The 1984 production "Night Shadows" doesn't exactly reinvent the zombie film, but it's still a well made and entertaining example of the genre, even with a rather routine plot. Chemical waste dumping has turned the residents of a sleepy Southern town into bloodthirsty, night crawling ghouls that don't eat their victims but still do some pretty unpleasant things to them. Into this town come two big city brothers, Josh (Wings Hauser) and Mike (Lee Montgomery), who are just in time to become caught up in the strange events.
Director John "Bud" Cardos, who'd graced us with the superior "nature strikes back" entry "Kingdom of the Spiders" seven years previous, stepped in here to replace original director Mark Rosman ("The House on Sorority Row"), and does his usual bang up job, successfully creating an ominous mood and palpable small town atmosphere.
Wings is very likable in a role far removed from his flamboyant villainy in "Vice Squad", as a carefree sort of guy who's forced to get serious in a hurry. Bo Hopkins is also fun in one of his laid back lawmen roles, a man with a weakness for the bottle. He's so good that you can really take pity on the character, especially as we learn that he couldn't hack it in the big city. Montgomery is likewise good as worry wart Mike, the type of guy with a desire to do the right thing. Jody Medford is incredibly attractive and very appealing as Joshs' love interest, a combination teacher / bartender, Marc Clement is a hoot as a trouble making local bully, Cary Guffey, the little kid from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", appears here as a schoolchild, and Jennifer Warren is a welcome presence as the concerned doctor puzzled over the disappearances of her patients.
Richard Bands' score is excellent, and the makeup effects, while certainly not the most elaborate you'll ever see, are not all that bad either. The oozing, split palms are a nice touch. The pacing may drag a little sometimes, but everything does work towards an appropriately intense finale. The filmmakers deserve some credit, too, for not being afraid to break one cinema taboo.
If the prospective viewer is anything like this one and loves this sort of thing to begin with, they should have a pretty good time with "Night Shadows".
Seven out of 10.
Director John "Bud" Cardos, who'd graced us with the superior "nature strikes back" entry "Kingdom of the Spiders" seven years previous, stepped in here to replace original director Mark Rosman ("The House on Sorority Row"), and does his usual bang up job, successfully creating an ominous mood and palpable small town atmosphere.
Wings is very likable in a role far removed from his flamboyant villainy in "Vice Squad", as a carefree sort of guy who's forced to get serious in a hurry. Bo Hopkins is also fun in one of his laid back lawmen roles, a man with a weakness for the bottle. He's so good that you can really take pity on the character, especially as we learn that he couldn't hack it in the big city. Montgomery is likewise good as worry wart Mike, the type of guy with a desire to do the right thing. Jody Medford is incredibly attractive and very appealing as Joshs' love interest, a combination teacher / bartender, Marc Clement is a hoot as a trouble making local bully, Cary Guffey, the little kid from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", appears here as a schoolchild, and Jennifer Warren is a welcome presence as the concerned doctor puzzled over the disappearances of her patients.
Richard Bands' score is excellent, and the makeup effects, while certainly not the most elaborate you'll ever see, are not all that bad either. The oozing, split palms are a nice touch. The pacing may drag a little sometimes, but everything does work towards an appropriately intense finale. The filmmakers deserve some credit, too, for not being afraid to break one cinema taboo.
If the prospective viewer is anything like this one and loves this sort of thing to begin with, they should have a pretty good time with "Night Shadows".
Seven out of 10.