Get the ingredients for a little made b-film and throw Bram Stocker in as inspiration for the story. A demonic force is summoned to take the soul of a young boy who could become a saint and if done it could open a doorway to hell. However this entity can only travel through shadows and needs to collect souls to complete this task. But on its trail is Father Vassey, who's heading to this sleepy rural town to find the boy first. The occult horror "Shadow Builder" is an adaptation of a Stocker story and the screenplay only seems to muddled it up with half-baked theories, as it leans towards its cheesy special effects, nasty shocks and poignant performances led by Michael Rooker's grizzled renegade priest who gets around with pistols than say a bible and Tony Todd as some loony giggling Jamaican hermit that kids are afraid of. Actually "Shadow Builder" isn't all that bad, but in parts it's fairly amusing and surprisingly dark in its atmospherics. The opening scenes are actually quite fun. Over-the-top and silly, but fun especially seeing Rooker at work in his choice of repenting sinners. The demonic entity has some striking facial details, but basically it's black CGI smoke and like most villainous horror characters has something cleverly smart to say. With this last point, I thought it would have been better suited if it said nothing at all. The direction is rather stylised for its low- budget, but the plot doesn't meander much and it has enough thrills in its formulaic patterns of good vs. evil… or light vs. darkness. A young Kevin Zegers stars as the kid caught in the middle of it all."Are you truly repentant?"

A cult of followers of the evil Shadowbuilder summons the demon using the picture of the son of the scumbag Vic Lambert (Eric Murphy). The group is surprised by Father Vassey (Michael Rooker) that kills the followers but Shadowbuilder escapes to Grand River, a town that will experience an eclipse on the next day. Father Vassey heads to the town and discovers that the demon's target is Chris Hatcher (Kevin Zegers), a boy that caused an stigmata in the image of Christ in his baptism that is raised by his aunt Jenny (Leslie Hope). Shadowbuilder brings chaos to Grand River to collect souls and becomes power. Meanwhile, Father Vassey teams up with the local Sheriff Sam Logan (Shawn Thompson) that is Jenny's boyfriend and together they try to protect Chris and destroy the powerful demon.I saw "Shadowbuilder" in the late 90's and today I have watched again on DVD. The storyline is great but the screenplay is only reasonable considering the potential of the story and the cast. The boy is Kevin Zegers in the beginning of his career. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Shadowbuilder - O Senhor das Sombras" ("Shadowbuilder – The Lord of the Darkness")

As I watched the credits, I noticed the actor & actress playing Mr. & Mrs. Butterman were the same people that voiced Rudolph and Hermie the Elf in the 60's classic "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer". Just a bit of movie / TV trivia.As far as the movie goes, not the worst I've seen (surely not the best either).

This isn't a great movie but not a waste of time. Some good things are in this movie, you have to love the gun wielding priest and the actual demon is cool as well. Not the best acting but there are some okay special effects. The story is about an evil Archbishop of the Catholic Church summons a demon to try and destroy the world. The summoners are killed, but the demon escapes to hunt down its needed victim. The victim soon turns out to be a child that has the potential to become a saint. After ravaging the town and turning its citizens upon themselves, the demon soon locates and captures his prey. This had the potential to be a great movie, it isn't totally bad in fact it's pretty good. Give it a go if you want some good special effects mixed with the supernatural theme. If you wants special effects and supernatural theme also check out The Frighteners which is a great movie.