Search - Night Shadow on DVD

Loose Ends Galore, So Bad It's Good

Joshua Koppel | Chicago, IL United States | 01/19/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is supposedly a werewolf flick. Most of it seems more like a slasher film. A successful news woman is returning to her small hometown before ramping up her career. She passes a strange man stranded on the highway. She can't stop staring at him but she leaves him behind. The guy is spooky and has bodies in his trunk. He get a ride with an old geezer who he kills. Meanwhile the film takes a turn to show lots of topless guys primping and flexing. Aldo Ray shows up for no reason as some sort of door-to-door seafood salesman. In what could be called the main plot, our heroine is visiting her Asian brother (no explanation) as they both stay at the local motel. Then the first body is discovered.

The rest of the film is made up of some silly plot twists where dumb cops suspect the wrong people, everyone seems to know about the murders, anyone who comes across evidence on the murders fails to make any connection, shirtless fights, accusations, bad acting and some really strange visual fades whenever our heroine sees the killer. Finally the killer is seen as a werewolf, is battled by some of the main characters and finally finished off in a rather unusual way. End of story.

We are given the impression that the killer has been following the newswoman but he originally was ahead of her. Our heroine shows absolutely no talent for investigation as she doesn't even mention the killer to her Sherif boyfriend even when he is right there. Although everyone seems to know there is a killer around, when people stumble across his lair and body parts they don't even think to tell anyone other than to share the cool stuff with their buddies. You know the film is strange right near the beginning when Kato Kaelin's girlfriend apparently keeps Preparation-H, Exlax, and such things in her refrigerator. When the first body is found it is in a dumpster in what looks like the center of town with lots of people walking by. At a press conference it is mentioned the dumpster was located out on the highway. The mind boggles at this film and yet it manages to have some sort of charm. Even while asking yourself what were they thinking and how stupid can the characters be you find yourself having to watch. My favorite odd scene was showing a small drip of blood coming from the trunk of the killer's car. This would have been an effective means of raising the horror levels if it was not shown right after we were shown the bodies in the trunk. Anyway, this is one of those films that is bad in all the right ways not like some of the new stuff coming out. This in one of those great bad films like Galaxina or Plan 9 that just needs to be seen and preferably in groups. Check it out."

Fan's of Low Budget Horror will Love This one!

Ben Tish | Millersburg Ohio | 03/07/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of All, I don't think a lot of people realize that this movie "stars" Kato Kaelin, who went on to attract More attention during the O.J. Simpson trials than he did from starring in this film. Please don't let that scare you away though, because Despite Night Shadow's cheesy production quality, it has the ability to hold your attention. In fact, this movie has almost everything, from gory scenes of body parts, A Werewolf/serial killer, and a very lovely Brenda Vance who keeps this viewer mesmerized by her sex appeal. If that isn't enough, there is even something here for fans of martial arts movies when the main character's brother takes on a gang of bikers who are causing a disturbance at the families motel. For most of the movie the werewolf is seen in his human form, just here and there, never saying a word to anyone. Later, when he takes on the full Werewolf change he looks like a leftover prop from the "Howling" movie. The movie has enough going for it to hold your attention, the scenes are edited well and the pacing is good. The characters are all well written and interesting, and the acting is above average for a movie of this genre. A lot of movie critics have dismissed this film due to it's cheapness and because of that it has slipped under the radar of a lot of Horror Movie buffs. That's really too bad, because this movie may not be top notch but what it lacks in special effects and big budget, it makes up for it in suspense and character development."