Shadow Puppets Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
They don't know who they are. Where they are. Or what is trying to kill them.
A woman and a man awake in individual white cells in an abandoned prison or mental institution wearing only underwear and without any memory. They hear a strange and creepy noise and decide to look for a way out of the facility. They meet six other strangers in the same situation and one of them is attacked and killed by a shadow. While trying to escape from the place and the shadow, they find the brain washing apparatus with the indication that had been used eight times. When they meet the ninth stranger, they realize that one of them is lying and knows what have happened with them.
| Tony Todd | Steve |
| Jolene Blalock | Kate |
| James Marsters | Jack |
| Marc Winnick | Charlie |
| Natasha Alam | Amber |
| Diahnna Nicole Baxter | Stacy |
| Richard Whiten | Dave |
| Jennie Ford | Melissa |
| Michael Winnick |
5.00 out of 10 (694 votes)
Visitor Reviews
"Saw" plus "Cube" plus "Some supernatural stuff" minus "Story" minus "Realy anything to say" = Shadow Puppets
posted on 07 Jun 2009Don't waist your time.I believe the writer, after seeing cube and saw, decided he would write and direct something similar. And to make things more interesting, would add some ghost stuff. Well i believe this idea sucks on its own (you don't just decide to "hey, Godfather was a hit, I think I'll make something likewise", and then start writing a story), but what makes this even worse is that Micheal (the writer) has no creativity. The story is dull and dumb. Period.Suspense, yeah, for the first 10mins, cause you have to wonder whats going on. But once you are made to understand, you go "Oh my god,.... is that it???" and turn off the movie.Its not exiting, its not trilling, and its definitely not worth any ones time.
I'd rather eat babies...
posted on 12 May 2009...Than watch another minute of this movie. Wtf are they thinking? Even IF this gets semi-entertaining by the end... The dialog and performances (hah, performances) are so terrible it makes the movie unwatchable beyond the first 20 minutes. I have no respect for this movie, or its auteur writer/director. Somebody, please, give this guy a slinky to distract him before he gets money together for another one of his "visions." Blech. P.S. Sorry Marsters, you picked a BAD project to debut your "film" career.P.S.S IMDb is telling me I need to have more lines in my comment in order to post it. I thought I covered it all succinctly, but I guess not. Hmm, what to say? Got nothing. This movie just plain sucks, even for horror fans and Spike lovers. I'm out to go wax my shaft with a Brillo pad. It's that, or finish this movie :P
It 's awful
posted on 28 Jan 2009This is one of the worst movies I have seen - and believe me I have seen my fair share of crap. The plot is horrendous and the dialog is laughably bad. The acting is in general bad, but for the most part, the actors do not have anything to work with in terms of script, and that is a valid excuse in this movie. On second thought, the one actor who really seems painfully wooden is Winnick, who probably got the role as the director's brother/cousin or something. For the rest, at least you can tell they are professional. The monster special effects are bad. The ending is ridiculous, with the sun coming up fast, so that the heroes can be saved. There was no suspense, and in the end I was hoping the stupid monster would kill and eat everyone and then die of indigestion. In order to see how the interesting scenario of waking up without memory was developed into a good movie a couple of years back, you can watch "Unknown" (2006). Just save your brain cells and skip this one.
I thought it was pretty good
posted on 14 Jan 2009I don't think it's fair that this movie got so many bad reviews. I mean, if you really want to see a bad movie, try those made by Cine Excel Entertainment. After having just seen "GiAnts" and "Magma: Earth's Molten Core," this movie is like a 9 on my list. The story was good and the acting wasn't all that bad. Again, if you really want to see bad acting, check out the above two titles. The only bad thing I would say about this film is the corny ending. It would have been better without the last two lines. I think the director made the best out of his budget and he definitely deserves more credit. I've seen a lot of trash films and believe me, this is not one of them.
