Movie Review – The Shadow of Death (2012)

‘The Shadow of Death’ is a non-budget British comedy slasher flick with a distinct grindhouse twist. It is the brainchild of founding producer/director at DeadBolt Films, Gav Chuckie Steel (who also wrote, shot, edited and scored the film), and wears its heart on its sleeve as a throwback to classic shock horror schlock such as Sam Raimi’s ‘Evil Dead’ and Peter Jackson’s ‘Bad Taste’. While it is quite clearly in homage to these movies, and also filled with nods to other elements of horror and pop culture in general, it stands alone as a sincere and fun ride that clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously. While it is flawed in places, the honest nature of what is seen on screen carries it where storyline and certain performances tend to lack at times. At its core it’s very entertaining, mainly due to the use of over-the-top gore (including some phenomenally inventive death sequences courtesy of Mark Kelly’s FX) and the raw, unpolished look of the footage on screen.

 

‘The Shadow of Death’ is Steel’s first feature film and is clearly a very personal project from a true horror fan with an unpretentious love of the genre. Here’s a brief synopsis:

“Set in an English woodland countryside, Debra and her best friends Jamie and Nancy pick up Dan, Nancy’s ex, to go out to the woods to score some weed. Unknown to them a killer who resembles Death is cleansing the countryside. With a wannabe policeman and an assortment of the public out for some fresh air, the words are no place to go down to today.”

Here's a teaser trailer for the movie:

SPOILERS AHEAD

The entire set-up for events to unfold is fairly haphazard, throwing a group of (mostly) uninteresting characters into the woods in broad daylight for a bizarre reason (to buy some weed from a dealer in the middle of nowhere). Of course, the set-up isn’t what’s important in this type of movie; it’s the execution that really counts, and it’s the gore that really kick things up a notch.

Early on in the film we are treated to some impressive murder sequences, including the killer forcing a bong up through a stoner’s skull and thrusting a pair of binoculars into an avid birdwatcher’s eyeballs. The FX are great and would stand up well against the gore of classic slasher flicks, which in my opinion wipe the floor with the ropey CGI used in areas of modern horror (when you witness CGI blood you realise that something really must be wrong in Hollywood).

The characters whose plight is focused on as they become the next victims for the cloaked protagonist, include the mentioned trio of female flatmates (Jamie, Debra and Nancy), but this is where ‘The Shadow of Death’ is really let down, because the performances from these three are incredibly poor. This makes their predicament seem that much less believable and the audience’s desire to see them survive go from minimal to zero. While it’s not fair to say that any of these roles are leads, their constant screen time means that their two-dimensional personality traits grate from the get go. Jamie (Jane West) plays the geek cliché with a perpetual pained expression, Debra (Corinna Jane) rarely strays from bland and uninteresting, but it’s Nancy (Sophia Disgrace) who drives the performances from bad to intolerable. Her lines are wooden and delivered with a constant smirk of ‘look I’m on camera!’ on her face, which is often seen on the faces of child actors.

Thankfully, it’s easy to put these gripes to one side for the other central characters that appear, including the loveable idiot Dan (Dan Carter Hope) who provides a relieving comic parallel to the girls and the engrossing appearance of the odd yet appealing ‘Super Special Cop’ Craven (Dan Bone). These two provide the most quotable lines of the film, with Dan’s penchant for filthy banter a hilarious highlight (and his unfortunate genital infection, of course) and Craven’s adoration for action movie stars (“Send Chuck Norris!”) 

Craven is the only character that is given any sort of backstory (a wannabe cop with ambition to follow in his father’s footsteps as a man of the law, while the harsh reality is he has a reputation as something of a nutter) and it’s great to see somebody fleshed out on screen. It’s that which makes him the most interesting and likeable of the lot, and it’s easy to find yourself wanting more of him when you’re watching scenes that he is absent from. For me, he is grossly underused, and given the fact that his actions are carefully considered, seeming to build to something, his sudden removal as he is ‘killed’ by the antagonist (although later to appear at the very end of the movie stumbling around with a machete stuck in his face) struck me as both unnecessary and damaging to the direction of the film. I longed for him to stumble into the fray as things got juicy and take on the killer head-on, his unhinged attitude becoming an advantage and his role in the movie shifting straight to engaging rogue and lead protagonist, perhaps in the same comedic vein as ‘Evil Dead’s Ash (Bruce Campbell).

Instead, the ending peters out disappointingly, revealing the Death-like murderer to be a priest with a chip on his shoulder (explained in vague detail during the telling of ghost stories in an abandoned cabin scene by Jamie - bringing mid-90s geek chic back from the dead). Everything takes a bit of a supernatural twist as final surviving girl Debra becomes possessed by whatever force was driving the priest and looks to the heavens as she promises to carry on delivering the killer’s ‘message’. I wanted Craven to return for one final hurrah, killing Debra spectacularly, but alas that was not to be.

Overall, ‘The Shadow of Death’ is a solid camp horror, which lacks in certain areas but this doesn’t effect the lasting impression of the film. A few of the performances could be much better, but the direction from Steel is accomplished and includes some interesting shots, which prove that he clearly has an eye for what works with this grindhouse style. The score (also by Steel) was a highlight, the urgency and dread created by the instrumentals (which bear resemblance to John Murphy’s terrific work on the ’28 Days Later’ soundtrack) make certain scenes feel creepy when perhaps without it they would not. The inspirations for this film are clear, but it has it’s own identity, which makes it a gratifying (albeit an occasionally frustrating) experience.

Here's an interview with director Gav Chuckie Steel.

To find out more about the movie, take a look at some of the links below.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:http://theshadowofdeath.co.uk/

IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2265609/

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http://www.facebook.com/groups/231373045485/

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https://twitter.com/#!/theshadowfilm