Shadows of the Dead (2016)

Shadows of the Dead: Directed by John Ross. With Kennedy Tucker, Thomas Miguel Ruff, Taylor Jorgensen, Alexandria Paige. At an anti-prom party, a group of teenagers stumble across a mysterious cabin deep in the woods, and awaken an evil creature that lives in the shadows.

“Released to TV in 2016, u0026quot;Shadows of the Deadu0026quot; starts with a group of teens going out to a cabin in the woods to party (no, seriously). Thankfully, thatu0026#39;s just the beginning as some kind of deadly shadow-like creature follows them back to their Southern Cal town where havoc naturally ensues.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI like petite cutie Kennedy Tucker as the main protagonist and Thomas Miguel Ruff as her likable pal, Gabe. The rest of the cast is serviceable. The tone is serious, which is good in my book, and the haunting air makes this a good TV flick for the October/November season.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI also like the fact that the monster is explained better than the half-baked nonsense of similar movies, like u0026quot;The Night before Halloweenu0026quot; (2016) and u0026quot;Stickmanu0026quot; (2017). The shadow creature is reminiscent of the monsters from u0026quot;Mothmanu0026quot; (2010) and u0026quot;Scarecrowu0026quot; (2013), both superior to this, while including elements of u0026quot;Alienu0026quot; (1979), u0026quot;Messiah of Evil (1973) and u0026quot;From Withinu0026quot; (2008).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlthough u0026quot;Shadows of the Deadu0026quot; is better than u0026quot;Neverknocku0026quot; (2017), it suffers from a similar feeling of u0026quot;Meh.u0026quot; Something needed added to perk the movie out of its prosaic goings-on. Some of it works, though, and I appreciated the positives despite my tedium. The climax is totally predictable though.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie runs 1 hour, 27 minutes and was shot in the more remote outskirts of Los Angeles.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGRADE: C/C+”