the audience applauded

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I certainly don't intend to say that "Shadow" is a bad film, and I don't even want to discourage anyone from watching it; the only thing that is simply undeniable is that it contributes almost nothing to the horror genre. The story, written by director Frederico Zampaglione , shamelessly cashes in on the biggest and most profitable horror trends of the new millennium, namely vicious torture porn situations (eerie devices in dark and sinister cellars) and silent & nameless creeps that mercilessly ambush ignorant tourists to feast their perverted torture fetishes upon. During "Shadow", I spotted elements and ideas that were previously used in films such as "Saw", "Hostel", "Frontière(s)", "Blood Trails", "Timber Falls" and possibly a few other titles I already forgot about. Relieved that he's finally back from serving in the Iraq war, avid bike rider David goes on an adventurous trip that was recommended to him by a friend. The area, known as "The Shadow", is breath-taking and David even meets the girl of his dream. She's a French beauty called Angelique and she's also obsessed with bike riding; what are the odds on that? Their freshly found happiness rudely gets interrupted when they run into a couple of redneck hunters and are forced to abandon their bikes to hide into the thick woods. Little does David know that this only the beginning of the nightmare, as the Shadow also homes a cruel and psychopathic creep who likes to torture people. The thing that surprised (or is it annoyed?) me the most is the severe lack of sick and nasty violence depicted on screen. All the shocking stuff, as well as most of the killings, occurs off-screen, which is quite unusual for a torture porn flick. The movie does manage to be reasonably suspenseful, especially because David and Angelique are nice and amiable persons, whereas the hunters are loathsome bastards, so during the cat-and- mouse games you automatically cheer for the biker couple. Experienced horror fans can also entertain themselves by spotting all the clichés, for example the soldier flashbacks or the "decorations" inside the maniac's lair. The whole ending is sort of like a mixed bag. I certainly admire Zampaglione's courage and ambition to try something completely different, but the result is principally unsatisfying and leaves quite a lot of questions unanswered. At least you cannot claim that the climax is obvious or even remotely predictable, so that's already an accomplishment on itself. Still, considering we're already in familiar terrain, I personally would have preferred more gore and bloodshed rather than a surreal twist- ending.

The end is what redeems this movie, not just because it's finally over but because it helps make some sense out of what hitherto was nonsense. Tough as it is, you do need to watch it all the way through for the Jacob's Ladder-esque revelation to give it any kind of context.That said, it's not a patch on Jacob's Ladder, it's laden with clichés and burdened with cartoon characters delivering dreadful dialogue and glaring holes in the plot, not all of which can be dismissed by the final revelation. Soundtrack jarred too.To me, it was like the director had watched Jacob's Ladder and maybe Deliverance or Southern Comfort and thought he could create an homage to all three in one movie, maybe with an element of Freddie Kruger thrown in for good measure. And failed.

Truthfully, I'd give this 8/10, but I feel obliged to try and balance out some of those bad reviews, because I think those reviewers didn't get it.There's a lot more going on here than the usual "sadistic creep tortures people". The film builds up to the punchline twist quite subtly. There are plenty of visual clues, including metal objects of a certain shape and one laugh out loud moment involving a portrait of a well known American, and there are dialogue clues (especially from Angelina). Even the title of the film is a clue as to what this is about.I think the writer/director struck a perfect balance here (I didn't see the final twist coming until it was almost upon me, and then everything suddenly slotted into place).It's not "Hostel", not torture porn. The film makes a point. In that regard it's closer to "Martyrs" and "Never Let Me Go"; Although nowhere near as harrowing as those last two films, it's still a cut above the usual genre flicks.Great pace. Good acting. Nice soundtrack. The villain is brilliant. Worth watching for him alone.A horror film that deliberately plays with clichés but ultimately has more depth. It really doesn't deserve the low score.

Another one slasher movie - one of thousands. Even if there are some violent scenes - it's not a splatter.The story is absolutely nothing new. It has no kick, it has no thrill and you will not be surprised by the next scene. Adding some war elements will also not save the movie. There are also many confusing scenes, i.e. if you're chased by a car: would you run on the road or into woods? Actors are quite a low average however I watched the German version.Also the budget of this movie was quite surprising for me: 1 million euro. I guess they spent 900.000 for the camera rental. I couldn't see the money elsewhere.This movie was a pure waste of time for me - I'm very disappointed. Watch it if you have really nothing better to do.