Andariel Halo
I accidentally lost my whole review as a result of touching a wrong button so I'll have to rewrite it.
This dumb movie tries to appear based on true events, and does so by mugging us constantly with "Actual footage" alongside the movie footage, in some cases showing us side-by-sides, in other cases just showing us random snippets of interviews with absolutely no context. I realized too late that this was similar to what "The Fourth Kind" did, but at the very least "The Fourth Kind" gave us some fun "actual footage" stuff, whereas all the "actual footage" presented in this film consists of out of context news snippets, apparent interviews, and a deposition with the actual radio host guy Charlie, who looks absolutely nothing like the actor they have portraying him in the movie.The paranormal cause they've latched onto is... "Shadow People", the idea that there are spooky ghostly boogins that sit on you while you sleep and suffocate you to death. Right away this is nonsense, as this describes an actual medical condition known as sleep paralysis which is not at all paranormal or supernatural. This is like the film devoting itself to "proving" that the first crop circles were actually alien when the actual people who made the crop circles have long since admitted that they did it on their own and it wasn't aliens.
The film initially manages to hook me with its anomalous events, in which Charlie at his radio show gets a call from a seemingly disturbed person, Jeff, who claims he cannot sleep because shadow people or something will get him. He's hung up on, but tracks down Charlie's house and leaves him a package full of photographs of a supposed experiment done by a Dr Ravenscroft, the most horrifically cliché horror-movie-scientist name ever, in which he attempts to have people open a door while asleep, and inexplicably all the test subjects die. Next day he calls Charlie's station again, apparently threatens to kill himself, and apparently does as we hear a gunshot. But it turns out he only shot at a wall, and when the station called the cops to check on him, they hospitalized him.The surprise twist is, when Charlie comes to try to interview him at the hospital, they discover he died in the hospital inexplicably.
From there, the movie abandons whatever it may have been building up with the Jeff case by outright showing us "Shadow people" attacks on random people who have all heard the radio broadcast. Charlie teams up with a detective woman whose name I forgot (sorry) and they try to track down more information on Dr Ebonyravenhartcroft and his experiments.All throughout this we are treated to more snippets of Charlie talking about shadow people on his radio show, and out of context interviews with random people who either knew the victims or work at the radio station.Eventually they dig up his supposed body, only to find in his coffin a reel of footage of the experiment they were looking for! They watch the video and it consists of the experiment, where we see one subject sleeping while the big metal door behind him has its knob slowly turn, before the subject goes into convulsions.
This... isn't proof of anything, yet Charlie and the detective woman treat it as though it were ABSOLUTE CONCLUSIVE PROOF of the existence of Shadow People. Charlie is so convinced he is going to show the footage on a local news broadcast.But then as Detective Woman nearly goes into a condescending explanation to a gas station attendant on the placebo effect, she has a dumb "eureka" moment and decides that all 3-4 of the Shadow People occurrences in town have been the result of the placebo effect, in that everyone listening to Charlie on the radio talk about Shadow People are somehow accidentally killing themselves when they sleep. She rushes to the news station to warn Charlie not to show the footage, or else even more people will end up dying.
First off, this is insanely stupid in so many directions at once it made me genuinely angry. Second off, if this were even remotely true, they would probably have to ban the internet and most movies or else thousands of people would end up suddenly dying or getting sick after spooking themselves with whatever trash video they see online.
Somehow Charlie gets the idea that she's right, and at the last moment live on the air stammers and says he has no footage, it was all an elaborate hoax, and runs off. Inexplicably they decide to show us the "actual footage" of Charlie doing this alongside the movie version, which shows us they apparently didn't even remotely care about emulating the "actual" events, as the "actual footage" shows Charlie being interviewed by a black reporter at a big round table, while the movie version shows Charlie seated between a white male and female reporter at a regular news desk.
Despite the footage not at all coming close to proving the existence of "shadow people", everyone decides this is something shocking and worthy of a cover-up, so Charlie gets fired by the radio station and the radio station people in interview refuse to answer why he got fired, and in the remaining "actual footage" deposition with Charlie, in which the actual Charlie is being questioned by the police for no clear reason, he is inexplicably told by his lawyer not to comment at all on the footage or the shadow people any further.
What ever this movie was trying to go for by obsessing over the "real actual events" they are describing, they not only forgot to make an entertaining movie, but seemingly forgot what their own movie was even about, as the whole elements of the "Shadow People" and the "Spooky Telepathic Experiments" are not even remotely connected in any way, yet they are explicitly said to be connected in the film. It's like a film about the Manson Family murders telling us that Charles Manson was an alien, and this clue is somehow the key to solving the mystery of an entirely unrelated series of murders, and then providing no explanation and no clue as to how those two pieces of information even interact, much less how they are in any way connected.
Lucas LeDain
Shadow People is the most terrifying film I have ever seen in my life. It is the most creepy, compelling and mind bending film I have ever seen in my life. Better than Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, Sinister, Insidious and Dark Skies!!!Not only was it scary, it was incredibly well made. Normally what would have happened is a brilliant script was ruined by Hollywood stars and a high budget. But this wasn't an all star cast nor was it a high budget movie. It was made for one reason and one reason only; to scare the crap out of you. AND IT WORKED!Also; like many films it is based on a true story. Based is a loose word when it comes to movies. But this one really is real. The video talked about on YouTube IS actually there. I have not been able to watch it after seeing this movie nor have I been able to sleep in the dark or look at my shadow.It was genuinely terrifying. I was literally left shaking, sweating and crapping myself. It was utterly brilliant. All of you must watch this movie!!!To add to the scary element of the film; before watching look into REM and sleep paralysis. This is a terror guarantee.
antoinek21
All I'm gonna say is don't listen to all the negative reviews about this movie, From the trailer i wasn't too amused about watching this, but i love horror movies ill give any a chance until it make me cut it off. But back to this movie, WATCH IT and enjoy scary, informational, just a good movie all around in my opinion. The acting was good, the jump scares were on point. I started searching around on google also after watching this trying to see how true it actually is because i myself do at times seem to see little shadows in the corner of my eye at times. Really had me freaked out but i love it hahahahah. Hope you all enjoy this film when you watch.
Tony Crumpton
This is a very solid little horror film that does a great job of combining mock-documentary footage and a straight narrative. Also, the filmmakers have seeded the film with subliminal word messages hidden in a few quick cuts and blurry images, which is kind of funny and amusing. It's individual words sprinkled through the film o spell out: NOW YOU WILL SEE THEM TOO!!! I really appreciate this little touch and would love to read or hear about this choice. I watched it on VOD, so now I'll have to pick up a copy of the DVD or blu-ray to see if they talk about this at all.I am a sucker for a good ghost story, and while this isn't "ghosts", it is creepy and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end more than once. It also reminds me of my college days of staying up late and listening to Art Bell on his spooky AM radio talk show.If you like creepy, slow-burn horror you should defiantly give this a watch.
