Verdict
Summary
Shadowzone, from genre filmmaker J.S. Cardone and Full Moon Features, is a basic and formulaic stalk-and-kill creature feature in a contained setting, but you know what? It ain’t half bad. This was one of the solid Full Moon Features from the late ’80s, early ’90s, and it’s aged pretty well.
Plot:
A covert scientific experiment in a subterranean laboratory goes horribly wrong, opening up a rift to another dimension.
Review:
A NASA investigator named Hickcock (David Beecroft) is called into a situation that might be dire: Investigate a covert underground experiment in the middle of nowhere to find out how and why a human experiment in a dream sleep test died. The lab is manned by only a few people, namely three doctors (played by Louise Fletcher, Shawn Wetherly, and James Hong) who are clearly keeping secrets and withholding evidence from Hickock until they themselves can figure out exactly what went wrong. Two test subjects (one of whom is played by Maureen Flaherty, who is always completely in the nude) are still in test tubes, in extended sleep, but by using radical, experimental means, the doctors have accidentally opened a rift to another dimension. Thinking they can control it without Hickock realizing what has happened, they inadvertently invite into their own dimension a creature that can duplicate the size and appearance of any living thing, which, as we know in these kinds of situations is never a good scenario. The creature runs amok in the lab and through the hallways, tricking the humans by mimicking other forms (examples: it turns itself into a giant rat and later into a skinless monkey), and when we see its true shape, you know humanity is in big trouble if this thing gets loose topside. As the body count rises, Hickock might be the last – and only – hope humanity has.
Shadowzone, from genre filmmaker J.S. Cardone and Full Moon Features, is a basic and formulaic stalk-and-kill creature feature in a contained setting, but you know what? It ain’t half bad. I’ve seen it a few times over the years, and I believe it works because Cardone is a better-than-average filmmaker who can keep things moving and gives the movie just the right amount of genre trappings we expect from a movie so simple, but with plenty of creature goo and gore and way more passive nudity than you could hope for (Flaherty looks like a Playboy model so there’s no complaints), the movie delivers the goods. This was one of the solid Full Moon Features from the late ’80s, early ’90s, and it’s aged pretty well.
Full Moon has just released Shadowzone to Blu-ray, and I’m happy to say that the movie’s HD widescreen transfer shines and exceeds expectations. While I might’ve appreciated a commentary by Cardone, the disc only comes with trailers. It’s numbered #68 on the spine in the Full Moon catalogue, and is affordably priced to own.
