The Shade

The Shade
Starring Chris Galust, Dylan McTee, Sam Duncan, Laura Benanti
Directed by Tyler Chipman

Horror movies in recent years focus on mental illness as a horror all its own, while establishing traditional scares you find in horror movies to further personify such illnesses. "The Shade" is one such film, a movie that takes a deep dive into the theme of familial curses and mental illness that ravages a small family while also being hunted by a strange female entity. It's unique and cleverly written and performed, but the length is its greatest detriment.

Years after seeing his father kill himself, Ryan Beckman (Chris Galust) is still struggling with what he saw, haunted by dreams of black-cloaked people coming after him. He serves as the man of the house, taking care of his younger brother James (Sam Duncan) while his mother Renee (Laura Benanti) works at the local hospital. He's seeing a therapist and relies on his friends and girlfriend to keep him grounded, and it seems things are going alright for him - until his older brother Jason (Dylan McTee) comes home from college, and soon he begins seeing an evil female creature haunting him and his family, leading him to find a way to save both himself and those he loves.

"The Shade" is a unique story that's told with great performances and decent effects for a low-budget outing. It focuses on familial struggle and the pain that comes with not understanding what's happening to those you love, and wrapped in a horrifying mystery. It's a film that kept my attention, even though there were moments I was just wishing it was over, because it tended to recycle itself a few times, going from scene to scene in a seemingly repeating manner, which is the major detriment of the film: it's a little over two hours long, and it would've been really good if it trimmed about forty minutes of fat attached to it.

Chris Galust holds down the fort as Ryan, the main character who's story we experience through his eyes. He was there when his father killed himself, and he's been enduring panic attacks and manic episodes ever since. He sees a therapist and works two jobs, and is devoutly loyal to his younger brother. He smokes a lot and hangs out with his friends, and basically is an all-around twenty-year-old in that regard, but the film really doesn't delve much deeper than that. He sees visions of the woman, he has panic attacks, he lashes out at his friends and girlfriend, he works, he smokes, he spends time with his brother. It recycles that over and over, without delving much deeper. Still, Galust gives a great performance and you're drawn to his character because he's not the stereotypical jerk, but someone who really loves and cares for his family.

The movie is more a family drama than straight on horror, so if you're looking to be scared every second I'd suggest going somewhere else. But ultimately it's a tale about suicide, death, and how we deal with it. If it was a bit shorter, it would've been a lot better, but as it is, I really don't have much more to say about it.

The Score: B-