It might be a bit difficult to live up to the hype if you compare your movie to a cult classic like Donnie Darko. Then again since Project X is mentioned too - maybe that is a hint what is to be expected. And yes there is nudity and drinking and "romance" and quite a lot of teenage stuff going on. But there is also a lot violence too (quite explicit contrary to Donnie to be fair).

So while the comparison probably did not help, this is a wicked little movie that deserves better than to be just shrugged off. The acting is more than decent too and the twists are quite nice. I watched it under a different title, which may have been the one they used in Germany, which I reckon works better for the movie anyway: Shadow Walkers

Don't think that this is just another silly teenage sci-fi/horror flick. The writing and ideas are original and interesting, and the movie leaves you thinking.

It does start with typical teenage nonsense, including a young couple that reach a crisis and are about to break up, and a debauched party that includes tons of sex, nudity, alcohol, strippers, flaming tennis balls, and Nyotaimori (naked sushi). But even this party has a purpose in the overall plot.

A meteor hits, and strange things start to happen. To explain further requires spoilers.

*spoilers*

Doppelgangers start to appear, seemingly slowly catching up in time in a weird time-loop. Are they aliens taking over the world? Evil ghosts? They seem to act just like the originals and even repeat everything the originals did. And this is even scarier to most of these insecure youngsters who see them as aliens, or as copies of themselves that will take over whatever lives they had, or as threats to their individuality, or, worse of all, as a mirror on how lame they look, especially when they see themselves doing the same silly things they did 10 minutes ago.

Which explains why most react violently, and which also provides for a priceless ending reaction sequence.

But one secure girl that hates the rest of her peers has the opposite, slightly disquieting reaction to her copy. And finally, one guy manages to exploit the phenomenon in a very dark way to ensure that reality goes his way...

There is also fun to be had in the tightly-plotted time-loop and overlapping of events and reactions from the various copies.

Altogether, an underrated sci-fi movie that does what it should: explore humanity through a bizarre idea. Definitely worth watching despite the low rating.

'Shadow Walkers' (or '+1' as it's also known) is an odd little number at the best of times. It never really seems to know what it is. I guess the one thing everyone can agree on is that it's a 'B-movie.' Therefore, most likely everyone concerned with making it knew that it was never going to be a massively commercial box office smash. At best it might achieve 'cult status' on DVD.

Therefore, it doesn't have a budget and no 'known' actors to speak of. It's about a meteor that crashes into a small town in America, creating weird phenomenon amidst a local college party. Soon the guests find things are going a little crazy and they might not make it to morning alive. It starts off like some sort of adult-humour piece like American Pie, then it progresses into a looping version of Groundhog Day. There's also a fair bit of 'gratuitous' nudity which (judging from what I've read online) seems to have put a lot of people off from taking the plot seriously.

When I read that synopsis I thought it was going to have something to do with aliens. Yet, what you get is time travel. It could work. And it almost does. Without giving too much away about the plot, it tries to be a little bit different (and succeed),but then it strays into that area where it starts to become too clever for its own good. Any film concerning time travel is going to have some major plot holes. Some of them are just so good (I'm thinking the Terminator series and Back to the Future) that you can forgive the odd lapse in plausibility and just enjoy the ride. However, in Shadow Walkers the questions just keep mounting up. It's like the writers had one idea then changed their minds half way through. And then again about twenty minutes later.

You'll find yourself asking quite a few questions as to why people do things and what happens to someone which hasn't really been properly explained. I checked online as to find out the meaning behind much of the film. There are some good theories explaining most of it, but no one seems to be able to explain everything.

If you were left with questions after watching Prometheus, then you'll be able to write an encyclopaedia as to what wasn't clear in Shadow Walkers. I didn't hate the film. It tries to be different, which, in a marketplace of B-movies filled with 'found footage' and cheap zombie movies, made a change. I just wish it had been a little more focused. I don't mind not having every little detail about a story explained to me. Sometimes it's fun to interpret it your own way. It's just here they took that concept a little too far.

For fans of sci-fi B-movies only.

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