Shadows on the Wall

Shadows on the Wall

I just watched this movie, Despite what I would say was a low budget and largely unknown actors in this film, words and phrases that come to mind to describe this story are as follows; interesting, compelling, captivating, absorbing et al. I find this to be an excellent piece of work. A movie that relies on the script to keep us interested. Not on effects. Not on celebrity actors. Like all "sci-fi" movies you do have to allow yourself to believe that the story is possible but I don't think lovers of sci-fi and fantasy will have a problem with that. I hope the people involved with this movie are able to make a bit of money off of it. They deserve it.

I really enjoyed this movie. It was well worth the watch. I gave it a 10 Star rating. I usually don't like this type of Science Fiction movie, but this was truly an exception to my rule. The actors were superb. I give it two thumbs up....

7 August 2016. Shadows on the Wall is a difficult ratings choice because its low budget appearance and some of the slow pacing make this movie rather hard to continue watching especially at the beginning. The climax of the movie isn't anything spectacular in its originality and yet the building up, the mystery, the eventual tension, and the relative consistency of tone and performances somehow keep this movie from being just average or ordinary. In short, this low budget sci fi movie isn't really bad, isn't really just average and except for perhaps the man in a black suit who seems pretty one dimensional, overall becomes a decent and credible sci fi motion picture. Its attempt to capture the sci fi tone and exhilaration of the genre actually succeeds, even if isn't completely grand in its depiction like Interstellar (2014) or Inception (2010).

SHADOWS ON THE WALL is an indie science fiction drama without any kind of plot development or incident. It's seemingly set in a garage occupied by a bunch of youths working on some new technology that will grant them the ability to access new dimensions and travel to the end of the universe. On an indie budget that isn't going to happen, and indeed this seems to be hoping it'll be the next PI. I have a feeling that the directors of these kinds of film try to use them as a springboard to a Hollywood career but nobody's going anywhere with this static and talky enterprise.

The film fails on most levels. An obsessive 'techie' driven by an idea which actually works, eventually. This is already a feeble "What if ..." to justify what could have been a good starting point. Unfortunately, the plot fails to live up to the original premise. Worse, the characters end up explaining the gaps in the plot to each other, since the production is unable to do so. The next refuge is the 'shot in a cupboard' environment. The producer obviously thought "We don't need much in the way of expensive special effects if nobody can see the environment anyway". The remaining need for special effects is just tacked-on and would have looked cheap ten years before it was actually produced. Finally (no spoiler), the end is almost embarrassingly predictable. A real 'B' Movie.

The problem for a lot of us is that the label 'Full Length Sci-Fi Movie' implies the whole panoply of FX and Sets and lots of explosions and zaps. When sometimes, it's just the Idea and the People caught up in it. This movie takes an old school idea from the 50's & 60's: The Obsessed Inventor who discovers Something Incredible. If you remind yourself that the PC originated on a workbench in someone's garage from tinkered circuit boards...then Palmer is a believable character: The super Nerd with a healthy side of Asperger. These people have always been around...we just have a Medical Term for it now. The interplay off his brother Chase and his tutor/helper Mathematician Alice is actually realistic for a couple of College Teens...as opposed to 30+ Actors playing a cool suave rendition of what they think they remembered Teenage-hood to be like. The Machine is extensive and engrossing just in its messy expanse. And NO-- there are no wowzy FX when it turns on....Have you ever watched electronics? When the electricity is on: transistors just...sit there. Heck--Even the Super Collider just Hums when they flip the switch. So I applaud the camera work for trying to add expectant intensity...you know SOMETHING is going to happen as the inventors keep arguing and worrying as they reach further outwards. When the Something Happens...if you're old enough, it should remind you of the old Outer Limits. The Inventor's Machine knocked on a Door...and SOMETHING is Knocking Back. ...And they can't turn it off. The rest of the movie gave me a few well crafted chills as the inventors realized they were in the middle of something incredible, something they no longer controlled...something dangerous. And they didn't know what to do. ...And now they're scared. I am fairly certain that the Director of this movie KNEW and had Watched the old Out-Limits. He studied an old formula that chilled millions and recreated it. My only regret is that the director wasn't able to throw in an Old Outer-limits spook background theme when things started opening up for some authentic audio chills. Otherwise, I find that these guys pulled off a Very Very good Movie on a Budget of Next to Nothing. This isn't a Main-event type movie...but it needs to be watched at night with nachos and pop. A Friday Night after a grueling week when you just want to wind down would be best. And it needs to be COLD when you watch it, so turn up the AC if it's summer. I say rent this one. Suspend your Belief...and wonder: What could POSSIBLY be LISTENING Beyond the Edge of the Universe?

"Have a Coke", make some popcorn, relax and suspend disbelief. The unlikely unfolding of events and less-than award-winning acting is part of the fun of this kind of film — very much in the genre of the 1950's science fiction movies. Here are science-y people doing impossible, scientific-like things with technological-looking hardware which results in unforeseeable consequences of cosmic proportions. But, unlike modern "sci-fi" movies that rely heavily on computer-generated worlds, violence and prurience, this little film relies almost completely on plot and characters. That makes for a terrific bit of entertainment in my book. (I put "sci-fi" in quotes as most films of that kind today rely almost entirely on magic with not even the suggestion of anything scientific.)

This may very well be THE most boring sci-fi/horror movie that I've ever seen. More than halfway into the movie, you're still waiting for something... ANYTHING... to happen. I couldn't take any more of the main character's constant whining and snivelling. He's like a four year old in an adult (barely) body. Go watch grass grow. Go watch paint as it dries. Go watch cows chewing cud and farting copiously in a pasture. Any of those options would seem endlessly fascinating compared to this snoozefest.