Shadowzone
Shadowzone
R | 22 February 1990 (USA)
Shadowzone Trailers

After someone is killed in the subterranean project called "Shadowzone," a NASA captain is called in to investigate. In the project, sleeping subjects are induced into a deep EDS state whereby they become portals to a parallel universe. Unfortunately this causes adverse reactions in the subject, and something gets through the portal, the consequence of which is an attrition problem.

Reviews
calandrellis

I just watched Shadowzone for the first time tonight and as a big fan of horror/monster movies and B-movies in general I was looking forward to it. What I thought this was going to be was a big low budget monster movie, where a science experiment goes awry and everyone needs to escape to hope to survive. And that's kinda what it is ... but there are A LOT of slow moving scenes of nothing but people talking. It's not like I would be even mad at that except for the fact that it's not what we're promised on the cover of the DVD! On the cover we see a picture of some alien-ish looking monster wearing a tattered lab coat so we can assume that would what happens to James Hong's character Dr. Van Fleet. But it isn't ... no we never see such a character and Hong's character doesn't transform into anything. In fact for a movie that puts the monster front and center on the cover we hardly ever see it and when we do it's just little 5 second glimpses. And I thought maybe it's going the route of the big reveal in the climax and then we'll see it on screen for a decent amount of time? No! Not even then, in the final act of the film we finally see it up close and can it's entire body but it's only on screen for about 2 minutes. It looks cool, you can definitely tell it's low budget but that's ok but it barely gets any screen time. That was a major disappointment for me I was ready to see the monster I was promised on the cover but never saw it. What saved this movie from being a total snoozefest we're the characters. James Hong is always fun to see, we have his female assistant who for some reason is always putting chapstick on, the other hot bombshell blonde scientist, a black guy who's a computer whiz, a fat, smoking female cook who used to run a whorehouse and a hillbilly maintenance man named Shivers. Also our main protagonist the Nasa investigator played by David Beecroft who out of all the characters is unfortunately the most boring. He just has no personality whatsoever, he never seems bothered when anyone dies and mostly all he does is stand around and ask questions. He doesn't really even figure anything out, it's all the people around him that do all the work, clearly he should not have been the main focus. All the other characters have quirks and funny attitudes that when they play off each other is entertaining to watch. Other than that there's really not much to this movie, the ending is a pretty big anti-climax. It doesn't really end it just sorta stops. It's as if the film makers said "well that's all we really had so we're done, the end." Again if this movie put it's focus on the monster instead of endless scenes about the science experiments, if Hong is a bad guy or good guy, what's going on in the facility, a weird dream sequence that didn't really make a whole lot of sense, animals ... because they were testing on animals before, I think. Yeah it just got so boring and you so don't care, I just wanted to see the monster come out and rip people to shreds. People do get ripped to shreds ... offscreen! Yeah we don't really see much, it's mostly just blood splatters and then cut to the aftermath again with a few 2 second glimpses of the monster. One more thing I really didn't get is why is a Nasa investigator there? This had nothing at all to do with space travel. The scientists were conducting experiments having to do with sleep. The experiment was honestly kinda hard to follow, a person in a glass tube slept and somehow through some sceince/techno babble a portal to another dimension the "Shadowzone" was opened up and the monster came out through their body. It was a bit confusing to follow but a monster came from another dimension, how doesn't really matter. Anyway this Nasa scientist doesn't even look like he works for Nasa, he looks like a marine more than anything else. He has dog tags around his neck and never once even mentions Nasa, all they say is he's from there. Which on a sidenote, Nasa has investigators? All in all if you like corny, shlock sci-fi horror or the movies of Full Moon pictures you'll like this. For me I do like both of those but this one was just a bit to slow and not enough monster. I did really enjoy some parts of it though which is why I can't say it was a total let down. The cinematography is nice, it builds a decent atmosphere around the characters, builds up suspense well and has a very nice B-movie horror theme song. Shadowzone is definitely a movie to make fun of while you're watching. Gather up a few friends and some beers and you'll have an enjoyable time with it.

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ecto216

Wow, I'm at a loss for how bad this movie is. I love Full Moon and all of their early work, such as Puppet Master, Trancers, and Demonic Toys, and I have a great appreciation for a lot of their talent and independent films, but this?! This doesn't get any stars from me!There is not one character to care about, the plot is full of holes, the story, or lack there of, is atrocious to begin with...I can go on, but I think I'll stop. Bottom line, if you thought full moon movies they make today like Trancers 6, Stitches, and Shrieker suck, you haven't seen anything until you watch this! At least those movies had maybe one or two redeeming moments. This one has noneTake my word for it and listen to this warning. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME! I love horror, I love B-Films, but this movie fails to meet the expectations I have for both. 1 out of 10

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The Creeper

I can First off say that I am a huge Full Moon Pictures Fan. There is not a Movie they make that I Don't love and want to watch over and over again. They did nothing more than Deliver another Masterpiece with "Shadow Zone". The Movie itself was very Good in all Categories. It was packed with Suspense and Very Delivering Scares. Sure, it wasn't the best Movie ever made from Full Moon (Puppet Master will always be the Greatest movie made), but probably up there in the Top Ten. I love this Movie and if you are a Full Moon Pictures or Horror Fan, you will too.It wasn't just the Killings themselves that made the movie. It was the Sense of Reality I Felt. I felt like I was In The Movie, being chased, etc. As far as the Musical Score Goes, Don't expect Much. Just put in this Move with a Good Attitude, If you say or think you'll hate it, You most likely will.My Final Rating: 10 out of 10 (**** out of ****)People who liked this Movie Might like: Puppet Master, Blood Dolls, Arcade, Seed people, Night of the Living Dead, Hell Asylum, Prison of the Dead, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on elm street, as well as other Titles from Full Moon Pictures.

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horror7777

SHADOWZONE was, I believe, Full Moon's first picture. It's well done on a low budget and I was satisfied with most of it. I actually first got interested in this film when I saw the coming attraction for it on the FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII video. The deaths were cool, the acting was good, and the plot was commendable, especially considering what we're getting from Full Moon nowadays. This film was not an ALIEN rip-off. I read somewhere that this was an ALIEN rip-off and was surprised as I found really no similarities. Also of note, there is no Full Moon Videozone included with this film. No. Instead, we have a "talking" full moon! **1/2out of****I watched this at about 12:00AM, and then watched it again at 7:00PM. I can definitely tell you that this film is more effective if watched late at night. It's more fun too.

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