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Shadowzone
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 88 Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (13th August 2025). |
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The Film
 NASA Captain Hickock (Creepshow 2's David Beecroft) arrives at the Jackass Flats Proving Ground underground research facility to investigate the death of one of the research subjects of the government-funded "Shadowzone" project, an "extended sleep study" with applications for space travel supervised by the shifty Dr. Van Fleet (Big Trouble in Little China's James Hong). Although the research team - including imperious Dr. Erhardt (Flowers in the Attic's Louise Fletcher), pretty Dr. Kidwell (Baywatch's Shawn Weatherly), and computer tech Wiley (Return of the Living Dead's Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) - insist that the test subject died of a cerebral hemorrhage unrelated to the testing, Hickock has them re-run the fatal simulation. Taking one of the subjects down to a profound level of dreaming sleep allows a being from a parallel dimension (contact with which the brain would normally prevent by waking the sleeper as a self-defense mechanism) nicknamed "John Doe" who overrides the computer system and traps Hickock and the crew - along with comic relief janitor Shivers (The Forsaken's Frederick Flynn) and surly ex-brothel keeper-turned-cook Cutter (Starman's Lu Leonard) - underground and begins taking the forms of their nightmares to kill them one by one. Surviving test subject Jenna (Psycho Cop Returns' Maureen Flaherty) - nicknamed "Sleeping Beauty" - may be the only way to send the monster back to its dimension if they can keep her alive long enough. From the director of the underrated eighties supernatural slasher The Slayer and the atmospheric Wicked Little Things J.S. Cardone comes this thoroughly predictable if nonetheless entertaining body count film in a bunker made under the auspices of Charles Band's Full Moon Productions (in their Paramount video distribution era). Cheaply conceived and shot, Shadowzone is dead serious in tone and diverting enough; but it could have benefited from better creature effects. Hong's sinister doctor character is no real stretch for his range while Beecroft's hero is even more one dimensional. Fletcher, on the other hand, makes the most out of a somewhat flimsy character and invests it with a measure of humor and "red herring-ness" it might not have otherwise possessed. A fair amount of grisly gore – courtesy of Phantasm II's Mark Shostrum – a surprising amount of nudity for a Full Moon production, and nary a pint-sized doll character in sight, the film is only really let down by its monster once visualized. The photography of Karen Grossman (Microwave Massacre) and the score by Richard Band (Castle Freak) are rather undistinguished for a Full Moon production. 
Video
Released to laserdisc and video stateside by Paramount (whose video distribution deal with Band launched Full Moon) and in the U.K. on video by Entertainment in Video, Shadowzone arrived on DVD first through Koch Vision who distributed a few later Paramount Full Moon titles and several of the post-Paramount Full Moon titles before Full Moon took over operations themselves. That DVD featured the hazy-looking open-matte video master despite a cover claiming "widescreen" – a mistake also repeated on their release of Puppet Master – and that transfer was also used for Full Moon's own subsequent DVD releases. In the U.K., 88 Films released the film on DVD in 2013 from a PAL video master of similar quality. Full Moon released the film stateside on Blu-ray earlier this year and 88 Films' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.78:1 widescreen Blu-ray utilizes the same new transfer, the look of which feels less slick than it did on video, constantly exposing the rough edges of the production. Unlike the Full Moon productions of this period shot by the likes of Mac Ahlberg and Adolfo Bartoli, Shadowzone's cinematography is hazy by design to obscure frontal nudity of the test subjects in long shots wide shots and the underground settings utilize smoke and steam throughout. Backlighting and practical light sources bloom and flare throughout sometimes giving the impression light leaks along the edge of the frame. While the new widescreen presentation of Seedpeople revealed the earlier fullscreen presentations to be cropped on the sides, the widescreen presentation of this film is matted, with more information cropped off the bottom of the frame than the top; as such, a few closer glimpses of the test subjects that featured full frontal nudity are more obscured. If this was meant to be entirely matted off theatrically then surely the image would have been framed for equal matting off the top and bottom of the frame rather than mostly the bottom since, by this point, filmmakers should have been aware of what would be on view in an open-matte presentation of a film intended for widescreen (the audio commentary participants note executive producer Band's discomfort with male nudity and that this was one of the productions on which the director had complete control with no set visits by Band). Facial features look smooth but not waxy and some fine detail is evident in hair and the mesh of Shivers' baseball cap in close-up. The monster effects were always rubbery but the few close-up views we get of the monster during the finale do reveal more of the design work than evident on the video master. 
Audio
Whereas Full Moon is still using lossy Dolby Digital for their original 2.0 and 5.1 upmixes, 88 Films' release features the original Ultra Stereo mix in uncompressed LPCM 2.0 while the upmix is in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 but only A/V enthusiasts may place much importance on that given that the source is likely that of the tape master rather than a new transfer of the audio elements. The mix here is rather basic with the score getting the most spread and directional effects like gunshots, explosions, and animal cries. The 5.1 track gets the job done without any of the echo and distortion of early budget 5.1 upmixes. English HoH subtitles are also included. 
Extras
Along with the trailer (1:35) – seemingly newly-created – the only other extra is a brand new audio commentary by film historians Dave Wain and Matty Budrewicz who reveal discuss Full Moon's bankruptcy and takeover by Credit Lyonnais and gutting by Trans World's Eduard Sarlui in Italy, leaving ten films being shot in Italy like Robot Jox and Catacombs in limbo until the early nineties until most they found their way to video as part of the Epic package distributed by RCA/Columbia while three productions were being shot stateside. Band managed to hang onto the latter three Dr. Alien, The Intruder, and Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death, striking a distribution deal with Paramount whose direct-to-video division representative Jim Giannopolis – who later went to Fox and then returned as Paramount's CEO – was one of the few in the large studios to treat the video market as something other than ancillary for theatrical projects. The success of the three films meant that Paramount had its ears open when Band pitched Full Moon Entertainment. Wain and Budrewicz also discuss the diversity of the first slate of Full Moon productions announced in 1989 at MIFED – eight of the ten were actually produced – of which Shadowzone was the second after Puppet Master compared to the second slate which is more representative of the Full Moon brand. They also provide background on Cardone's early career in music and getting into the movies writing material for Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor, as well as the Lovecraftian elements throughout his low budget and studio filmography – they note that the film is classified as science fiction but that Cardone actually viewed it as a science-based continuation of the metaphysical dream elements of The Slayer – as well as the recurring strong sexual content apart from a few outliers (like taking over Wicked Little Things from Tobe Hooper). The do cover the film but also acknowledge that a lot of their contextual discussion might befuddle the casual listener; however, an interesting topic is the U.K. distribution deal Band struck with Entertainment in Video who put out some of the Empire productions that had yet to be released stateside, their Full Moon releases, and how the acquisition of the company's later video chain by Blockbuster resulted in their overnight presence in the U.K. 
Overall
From the director of the underrated eighties supernatural slasher The Slayer and the atmospheric Wicked Little Things J.S. Cardone comes this thoroughly predictable if nonetheless entertaining body count film in a bunker made under the auspices of Charles Band's Full Moon Productions.
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