You can't hide from your own shadow.
posted on 31 Dec 2008CONTAINS SPOILERS! Shadow Puppets stars James Marsters,Jolene Blalock and Tony Todd. It's an excellent thriller, that will keep you on the edges of your seat!!! YOU CAN'T MISS JAMES MARSTERS' IN HIS UNDERWEAR FOR MOST OF THE MOVIE!!!! Shadow Puppets is about a group of strangers who wake up in a locked asylum with no idea of who who they are or how they got there.They are all in their underwear,cold and scared.They are being killed of by a Shadow creature, and need to find a way out of the asylum. As the movie goes on, you will will see that not all is what it seems, that someone has been lying. But I won't say who? You will have to watch the movie to find out!!!
Not entirely bad just not interesting enough
posted on 25 Dec 2008"Shadow Puppets" is movie that has a great cast and a great premise! The biggest problem with this movie that it isn't thrilling! Not one moment you get scared! The ghost isn't threatening enough! The shadow ghost is an interesting concept! It is too bad that they didn't use this idea to it's full potential! But this is a problem the whole movie has! The lack of ambiance! It should be key in a movie like this! It could have been overlooked if they had put in some wonderful twist that would have explained the ghost and actually showed how this ghost was created! We do get some explanation on the situation! But by the time we do you couldn't care less because you were bored to death! The predictable story and the lack of thrills make this a movie that is not worth watching !
Underground in undies.
posted on 09 Dec 2008What can I say? I'm a big fan of horror (as well as science fiction, and anything generally weird). If you too are a fan you will be entertained by this movie. It's a "trapped-and-hunted" movie which is a common enough plot idea, but the delivery had some originality and was very entertaining.Basically, an unlikely mix of people (one's a nympho, for instance) wake up (separately) to find themselves in a cell in underwear with no knowledge of who they are or where they are except that they are captives of some sort. They are able to leave their cells and walk around and and in so doing eventually run into each other. There mission is of course to find out who they are, where they are, and generally: What the heck is going on!!! I don't want to say anything more and ruin it for the rest of you. Suffice to say that you will be entertained, especially if you are into horror and sci-fi like I am. Finally, it's really hard to find a good scary horror movie these days, isn't it? Sometimes I think it's a lost art and nobody out there really knows how to scare the crap out of you anymore. In fairness, maybe it's harder to scare today's crowd who've been there, done that. I guess we've lost our innocence and the challenge for any moviemaker these days is to find the child in us and say- "Boo!" Love, Boloxxxi.
looks good and suspenseful
posted on 14 Sep 2008I saw part of this movie at a screener in LA recently, and it looked good - the visual effects were excellent. I liked seeing Jolene Blalock (Enterprise), she always looks good, but was less impressed with the acting ability of James Masters (I think it was him in the operating scene with Jolene where Tony Todd entered and they fought...although I didn't see the whole movie). The premise is nothing new - woke up, didn't know who they were, but something wanted them dead - but in this case, it worked.Seemed to be a very suspenseful movie, well shot, great angles, lighting etc.
Writer is a computer idiot
posted on 06 Jul 2008Could have been great, writing and directing destroyed this movie.Oh, I need to bring the network up to turn the power off... What's a network asks the writer? Someone break out the dictionary... a network is two or more computers says dictionary. So we have to wait until the second computer is running to bring that little network up, to turn the power off? Whats the function of that second computer? The writer should have consulted with at least one technical person. Idiot.Where is the front door of this hospital? Is this the worst sunrise scene ever filmed? Unfortunately, the first 15 minutes of the film were incredible, but dies a fast death from there.
Ugh...horrible...includes slight spoilers.
posted on 02 Jun 2008Honestly, one of the worst movies I've seen in years. Credit to James Marsters for being the only one in the movie who was even slightly believable. Jolene Blalock was especially bad in this film. The rest of the cast was pretty damn terrible as well, including horror vet Tony Todd. As for the premise, it was obvious from moment one that Marsters would be revealed as the "bad guy." The way the shadow monster was used was also terribly inconsistent from one scene to another. It's supposed to be afraid of and vulnerable to light, but first manifests on camera in a brightly lit medical lab, and later manifest in a brightly lit pool. Too many plot holes, inconsistencies, and downright terrible lines, combined with largely phoned-in awful performances by the cast, and horrendous directing combine to make this movie one of the least frightening, un-entertaining pieces of film fluff in recent years.
