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.

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!!

This movie was totally awesome!

Stuart Quan steals the show as Tai Jung, but there's not really an epic fail from any of the actors (especially considering the budget). It's very much an atmospheric (then or now), and the little town of Danford is an additional character that shines.

I don't know why everyone is hating on Tai's half shift, he wears it to show off his totally rad body! Duh! I love that his other one says, "Lazy Guy's Club" since that's exactly what he and his three friends are (except when it comes to Tai's martial arts hiiii-yaaaa!).

Back in the '80's, we could laugh at, and make fun of -stereotypes, which is why you get a five minute scene of Tai going all Kung-Fu on a bunch of rotten bikers. We didn't take offense, (or even feel the need to mention) that an Asian guy knows martial arts, or that Dean (Kato Kaelin), a white guy knows a lot about baseball, or that a small town cop is an idiot. We were all in on the joke, and had a great time (something the whole world is missing now with the PC police).

The only problem I have with this movie is the idiot police persecuting hometown kids. Small towns are insular, and the cops would be way more interested in the bikers (or a passing stranger), than in Tai, or his goofy friends. Small towns will do anything to keep their sense of safety, it ALWAYS has to be the outsider. This one script point is the only real problem here.

This movie is part old Western, part monster flick, and now, it's also a nostalgia-fest. Enjoy!

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.

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