JP Nunez
I’ve had my eye on The Shade for a while. I first heard about this film a few months ago when I saw the trailer, and I thought it looked pretty interesting. I immediately put it on my to-watch list (yes, I keep an actual list), so you can imagine my excitement when I received an email asking if I wanted to review it. I responded right away and requested a screener, and I couldn’t wait to see what chills and thrills this movie had in store.
The Shade was written and directed by Tyler Chipman, and it stars Chris Galust, Laura Benanti, Dylan McTee, and Sam Duncan. In the film, Ryan is a 20-year-old struggling to get through life. He lost his father not too long ago, and he sees a therapist for his severe panic attacks. On top of all that, this guy also goes to school, works multiple jobs, and helps his mother take care of his little brother, James, so things aren’t easy for him.
Nevertheless, Ryan seems fairly happy, but that all changes when his older brother, Jason, unexpectedly comes back home. Ryan realizes that the guy is being stalked by a malevolent force, and as you can probably guess, this entity soon makes the family’s life a horrifically tragic nightmare.
When The Shade began, I was sure it would be an awesome experience. Before the real story kicks into gear, the movie starts with a cold opening that seems unrelated to the main characters. We see a man drive his son out to a cemetery, set a tombstone on fire, and kill himself, and after he dies, a bunch of ominous black-robed figures start to close in on the guy’s corpse. Then, one of them turns to the boy and begins to slowly walk toward him.
It’s an incredibly tense and atmospheric scene, and it raises a boatload of questions. Why did the guy do this? Who are these mysterious onlookers? And what’s going to happen to the kid? We simply have no idea, and as usual, that uncertainty makes the whole thing even more harrowing.
So naturally, when The Shade switched to Ryan and his family, I was excited to find out what the opening scene was all about, and I thought the film would maintain that high level of horror quality. But I was wrong. This movie is aggressively mediocre, and it all starts with the characters.
To be fair, the performances here are quite good. The actors in this film hit all the emotional beats they need to, so I had no trouble buying into them and their story. The problem is that these characters are just bland. There’s nothing particularly charming or interesting about them, so they end up being frustratingly normal.
I quickly became bored with them, and that pretty much ruined the experience. See, The Shade is a very slow burn. In fact, it often feels more like a character study than anything else. Especially in the first hour, the scares are few and far between, and aside from a big moment or two, the story crawls at a snail’s pace. It’s basically just a showcase for Ryan and, to a lesser extent, his family, so if these characters don’t work, the movie won’t work either. And unfortunately, that’s exactly what happens.
Along similar lines, the horror in this film is also pretty subpar. The vast majority of scares simply consist of a demonic-looking entity popping in to say hi, and most of the time, it quickly slinks back into the shadows. Even when it sticks around longer than three seconds, it still never does anything, so you quickly learn that it’s actually rather harmless. And once you come to that realization, this thing loses all its effectiveness.
That being said, The Shade does throw a couple of other frights at us every now and then. For example, there are a few scenes where the hooded figures from the opening come back to haunt Ryan, and there’s a fun moment involving a surprisingly creepy tree (you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when you see it). On paper, the phrase “creepy tree” might not sound terribly appealing, but trust me, it’s actually really well done. I wouldn’t exactly call it scary, but the imagery is pretty gruesome, and it’s brought to life with some excellent makeup.
Last but not least, we have to talk about the movie’s themes. The Shade is basically an allegory for generational trauma and the ways mental health issues can plague entire families, and in theory, this is an intriguing idea to explore. But in practice, the film barely even scratches the surface.
We never get to meet Ryan’s father, so the generational aspect of the story is severely undercooked. Sure, we eventually learn what happened to him, but the movie merely tells us about it instead of showing it to us (a big cinematic no-no!). It never makes you feel like this problem extends beyond the current generation, so the film completely botches this potentially captivating theme.
In fact, the whole movie is like that. Other than the acting and a few fun moments here and there, The Shade is pretty lackluster overall. On top of its weak thematic resonance, the characters are rather bland, and the horror loses steam very quickly. Granted, it’s not terrible, but it’s particularly good either, so if you’re looking for some fun new horror to watch, I suggest you look elsewhere.
The Shade is set to hit theaters on September 20.