Don't be fooled!
posted on 21 May 2008It is the actors and director voting 10 for themselves giving the movie a good rating to make it sell better. Notice that when a really bad film gets good reviews (around 7-10 in rating) it always have a lot of good comments about the "actors" in it. This movie is nothing but a ripoff, mastery of bad acting and a script who makes you wanna scream in agony. The parallels between Cube is so clear it is sad. Also, compare the plot summary with the film Unknown (2006) and you'll be surprised (or maybe not). If I was a part of this movie I would see the result as a complete failure and quit my job. Voting 10 for your own mistake is nothing but pure scam. These persons should be ashamed. I am, for their miserable sake.
Fanboys Dream Cast In An Average Movie
posted on 01 Apr 2008Man I was hoping for so much more here. I am a die hard Buffy fan and eagerly anticipated a featured role for Marsters. Tony Todd in my view is one of the great actors working today in any genre, and Jolene was one of the bright spots of a dreary Enterprise. Not to mention I love the basic premise, and am a big fan of Cube. Sadly Shadow Puppets mostly falls into the average category. The acting is good, and there is a twist at the end that may surprise you. I believe the majority of the budget was spent on assembling the cast. I was okay with the generic smoke monster, it was what it was, and it was probably better to do something simple instead of a poor CGI creature. The film is never really that scary or suspenseful and there aren't any clever kills or gore moments so that may hurt it in the eyes of those looking for a Saw or Cube. Because of the cast I was hoping for more, but if it were Lorenzo Lamas and Shannon Tweed headlining my review would be less critical. Still it's a "slightly" above average film with a good cast.
Marsters never "phones in" his acting
posted on 04 Mar 2008I bought the DVD because I'm a fan of James Marsters.Yes, this movie must have cost every dime that it shows on screen. But also yes, I thought I knew within the first 20 minutes who the villain was, and I was pleasantly surprised to found that I can STILL be surprised.I write this comment merely to remind, or to alert, other viewers that James Marsters is a professional Shakespearian stage actor, and as I was watching him more than paying attention to the plot, I found myself enjoying this movie. Sure, I was yelling at the plot-holes within the first 5 minutes; but if you watch just 5 minutes of Marsters with the sound off, you'll see how superb an actor he is. Forget the trite lines that he was paid to say; watch, instead, his body language and his facial language.This is one great actor.Oh, but who, besides me, died laughing when Marsters had to deliver, straight-faced, the line, "Well, at least you look better in your underwear than I do"? Ouch! Cheers all, Fiona
Intriguing and Suspenseful
posted on 06 Jan 2008A woman (Jolene Blalock) and a man (James Marsters) awake in individual white cells in an abandoned prison or mental institution wearing only underwear and without any memory. They hear a strange and creepy noise and decide to look for a way out of the facility. They meet six other strangers in the same situation and one of them is attacked and killed by a shadow. While trying to escape from the place and the shadow, they find the brain washing apparatus with the indication that had been used eight times. When they meet the ninth stranger, they realize that one of them is lying and knows what have happened with them.In 1997, the outstanding "Cube" showed a situation of strangers trapped in a room without knowing how and the reason. The use of this concept was repeated in many other films, among them "Saw" and "House of 9". "Shadow Puppets" in this regard is not original, using the same idea of eight strangers without memory trapped in a facility. The noisy shadow is a rip-off of the smoke monster of "Lost". However, the story is intriguing and suspenseful, has a good twist, the actors and actresses leaded by Jolene Clalock, James Masters and Tony Todd have good performances and the special effects are also good. The resolution is reasonable, but the greatest flaw is that the characters should be naked to survive since the shadow could feel the clothes. But I liked this enjoyable movie. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "A Sombra" ("The Shadow")
Similar to The Outer Limits. . .
posted on 31 Dec 2007I liked the premise and the shadow monster was an unusual concept. I kind of wish they hadn't given it a face though. It was more frightening as a formless mass up until it was given a face which made the monster a little bit corny. The acting was pretty well done. Not a fabulous movie but not bad. If your expectations are of some big-budget lavish flick you will be disappointed. If you generally like shows like "The Outer Limits", you will enjoy this one. It was sort of like a two hour episode of TOL. It was more like a sci-fi thing rather than a horror movie. I felt it was worth renting though, esp. if you're a James Marsters fan.
