Review by
Sue Finn
Directed by: Mike Sargent
Starring: Bruce Davison, Keith David, Selena Anduze
Opening with a man complaining directly to camera about how "evil" women
are, it's well satisfying to see him get his comeuppance, but the point of
the scene is never explained, or even who that random guy was.
Behind him a large fire explodes and releases some sort of "hooded demon"
with glowing eyes to dispense said comeuppance.
As the opening credits roll, we are treated to an information dump letting
us know all about the cult "Hidden Wisdom" and their base at the mansion
of Dr Cawl (X-Men's Bruce Davison - who's been slumming it since his earlier
successes), which we saw go up in flames in that opening scene.
Apparently the cult was dabbling in neuro-behavioral science and
harnessing mind power blah blah blah.
Not all of the Hidden Wisdom followers died in the blast, and the
survivors are now considered killers, a fact gleefully announced to camera
by the news reporter ensuring the audience has all the facts before
beginning the film proper.
We are introduced to renowned skeptic Dr Amara Rowan (Selena Anduze), who has connections and has managed to set up Skype interviews with
the five survivors to "set the record straight." She has hired a tech guy
to help her put it all together before she settles down to interview them.
Almost the entire film consists of this Skype/Zoom call with the five
survivors discussing the Hidden Wisdom cult, though it's sprinkled with
adverts featuring Davison - only ever seen in adverts and flashback hidden
footage, never in the actual body of the film; he never interacts with the
actual main characters.
Keith David (The Thing) plays the mysterious Dr Bertram, who disappeared before the fire – dead
or just left town? The cult members just aren't sure, only that the two
figureheads of Cawl and Bertram had a falling out and things went downhill
from there.
With time running out, and an eye-glowing demon after them, the cult
members will have to use the powers of their mind to survive the night.
As directed by Mike Sargent, there's a lot wrong with this movie.
Firstly, the script by Sargent, Ian Holt and
Michael Kuciak is tiresome. Alpha waves, neural imbalances, V-tech
images, "manifestations of the darkest parts of themselves" etc. - it's a
whole lot of neo-scientific buzz words and pseudo intelligent mumbo jumbo.
The characters are mostly cyphers - the smart one, the scared one, the
nerd one, the rebel one etc. and they fail to develop personalities beyond
these cliches. Their relationships to each other are left unexplored and
the lack of chemistry between them is exacerbated by the lack of in-person
interaction.
The set design is flat and uninspired, and the sound design makes
everything seem muffled and strangely echoey, like you're watching it from
another room.
There is a memorable scene of a talking throat wound (yes, that's
correct!), but that's the only thing that really made an impression. I
wish it had featured more absurd and unsettling moments like that one.
The effects aren't bad, the music is serviceable and Anduze's performance
is good. In fact, all the cast try hard; they really work to imbue each
line with importance with varying degrees of success, especially poor
Briana Femia as Zoe, who is saddled with the most portentous and
silly dialogue, but this script and its dull talking-heads setting, is a
lemon.
Boring, word-salad-heavy, flat, self-important and never once believable.
This should have stayed in the shadows.
From the Shadows is in US cinemas
from September 22nd. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
