Night Shadow

Night Shadow (1990) Director: Randolph Cohlan Stars: Brenda Vance, Stuart Quan, Kato Kaelin

Synopsis: Alex (Brenda Vance) is an up and coming TV journalist that travels to her home town for a vacation. A mysterious man follows her from L. A to Danford. Back in Danford we meet her kickboxing brother (Stuart Quan) and her "boyfriend", the Sheriff who now has his hands full with a bunch of animal-like murders occurring in town.

The Crappy: The animal costume looks like it was bought at a Halloween costume store and tweaked ever so slightly. And you don't even see it until the very end. It's supposed to be a werewolf but you could really use any creature in its place because the werewolf angle is completely irrelevant to anything in the movie.

The ditzy reporter I think had one blouse change the entire movie - this takes place over a series of days.

The kung fu brother wears this mini tank top that just look completely absurd.

80s hair: Aquanet was a big part of the budget here.

The Happy: Kato Kaelin! Lol. He's one of the kung fu brother's friends and he rocks a wicked mullet throughout. He also has the only good death scene in the movie.

The Kung Fu brother (who reminds me of Phillip Rhee in Best of the Best) has got some decent moves - even though some kicks obviously didn't connect. Lol.

Overall: 3.5 out of 10

This is a pretty weak werewolf flick with a couple of laughs and not much else. Only for werewolf purists and I mean that lightly.

RELEASED IN 1989 and written/directed by Randolph Cohlan, "Night Shadow" (originally titled "Lycanthrope") concerns a humble Los Angeles newscaster (Brenda Vance) who returns to her home town on vacation as several people crop up dead, as if by a vicious animal. Alta LaFlame plays the sheriff, Rick Scott a mysterious hitchhiker, Stuart Quan the protagonist's kung fuey brother and Kato Kaelin his friend.

This is akin to a modern Syfy creature feature, but with a production quality a notch below that prosaic level. The serviceable score, for instance, sounds like it was performed entirely on a Casio keyboard (and no doubt it was). There's also too much marking time. Still, the cast is likable, the small town setting is quaint and the monster is pretty effective for a man in a suit, but you have to wait till the final act to see him.

Vance is a more-than-agreeable protagonist, but the film drops the ball in the female department, as far as taking advantage of the resources (and I'm not tawkin' 'bout nudity or sleaze). But there's a lot of martial arts action due to the presence of Quan; and the late 80's ambiance is to die for (take, for instance, Quan's absurd bra-like billie shirt and Kato's hideous mullet).

THE FILM RUNS 91 minutes and was shot in Hanford & Fresno in the heart of California.

GRADE: C

Night Shadows distinct lack of budget is on display and alas really does show, the creators do their best to mask this but the problem is evident.

Telling the generic story of a group of people in small town America during a series of werewolf attacks there isn't anything even remotely on display.

What the movie has going for it however is a decent cast who are well written and thus you actually care to a degree about their fates.

With an anti-climatic finale the movie is the very definition of average. It's not bad by any means but it's instantly forgettable.

The Good:

Likeable characters

Has a certain charm

The Bad:

Lack of budget shows

Hardly original

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

In the movies if you have a mullet you're instantly a bad guy or an idiot

I have no idea why any man would choose to wear vests/t-shirts like bras

In the 1980's ever asian person is a ninja

Up-and-coming TV journalist Alex Jung (Brenda Vance) returns to her home town of Danford (the film was shot in Hanford) as local police attempt to cope with a series of brutal murders. The small town plunges into a state of panic and the murders continue... until Alex comes face to face with the evil itself.

Some of the hair and clothes are so late 1980s, early 1990s that it is hilarious. The Asian guy has a cut off shirt that looks more like a women's sports bra. And, of course, he knows martial arts...

The blood and gore effects are surprisingly not terrible, and they invested in some live maggots, which I appreciate. I am not going to say this is on the level of, say, Rob Bottin... but it is respectable.

Kato Kaelin, made notorious from the OJ Simpson trial, appears here in all his mullet glory! And Aldo Ray as inventor Gene Krebelski is like a next generation "Gremlins" dad.

The music has Richard Band written all over it, but this is not a Full Moon picture and it is Ken Carlton behind the score. George Temple produced and edited, as well as acted as story consultant.

The entertainment value on this priceless and timeless movie is beyond words! The actors and actresses do a great job portraying the fear that gets lodged into the people's hearts and minds is fantastic!

That actress that plays Beth could go on to do some superb work, if only someone gave her a chance. She has the look of stardom, and could easily pull off any hard rolls thrown her way. Just because this movie didn't get any awards, doesn't mean that it isn't a great film. The music, the acting, and that werewolf!!! are amazing! Hats off to everyone involved in this movie. I hope all of them go on to great careers in the movie business. Good luck to everyone who worked on this movie, you made a movie that is scary, fun, and exciting for everyone to enjoy. The night we rented this movie was something our family will remember forever, we had so much fun, and for days we repeated scenes to relive the great time we had while watching this movie together. I will always remember this amazing movie and the great time my family had with it! Thanks so much Night Shadow!!