Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- A Stranger in the Woods 2024

- Underground 2023

- A Nashville Wish 2024

- molkipolki 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take Two 2024

- Return to the Theatre of Terror 2023

- The Ghost is a Lie - Take One 2023

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Shadow Builder

USA 1998
produced by
Andy Emilio, Ash R. Shah (executive), Daniel Chuba (executive) for Applecreek Productions
directed by Jamie Dixon
starring Michael Rooker, Leslie Hope, Shawn Thompson, Andrew Jackson, Kevin Zegers, Tony Todd, Hardee T. Lineham, Catherine Bruhier, Gordon Michael Woolvett, James B. Douglas, Richard McMillan, Charlotte Sullivan, Andrew Sardella, David Calderisi, Lawrence Bayne, Eric Murphy, Paul Soles, Billie Mae Richards, Nicole Stoffman, Toby Proctor, Tara Crooks, Steve Blum (voice)
screenplay by Michael Stokes, based on a short story by Bram Stoker, music by Eckart Seeber, special effects by Mark Rice, prosthetics by Francois Dagenais, animatronics by Paul Jones, visual effects by Hammerhead Productions, CGI effects by Waveform Digital

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!


A wayward priest (Lawrence Bayne) and his coven summon a demon, the titular Shadow Builder (Andrew Jackson, voiced by Steve Blum), and while this coven is soon eliminaed by priest assassin Father Vassey (Michael Rooker), the Shadow Builder escapes, and heads for an insignificant small town somewhere in the US to find a boy who's free of original sin to sacrifice him. Father Vassey though is hot on his trail.

The sin-free boy is Chris (Kevin Zegers), who lives with his aunt Jenny (Leslie Hope) ever since his mother died. He lives the life of a normal 12 year old, and that Jenny has a secret relationship with Sheriff Sam (Shawn Thompson) is probably the most shocking thing that has happened in this sleepy little town for a long while ... until the grave of Chris's mother is opened by the Shadow Builder one night, and when a cop (Gordon Michael Woolvett) catches him doing so, the cop is killed - but in such a bizarre way nobody can make heads nor tails of it ... nobody but Father Vassey, but it takes him quite a bit to convince the Sheriff, Jenny and Chris what's really going on - and by then the Shadow Builder has already possessed half the town and tries to get to Chris just in time for the next solar eclipse. And the Father Vassey, the Sheriff and company have just one trick up their sleeve: Since the Shadow Builder can't stand light, they get local madman Covey (Tony Todd), who's fascinated with all things light and constantly builds himself light systems, to have their backs - but does this sound like a good enough line of defense? ...

 

Ok, if the writer of the source material, Bram Stoker, had you expect something from the gothic side of things, then you might be disappointed, this film is pretty much as middle-of-the-road 1990s low budget US horror as they come, with everything that comes with the genre, like a script that doesn't feel 100% thought through, some bizarre effects destined to gross one out, CGI effects not always up to the task (little wonder given the year of production), a stereotypical representation of smalltown America, the young kid who acts much too smart and mature for his age, a couple of horror "names" (Michael Rooker and Tony Todd) giving standout performances, and an all around attitude that seems to be hell-bent on not offending anybody too much. So in all, Shadow Builder is anything but a genre classic - but at the same time it's lots of irreverent genre fun, and if you're at all into horror from an era when you still went to the video rental to pick up a VHS tape of whatever it was you fancied, then this one if definitely for you!!!

 

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Shadow Builder
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Shadow Builder here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Shadow Builder at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!