Shadow (2009)

Simply A Masterpiece

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Taking a biking tour through Europe, a former soldier accidentally angers a troupe of hunters poaching in the nearby forest, but soon find themselves tormented by a far more deadly threat that has no intentions of letting them leave the area alive.A very troubling effort, as this entry really could've been great but does have a problem with introducing a few too many flaws at times. Basically two movies in one, the first half is a cliché-but-enjoyable romp in a forest as two people fight to escape from the hunters, which includes some thrilling chases through the forest roads on bikes as the hunters chase in an armored car shooting at them, confrontations with their vicious dog and more, all done under the cover of a heavy fog in a woodland setting to give a perfect chilling atmosphere to everything, despite it being routine and far from believable as there's really no motive for the hunters to turn as vicious as they do as quickly as shown here. The last half is pretty lame as the gang is captured by a maniacal killer in the forest and are tortured by the madman, with on reason offered for the scenario. The tortures don't make sense, and are interjected at random, but there's some good stuff to come from the compound escape and the chilling nature of the set-up, only for the ridiculous twist ending to come along and ruin it all. That hurts it almost as much as the length, so this is really flawed but still has some good stuff about it.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Extreme Graphic Language and drug use.

Right up until a few minutes to the ending I was pretty happy with Shadow. This followed my favorite genre of someone getting abducted and having to find their way out, and the additional surprise abductions of the others also got me thinking this one was going to be nice and different from the usual. Early on it was thrilling with the hunters' chase through the woods. When the odd things started happening I was wondering who was doing it, the missing girl? The guy? The other hunter? And when the abductees woke up and saw who had brought them there it was super-creepy, just the way I like. This played out like a standard/good horror flick and for some reason my cable guide put it at two hours long, so when this ended at an hour and a half with that (unsatisfying) ending, I was really, really let down. I'll just say I never cared for those movies who lead you along, only to be ridiculous ending which negates everything you just saw.

I was compelled to write a review after seeing some negative reviews. A lot of the other reviewers were expecting some kind of Italian horror like argento etc. When they didn't get what they expected they wrote a bad review.I cant stand those geeky Italian horrors from film makers like argento so my views are not tainted by it! just because the directer is Italian doesn't mean its going to be similar to those films dur.This film was nicely filmed in beautiful locations with some smooth editing and quality camera work. I was interested from start to finish in what was happening. For those reviewers who said the film was mixed up obviously didn't get what it was all about. I wont ruin it by telling you.There was some gruesome imaginative torture porn for those of that are into that sort of thing but what kept me interested was the creepy atmosphere and how invested i was in the characters struggle from the start of the film right through to the end. In summary really not bad for a lower budget film, a directer who knows how to capture the moment and not give us enough time to question what just happened before the next drama ensues! This is something Hollywood fails with again and again with every genre so i gave it an 8 / 10

Another one slasher movie - one of thousands. Even if there are some violent scenes - it's not a splatter.The story is absolutely nothing new. It has no kick, it has no thrill and you will not be surprised by the next scene. Adding some war elements will also not save the movie. There are also many confusing scenes, i.e. if you're chased by a car: would you run on the road or into woods? Actors are quite a low average however I watched the German version.Also the budget of this movie was quite surprising for me: 1 million euro. I guess they spent 900.000 for the camera rental. I couldn't see the money elsewhere.This movie was a pure waste of time for me - I'm very disappointed. Watch it if you have really nothing better to do.