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Shadowzone (1990)
I went into this expecting an underrated gem. I believe this is from a studio known for low budget work and, if this was a low budget flick then I guess they did pretty well. It's a horror film about an invisible monster from another dimension, which I guess is as good an excuse as any for a horror film with no payoff.
For most of the runtime I was prepared to go with this film. The atmosphere is pretty effective and oppressive considering how slow paced it is and how little actually happens. Quite a lot of the intensity of the film comes from staring at dials or watching lights on a computer screen.
This very nearly ended as a moderately good rip-off of Prince of Darkness. The premise is similar: Human technology allowing a monster to enter the world from another dimension. But instead of picking the downer ending which leaves the audience with a chill, this film instead decides to finish with a sort of happy ending which left me cold, sitting and thinking about how little had actually happened during the runtime.
Judged as a filmgoing experience this is dull and cheesy. Even judged as a severely low-budget film, there still seems to be some missed potential here. But I am given to wonder, if this was such a low budget effort, how did they get hold of James Hong?
D-
Plus there's also some unnecessary nudity from a sleeping woman who is regularly shown throughout the film. Cause how can they monitor your brainwave patterns while sleeping if you aren't in the nude. Gotta cover that hair though apparently...?