Director: Federico Zampaglione
Writers: Federico Zampaglione, Domenico Zampaglione, Giacomo Gensini
Stars: Jake Muxworthy, Karina Testa, Ottaviano Blitch
Shadow is one of the better Italian horror films to have emerged over the past few years. Within the context of a genre that is now generally characterized by stilted acting, implausible dialogue and an over-indebtedness to past glories it scores points for being modern, well made and believable (if not realistic). The plot is nothing new – it’s basically a cross between Deliverance, Creep and Wrong Turn – but it is put together by some distinction by Federico Zampaglione, better known as the front man of popular Italian group Tiromancino.
The story follows David (Jake Muxworthy), a soldier fresh out of a term in Iraq and doing a spot of R&R by cycling over an imposing mountain range called ‘The Shadow’. On the way he bumps into attractive fellow traveler Angeline (Karina Testa) before they fall foul of a pair of horrible hunters, Fred (Ottaviano Blitch) and Buck (Chris Coppola). All four of them stumble deeper into the countryside until they arrive at a sinister place which isn’t plotted on the maps and where compasses don’t work; a place which is the domain of the psychopathic Mortis (Nuot Arquint).
Although sticking rather too closely to the tropes of torture porn at times, this is made with enough imagination to make it distinct from the mass of similar product. Partially this is due to a galling but neat twist at the end, but also to the striking locations (it was shot in the Alps of Northern Italy). There are enough curious incidentals to keep the audience interested: Mortis has an unlikely collection of news footage from just about every mass-murder in history; a picture of George Bush jr hangs alongside one of Hitler in his lair; there is some reference to the ghosts of victims of a previous war crime (which is later revealed to be of key importance).
It also benefits from better performances than average: Jake Muxworthy is effective as the unfortunate protagonist and Ottaviano Blitch carries on in the same vein as his work in In the Market (2009), a not entirely dissimilar film made at around the same time. But at the center of the film is the undoubtedly weird looking Nuto Arquint, a skeletal actor with a creepy sense of movement befitting his status as a ballet dancer (he comes across as a freakier version of Sean Harris, who played the creature in Creep). Zampaglione went on to make Tulpa – Perdizioni mortali in 2012.