Don't take this movie too seriously, and then you'll enjoy it.
posted on 07 Dec 2007I saw this movie for one and only reason that James Marsters is in it, and as I expected, the movie itself was quite bad. Actually no, the first 20 minutes were pretty good, while you still didn't know what was going on, and before you got a good look at the monster. And while the girls were still in their undies of course. But then it just went downhill. The acting was not great, but at least nothing as amateurish as in Saw. James Marsters was good as always(but then, he can never do wrong in my book:P), the black guys were scary, the girls were hot, and that's pretty much all that was required from them. The ending of the movie was promising to reach the all-time low, but then I think the director realized that, and opted for a genius solution. Yes, bring back the girls in undies. Explanation? Because the monster don't kill you if you're in your undies. That's right. And what happened to that black girl who didn't take off her skirt in time? Nothing good, that's for sure. Let this be a lesson to all you ladies out there. And at the very end you just gotta laugh. And if you see this movie with that easy-mind kind of attitude, then you'll mildly enjoy it. Better yet, watch it stoned. The first 20 minutes made me give this movie the first 2 stars; James Marsters pushed it to 4, and the semi-naked girls bumped it up to 7.
Pretty good thriller
posted on 24 Oct 2007I didn't know anything about this movie before I started watching it. As it turned out, I was happy to find a well made thriller. Obviously it didn't have the Titanic (1997) budget but the filmmakers managed to achieve the necessary mood with what they had.The only disappointment was the evil spirit itself who looks like Disney's The Phantom Blot. In _The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)_ (qv) Jonathan Shields says that a good scary movie only needs haunting music, shadows that move in the darkness and so on, not a man dressed in a monkey suit. The menacing evil being should have kept to the shadows, up front it doesn't look very frightening.It has been claimed that this movie is a rip off of other movies. I haven't seen any of them so I'm judging this movie on its own merits - 8/10.
a treat for horror fans
posted on 14 Jul 2007I was fortunate to see a special preview of Shadow Puppets. I don't want to give away anything but I will say this: The movie keeps you in suspense from beginning to end, has a believable script, unique special effects, an original premise, and many jump-out-of-your-seat moments. The soundtrack and unusual sound effects increase the terror-level in many scenes. Jolene Blalock and James Marsters are excellent but newcomer Mark Winnick is an actor to watch: he has the best lines and delivers them with adorable ingenuousness. I will definitely see this movie again when it is released in theaters, and look forward to more films by director Michael Winnick.
I enjoyed it a lot
posted on 10 Jun 2007I'm not a big fan of the Horror genre, but I did really like this movie. As a big sci-fi fan I was attracted to this from the main actors. It was a bit predictable and cliché at points there were actual surprises. Check the extras after the movie. James Marsters is a very talented actor that I have had the pleasure to meet at a con. Very nice and personable. Tony Todd is brilliant, has been all over the genre scene both horror and sci-fi. Joline Blalock is very talented as well as gorgeous. The others in the cast did a good enough job, esp the swimming girl. Highly recommended for fans of the actors or of the horror genre.
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Poor in so many ways
posted on 15 Jul 2009I've read reviews posted here stating that this movie "is a treat." We must have been watching different movies. Aside from Jolene Blalock and Natasha Alam running around in their underwear for most of the movie, there was very little to consider a treat.The special effects were B-movie at best, the acting was poor, the story felt like it has already been done, I didn't care about any of the characters, and the dialog was uninteresting at best. I would not recommend this movie unless you are a HUGE Jolene Blalock fan(are there any out there?).I gave it a 2 base solely on the fact that its not the worst movie I've ever seen, that distinction belongs to Daredevil.