Shadow Builder

This is a decent film. Sure, in modern standards with the top notch special effects, some may say its lacking, but I feel that sometimes its great to watch something with less cgi. The story is okay, and you do get to understand certain characters in the film. There are a couple of well known faces in there. Michael Rooker is the Father, and even better is that Tony Todd is playing the local crazy person. I say watch it, and don't compare to the films that have all well known cast members in. The idea is pretty interesting too. As for the Bram Stoker reference, back in 1881, Bram published some short stories. This wasn't very big, so hence the 'based on..' wording.

Get the ingredients for a little made b-film and throw Bram Stocker in as inspiration for the story. A demonic force is summoned to take the soul of a young boy who could become a saint and if done it could open a doorway to hell. However this entity can only travel through shadows and needs to collect souls to complete this task. But on its trail is Father Vassey, who's heading to this sleepy rural town to find the boy first. The occult horror "Shadow Builder" is an adaptation of a Stocker story and the screenplay only seems to muddled it up with half-baked theories, as it leans towards its cheesy special effects, nasty shocks and poignant performances led by Michael Rooker's grizzled renegade priest who gets around with pistols than say a bible and Tony Todd as some loony giggling Jamaican hermit that kids are afraid of. Actually "Shadow Builder" isn't all that bad, but in parts it's fairly amusing and surprisingly dark in its atmospherics. The opening scenes are actually quite fun. Over-the-top and silly, but fun especially seeing Rooker at work in his choice of repenting sinners. The demonic entity has some striking facial details, but basically it's black CGI smoke and like most villainous horror characters has something cleverly smart to say. With this last point, I thought it would have been better suited if it said nothing at all. The direction is rather stylised for its low- budget, but the plot doesn't meander much and it has enough thrills in its formulaic patterns of good vs. evil… or light vs. darkness. A young Kevin Zegers stars as the kid caught in the middle of it all.

"Are you truly repentant?"

Shadow Builder isn't more or less than an average horror-movie with average actors and average special FX. It is not especially bad but it isn't very good either. The story of an evil demon who needs to do something very bad (kill a young boy) to reach his goal (turn the world into hell)isn't exactly original but it's good for 97 minutes of entertainment. The story is highly predictable, though. You almost know exactly what will happen and when it will happen. Don't watch this movie if you expect to see a cool horror movie like Bram Stoker's Dracula only because the name Bram Stoker appears in the title. Watch this movie on a boring, rainy day when you have nothing else to do and you'll enjoy it. 6 out of 10 Stars.

For a low budget Canadian film, 'Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder' is pretty good. Though it doesn't get off to a very good start and takes a while to build up momentum, it's massively entertaining, and the production values are better than the gimmicky, error plagued box cover suggests (I'll get to that in a minute). It might not be the greatest horror film ever, but it avoids several pitfalls which most low budget horrors fall for, most namely there is almost no gore in the film, and the director/editor actually threw in some style and flash, rather than the suspense less "suspense" 99% of those B Horrors have (gotta love that effect when Chris first lays eyes on the priest).

The acting is mediocre for the most part, with only one of the characters played well. Michael Rooker, as the gun wielding priest, tries to do his best Donald Pleasance impression, but fails, and ultimately resembles Pleasance's Dr Loomis from the Halloween films much too closely. The rest of the supporting cast is made up pretty much of Canadian nobodies who get the job done, but just aren't all that great. The flicks' protagonist, Chris Hatcher, is played by 13 year old newcomer Kevin Zegers, who handles the part surprisingly well, not making Chris obnoxious or arrogant like most child stars would (and have done many, many times). Instead he goes the much harder route by creating a genuinely interesting character, subtle and low key, much like the film itself.

Even though the producers had access to the special effects wizards behind 'True Lies' and 'The Terminator', they opted instead for the more traditional style of special effects, utilizing lighting, shadows and a very spooky atmosphere rather than heaping on the CG (computer generated) effects. The CG that did end up making it into 'Shadowbuilder' is very impressive and much better than that of even the highest profile direct to video thrillers.

One subplot I really thought should have been expanded on and furthered was the friendship between Chris and his two friends. There was only one scene with the three together, and though it had a different 'feel' from the rest of the film (it would have seemed more at home in a drama than a horror film), that scene was probably the best up until the climax. His two friends do appear later in the movie after they had been possessed by the Shadowbuilder, and it seemed as though Chris had known them better than was explained in the story. I know I'm rambling, but it really does look like some heavy editing occurred before release that shouldn't have happened.

The biggest problem with the movie is the lackluster script. Much of the dialogue is cheesy and unrealistic, and the way that the Shadowbuilder came into being was never fully explained. How was it summoned? What did the bible (which is referred to often in the story) have to do with it? Why was Chris so special and why did he receive the stigmata when baptized? It are these questions that the audience asks themselves over and over again while viewing this film, and if they were properly answered, then I would be reviewing a much better film.

Another thing I wanted to point out was the awful, awful packaging that the VHS version comes in (not sure about the DVD edition, as it was released by a different distributor, Sterling Entertainment- VHS was done by Lion's Gate). Not only does it have a cheesy, holographic front cover ala Jack Frost (not the Michael Keaton version), and there is an obvious typo error on the back- millennium is shown there as millenium, but it looks as though the person who wrote the summary didn't even see the movie! There is a major error which stands out like a sore thumb after seeing 'Shadowbuilder', see if you can find it (hint: has to do with Leslie Hope's character)

An entertaining horror film with a bit of humor mixed in, though it does have its share of problems, a good pick for late Friday night... full moon... 13th of the month... solar eclipse... rent it if you can get a copy, otherwise don't bother.

Father Vassey(a usually intense Rooker) is a mean, motherf-ing servant of god, dual-wielding 9mm pistols with laser sights that he sadly uses all too little, and he's one of the more enjoyable aspects of this. He is introduced gunning down a perverted(not like that! ...then again...) clan of Catholic higher-ups who have just summoned the original titular demon(created when light came about), and it's out to... I don't know, exactly, with all this theism-driven "horror"(this is not all that scary, if there are creepy and atmospheric portions here and there), it's just an alternative to their faith that is the evil, and this one is somewhat vague in that regard. Anyway, it needs to take over a human host to do... whatever, I don't know, maybe to stop chuckling, maybe air tickles it. It's sights are set on a pre-teen boy in a nearby small town, where it hides in a sewer(or, going by what it looks like from it's POV-shots, it's rushing down a lava water slide), and gradually drive the inhabitants to sin and chaos(whether you take it seriously or not, it's another memorable aspect). This is very much a B-movie, though it's not cheesy enough to be fun like that. Yes, there are some good moments but they are few and far between. There is a heavy reliance on CGI with it utilizing a ton of it, and, being the late 90's(and low budget), the FX(in fact, in general) are not of a very high quality(with some exceptions, some of the practical stuff). Also, many things are shown too briefly, where you barely have time to see what you're looking at before it moves on. I don't remember when I last had to rewind so often during one film. While the insidious being is in the shadow some(leaving it to us to imagine what exactly he looks like), he's way too chatty and when you do see some more of him, the design is strange and not that interesting. Acting varies. Characters are forgettable(even Tony Todd as the village idiot... well, he seemed to be entertained by it, himself). Pacing can be an issue, as this can really drag. At the end of the day, there are better camp flicks out there... Mother of Tears had far more going on, and End of the Line was genuinely chilling. There is some disturbing, violent and gory content and a little full female nudity in this. I recommend this to big fans of Christian fantasy with devils or the like. 5/10