil Doctor, developed a machine developed to wipe the memory of the insane to essentially "fix them", but instead he uses it on normal people, even his colleagues. Well as you's find out, one test went horribly wrong, releasing an "evil spirit", one that we only know as the "shadow creature" in the film. And another thing is, that this shadow creature just wasn't scary, nor intimidating at all, and the kills executed, by this CGI created creature were cheesy beyond belief. This is usually excused by fans if the film doesn't take itself seriously, but I was under the impression that SHADOW PUPPETS was trying to be both serious and clever at once, and I feel that the less than stellar CGI didn't hold up to the kind of story SHADOW PUPPETS was, or wanted to be. The acting, was average to campy at best. The whole cast, Blalock, Todd, and Marsters, I feel gave their best with what they had to work with, after all, they were acting against, and reacting to, something that wasn't there most of the time. My favorite performance here was from, my namesake Jolene Blalock(you don't know, just how many times someone has asked me if we are related....as far as I know, we're not), she did a fairly decent job portraying the character with the strong will, the one that ultimately pushes for survival. Overall, SHADOW PUPPETS is a film that follows a plotline that has been done many times over, unfortunately, it doesn't try to push itself further beyond the films that have already tried a variation on the said plot. |
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| GORE
METER 2/10 Various impalements by the shadow creature, nothing more.... |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 1/10 I don't think I remember any background music whatsoever, just the sound effects accompany the film... |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Honestly, before seeing this film, I had no idea whether I would like it or not, but it turns out that it's a lot like many of the films in which I have seen before. I have read a few reviews on this, some are positive, while some are negative, it seems to me that everyone who as rated this film positively, have just given in to today's cinema. And since they are not getting anything better, they settle for what's given - I, on the other hand grow tired of seeing the some things being replayed in every film that seems to be released. This DVD will released on July 24, 2007 |
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