I hadn't heard about this 2007 movie titled "Shadow Puppets" before now, as I sat down in 2021 to watch the movie. All I knew was that it was a horror / thriller, and I do like horror movies, so of course I gave "Shadow Puppets" a chance.

And talk about being a snooze fest. This movie was incredibly slow paced, and to make matters worse, then the storyline was completely devoid of anything interesting, which just prolonged the suffering of sitting through the movie.

As the movie trotted on, slowly losing me in the curve, then all the sudden Tony Todd showed up, and my interest in the movie was given a jolt. But it was short-lived, as not even this horror icon could do much of anything to improve on a dying storyline, nor to quicken up the monotonous pacing of the movie.

I made it about one hours into this ordeal, and believe you me, I wasn't impressed, much less actually entertained. But I wanted to give the movie a proper chance. But writer and director Michael Winnick just utterly failed to deliver anything worthwhile watching here.

Now, the acting in the movie was, for the most parts, wooden and rigid. The performances, generally speaking, were just lacking conviction and enthusiasm.

The movie does, however, have a nice enough atmosphere to it. But that could only do so much to lift up an otherwise complete train wreck.

My rating of "Shadow Puppets" lands on a generous three out of ten stars, mostly because of the atmosphere, but also because Tony Todd was here after all. If you enjoy proper horror movies, then "Shadow Puppets" is an ill-advised choice to watch.

Worthless little film about a group of people who wake up with amnesia and trapped in an underground prison. They're also attacked by shadow creatures. There's really not much more to it, this movie is sincerely dreadful

James Marsters gives his all in a vain attempt to save this crappy little, predictable, Boeing little film. Meanwhile, This, unbelievable as it may seem, is not Tony Todd's worst film with Shadow in the title. Seriously, the guy really needs a better agent and fast.

Eye Candy: Natasha Alam shows T&A, Jolene Blalock offers quick butt

My grade: D-

A woman (Jolene Blalock) and a man (James Marsters) awake in individual white cells in an abandoned prison or mental institution wearing only underwear and without any memory. They hear a strange and creepy noise and decide to look for a way out of the facility. They meet six other strangers in the same situation and one of them is attacked and killed by a shadow. While trying to escape from the place and the shadow, they find the brain washing apparatus with the indication that had been used eight times. When they meet the ninth stranger, they realize that one of them is lying and knows what have happened with them.

In 1997, the outstanding "Cube" showed a situation of strangers trapped in a room without knowing how and the reason. The use of this concept was repeated in many other films, among them "Saw" and "House of 9". "Shadow Puppets" in this regard is not original, using the same idea of eight strangers without memory trapped in a facility. The noisy shadow is a rip-off of the smoke monster of "Lost". However, the story is intriguing and suspenseful, has a good twist, the actors and actresses leaded by Jolene Clalock, James Masters and Tony Todd have good performances and the special effects are also good. The resolution is reasonable, but the greatest flaw is that the characters should be naked to survive since the shadow could feel the clothes. But I liked this enjoyable movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Sombra" ("The Shadow")