Shadow Puppets (2007)

Jolene Blalock Tony Todd James Marsters Natasha Alam and Richard Whiten star. Bonus Features: SHADOW PUPPETS: Director And Cast Comments Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Michael Winnick and Cinematographer Jonathan Hale and Trailer. System Requirements:Running Time: 103 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 013131522792 Manufacturer No: DV15227 Product Description

movie review

Other than the two leading actors James Marsters and Tony Todd this movie is lame a horrid at best.In fact the only reason I still own it or bought in the first place was for these two actors being in it. September 20, 2008

Shadow Puppets Is A Must See!!!

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS! Shadow Puppets stars James Marsters,Jolene Blalock and Tony Todd. It's an excellent thriller, that will keep you on the edges of your seat!!!

YOU CAN'T MISS JAMES MARSTERS' IN HIS UNDERWEAR FOR MOST OF THE MOVIE!!!! Shadow Puppets is the best movie I have seen in a long time. I GIVE IT 5 STARS OUT OF 5. IT IS A MUST SEE MOVIE!!!Shadow Puppets is about a group of strangers who wake up in a locked asylum with no idea of who who they are or how they got there.They are all in their underwear,cold and scared.They are being killed of by a Shadow creature, and need to find a way out of the asylum. As the movie goes on, you will will see that not all is what it seems, that someone has been lying. But I won't say who? You will have to watch the movie to find out!!!

August 20, 2008

Poor Puppet-tears

I try to be thorough when writing movie reviews. I research cast members' names, acting histories, if the director has done anything else of note. I want to give the movie as much credit as I can. I have done none of that with this movie. To give this movie any more credit than an hour and a half of watching will provide would be something of a personal insult.

I can say that it has an actor from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but I don't know which one. I only know this much from reading comments that focus on the fact that a few moderately attractive stars spend the bulk of the film in their underwear. Seriously, folks. If all you want is titilation, I'm not sure why you don't just purchase an adult film. If you did, odds are good it would have a better written and more unpredictable plot than this turkey.

Eight strangers wake up locked in some kind of psychiatric ward with their memories completely and totally erased. Stalking them down is some kind of vicious shadow creature. They must figure out who they are, what they're doing there, and how to escape...before it's too late!

The dialogue has two tones: Exposition and Plot Padding. The cheesy, corn-fed dialogue is actually made WORSE by acting that lacks all sense of subtlety and timing. To give you a better idea of my own experience with this film, I have transcribed below a conversation I had with my girlfriend as we watched the movie. Please keep in mind, this is not a joke. This is actually what we said and what happened on screen:

[An exotic looking woman wearing nothing but underwear wakes up in a padded cell and looks around, emoting as hard as she can.]

Me: She looks pretty good in that underwear. I wonder if that was why she was cast.

Girlfriend: It must be cold in that cell. You can see her offensive word.

Me: Do naughty word normally point in two completely different directions like that?

GF: They do if you've gotten a uncouth comment.

[Exotic Female leaves the cell and meets up with Rugged Good-Looks Man. They exchange banal dialogue about having no memories.]

GF: So far this is not very good, is it?

Me: Yeah. And he doesn't look nearly as good in his underwear as that chick.

[On-screen, Rugged Good-Looks Man says to Exotic Female, "At least you look better in your underwear than me."]

GF: Seriously? (laughs and drops soda)

[A few scenes later, we are introduced to the Bird-Faced Computer Geek and the Sassy Black Chick. They talk about how much it sucks to not have any memories. They wander into a room with a swimming pool, where a Nymphomaniac Super Model is swimming naked. She also has no memories, but doesn't care about anything, like most Nymphomaniac Super Models.]

GF: How many more characters are left?

Me: Three.

GF: So, I guess a black guy should be showing up right about now.

[Five minutes later, the characters are attacked by an hysterical black guy.]

Me & GF: No way!

Me: Wait, wait, wait. I'm next. Okay. Let's see. Wholesome blonde. All of our female characters are strong and aggressive. We need a helpless blonde.

[The characters run across a helpless blonde.]

GF: (starts to laugh) Eh. This movie isn't very good at all, is it?

Me: This sucks.

It may sound fun to be able to predict a movie, and it is for a bit, but after that what you're left with is angry numbness, a sort of exhausting frustration. My girlfriend wanted us to stop the movie, but I have always made it a rule to watch every movie to the end. Seeing as how this movie was so predictable, I suppose I could've just guessed the ending, but I could never have guessed the final line, a fragment of dialogue so hackneyed that it illuminated the spirit that inspired this ridiculous film. The final line was, ultimately, what made me drop my rating from two stars (Didn't Like It) to one star (Hated It).

Mindless, unimaginative "scares" dressed up to look like philosophically relevant "horror," SHADOW PUPPETS is every cliche you hate, slathered with the kind of smug self-righteousness that gets most people punched in the face. Save yourself the trouble and make your own shadow puppets on your wall at home. It can't be any worse than this thing. July 29, 2008

And now for something different !

I was really amazed by this movie. Its a kind of genre mix between a Thriller and a horror movie, always well balanced. But the best thing is the amount of supense that this DVD builds up.
I don't want to give away the story, but its about a few people that find themselves without any memories of who they are or how they got to an underground facility. Here they are attacked by an unknown type of shadow creature. The story is convincing as well as the acting. Its a scary type of movie, but it has something refreshing and totally different about it than all those countless new horror film, that are mostly just based on blood and gore and usually have no valuable plott to them.
Go and get this one, I don't think you will be disappointed. Why can't there be more movies like this one, instead of all the cheap horror flicks. Oh yeah, don't judge this DVD by its suboptimal cover, and forget the negative reviews. May 14, 2008

It's Like Saw and House on Haunted Hill (1999)

A great psychological horror film that should have got more play. A mix of a psychotic doctor and spooky shadows that come out of the walls and chase you like The House on Haunted Hill (1999) coupled with strange characters with ambiguous relationships that are some how sewn together in a dark chamber by a common enemy like that seen in Saw. Jolene Blalock was great to look at, witty, and somewhat emotionally unattached just like the Enterprise T'Pol. Tony Todd (Candyman) a SciFi and Horror icon adds his usual dark mysterious characteristics that keep you often more afraid of him then the true monster. April 15, 2008

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