‘The nightmare begins when you wake…’
The Shadow Man – aka The Man in the Shadows – is a 2015 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by Joshua Fraiman (a cameraman on Monster Brawl) from a screenplay by Adam Tomlinson. The movie stars Sarah Jurgens, Adam Tomlinson and Rebecca Amzallag.
Plot:
Rachel Darwin (Sarah Jurgens) is pregnant, shackled, giving birth to something terrible, attended to by a dark man in a brimmed hat, a multidimensional being, a shadow that feeds upon human souls.
Rachel seeks the aid of William (Adam Tomlinson) who puts her under hypnosis and guides her deeper than mere dreams into astral projecting. However, it is getting harder to know what is real and what is not, and that includes the Hat Man…
Reviews [may contain spoilers]:
“The Man in the Shadows really hits its stride in the third act, which plays out like a kooky horror film. For the first time, the film slips into full-on genre territory, as laughs and scares begin to come semi-regularly. For a small window of time, the film is so fun and weirdly energetic that it’s a bit frustrating that the rest of the running time is spent in the suspense-building stage.” Cinema Slasher,
“The Man in the Shadows is a framework for a narrative more nebulous than a shadow man and just as unable to materialize into a solid shape. The film looks fine cinematically, but there isn’t enough substance for those fascinated by the sleep paralysis phenomenon to engage with an interest level running any hotter than barely mild.” Culture Crypt
“The film focuses more on the strained marriage of Rachel and her husband Scott and only in the final 15 minutes does the film go back into the genre it was hoping for. While the film is full of suspense it is sadly lacking with a punch that is worth the build-up. Overall, it’s a psychological thriller that has decent actors but it has nothing worth repeat viewing.” Horrorscreams Videovault
“Everything about the film shouts out middle of the road banality. However, about the point that Sarah Jurgens meets weird conspiracy theorist Adam Tomlinson (who is also the film’s writer) and he voices a wild-eyed theory about the figures in her nightmares being extra-dimensional beings, this immediately propels the film from an anonymous micro-budgeted work into one of undeniably fascinating ideas.” Moria
“In a lesser movie, the weak finale would probably have gone unnoticed. It’s unfortunate that a movie this well written and acted chose to settle. It isn’t a bad finale, just underwhelming. I would easily recommend The Shadow Man to anyone looking for a good horror flick. It doesn’t rely on gore. It doesn’t need mindless jump scares. It’s a solid movie with good acting and good directing.” Nerdly
Main cast:
- Sarah Jurgens – iZombie
- Adam Tomlinson – Scare Tactics
- Rebecca Amzallag
- Nick Baillie – Witchblade
- Manuela Casinha
- Celest Chong
- Alison Louder
Release:
The Shadow Man was released on DVD and VOD on October 31, 2017, via Sony. Special DVD features:
- Audio commentary by director Joshua Fraiman, writer Adam Tomlinson, and executive producer Andrew Cymek
- Deleted scenes
