Short synopsis (from the film’s
website):
When a young couple move into a converted shop, they are
filled with excitement and ideas as to how they will make the house their
own. But it would appear the property is
still clinging to its past, and unbeknown to them they are living inside its
shadows.
My thoughts:
Having recently watched The
Orphanage (again), The Awakening,
and The Last Will and Testament of
Rosalind Leigh, it seems clear that I’m a sucker for a slow-developing
ghost story. This really isn’t a
surprise, but it’s something that is reinforced with each movie I watch.
Inside Shadows
fits comfortably into that genre.
Calling it a slow-developing ghost story is a completely accurate
description. It may even be even slower
moving than the aforementioned films, which is really saying something, seeing
as how none of those movies move at a breakneck pace. It’s very good once it gets moving, but it
takes a little while to get to that point.
It would be extremely easy to lose focus before the good stuff kicks
in. The
Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh was slow, but it had a sense of
tension that started early and kept up throughout the entire film. There was none of that here. This was more like Entrance: a slow-building movie that doesn’t really even try to
build tension until late.
Once it gets going, it’s pretty good. And there are a handful of moments that hint
at the upcoming insanity. They do a
pretty good job at teasing it. But, like
I said, it would be pretty easy to lose interest before it gets to that point,
especially if you’re not in the right mood for this type of movie. It’s less a “slow burn” and more “lighting
fireworks with punk sticks”.
Even when the craziness started, I had a couple issues with
it. They felt the need to give a big
musical blast every time the ghost appeared for an instant. It was somewhat reminiscent of the musical
goosing we got when Michael Myers showed up in Halloween, but this less subtle.
It was extremely distracting, and completely unnecessary. Seeing a shadowy figure appear in the
background is startling by itself; there’s no need to throw it in our face.
I also had a pretty major problem with the decision-making
of some of the characters late in the film.
For spoiler reasons, I can’t really get into the specifics. Suffice it to say that a couple characters
had some highly dubious logic late in this film. It almost ruined the movie for me.
Overall, I would say that I enjoyed this movie, but I didn’t
love it like I hoped I would.
Superficially, it suffers from the same problems that plague a lot of
low-budget movies: mainly, poor lighting and inconsistent sound (although I
will say that the sound was better here than a lot of low-budget movies I’ve
seen). I’ve never had a problem getting
past those things as long as the story is good, but, if you have a problem with
those things, you should probably stay away.
But, if you like a good ghost story, it’s definitely worth
giving a shot. It was pretty well-acted,
and had a pretty cool style to it. Pick
a quiet night, shut off all the lights, and dive in.
Rating: 3/5
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