BRAM STOKER’S SHADOWBUILDER Review – Michael Rooker vs The Apocalypse
Starring Michael Rooker, Leslie Hope, Kevin Zegers, Tony Todd
Directed by Jamie Dixon
Distributed by MVD Rewind
Shadowbuilder (1998) begins with Michael Rooker, a pistol-carrying priest, in the middle of amassing a pretty high body count. It’s not hard to like a film willing to start there, though there is the risk that the movie’s going to peak early. Rooker never does end up using the guns again, which is certainly a bummer, because you could definitely build a movie around a stone-faced priest destroying everything he surveys.
All that aside, the story is perfectly fine. A shadow demon is let loose by a cabal of wayward priests in order to destroy all of reality. A lofty, goal, sure, but one that can’t be accomplished unless the titular Shadowbuilder can find twelve-year-old Chris Hatcher (Kevin Zegers) and ritualistically kill him during an eclipse that’s happening in a few days.
Quite a premise, I’d say. Michael Stokes’s screenplay is remarkably solid, with consistent pacing and a mostly believable plot. Tonally, the film is all over the place. At various times it’s deadly serious, comical, and surreal. None of these elements really mesh well in this flick, and often we feel like we’re suddenly in a different movie, but no matter, really. The uneven tone is actually part of the film’s charm. It’s my favorite kind of crazy: unpredictable, weird, and in a universe unto itself.
Plus, Shadowbuilder is quite a joy to look at. For a low-budget movie released in 1998, the CGI isn’t half bad most of the time. There’s some cheesy stuff that definitely might take you out of the movie for a few seconds, but not a whole lot. The effects artists must have really put in the overtime on this one. Director Jamie Dixon is, to this day, a very in-demand visual effects supervisor, so it’s no surprise that the visuals are top-notch. This also goes a long way in explaining how Shadowbuilder can look so good while the quality of the acting is all over the place. Most likely, it just wasn’t Dixon’s priority.
Michael Rooker is convincing and a joy to watch. Severe and unsmiling, he’s definitely the most engaging actor and, low-budget or not, he goes all in and acts the hell out of the part. The rest of the performers have various degrees of talent. Young Kevin Zegers tries his best as the would-be demonic sacrifice, but his heart didn’t seem to be in it. Tony Todd, of Candyman fame, is goddamn awesome as a one-eyed dreadlocked semi-homeless guy who has an unhealthy obsession with lights and light bulbs. He seems to relish playing this quite over-the-top character and approaches the weirdo role with enthusiasm. But, along with Michael Rooker, he’s one of the few engaging actors in this flick. The rest of the performances are mostly serviceable. They get the job done, though it’s nothing very memorable.
I haven’t read the short story that the film is based on, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that Shadowbuilder is quite a bit removed from the source material. This was obviously a decision made by money people since 1998 was only five years removed from Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula film, which also used Bram Stoker’s name in the title. There’s instant name recognition there and to a certain extent a built-in audience. Hey, whatever works. I certainly wouldn’t begrudge a low budget indie flick making a couple of bucks with this kind of marketing gimmick.
Shadowbuilder is quite a solid apocalyptic horror flick. It’s a lot of fun, though I’m not sure if it’s compelling enough to put it in my rewatch pile, at least not for a while. It was a fun and done kind of thing.
As a bit of an aside, Shadowbuilder features the best nude graveyard dancing scene since Return of the Living Dead. So keep an eye out for that.
Shadowbuilder is the tenth Blu-ray in the MVD Rewind Collection from MVD Visual. They have been lovingly restoring films like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and The Return of Swamp Thing, and packing each release with special features. This is definitely a boutique collection worth keeping an eye on if you’re a fan of schlock cinema.
Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the main feature
- Original 2.0 Stereo Audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Audio Commentary from Director Jamie Dixon
- NEW ‘Making of Shadowbuilder’ featurette (HD, 33:22) (featuring director Jamie Dixon, writer Michael Stokes and stars Andrew Jackson (The Shadowbuilder) and Tony Todd (Covey)
- NEW ‘Shadowbuilder: Visual Effects’ featurette (HD, 13:26)
- NEW ‘Shadowbuilder: Kevin Zegers’ featurette (HD, 5:00)
- Reversible 2-Sided Artwork
- Spanish Subtitles
- Original Theatrical Trailer
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Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder
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Special Features
Summary
A fun apocalyptic horror movie with pretty good special effects for a late-90’s low-budget horror flick. Recommended if you like to watch Michael Rooker kick a lot of ass.
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