''Shadow People'' (previously known as ''The Door'') is a 2013 American supernatural horror thriller film written and directed by

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

in his feature directorial debut. It stars

Dallas Roberts Dallas Mark Roberts (born May 10, 1970) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Milton Mamet in the third season of AMC's '' The Walking Dead'' (2012-2013), Eliot Delson on '' Unforgettable'', and Owen Cavanaugh on ''The Good Wif ...

Alison Eastwood Alison Eastwood (born May 22, 1972) is an American actress. After three uncredited roles between 1980 and 1997, she appeared as Mandy, the love interest of John Cusack in ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil'' (1997). Early life Eastwood w ...

, Anne Dudek, and Mattie Liptak.

Plot

The film begins with a series of videos posted to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, with users of the website relating their experiences with unexplained sightings. Later, radio talk show host Charlie Crowe (Dallas Roberts) becomes convinced that mysterious nocturnal entities known as shadow people are responsible for a spate of deaths in his hometown. He is joined by

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

investigator Sophie Lacombe (Alison Eastwood), who seeks a more rational explanation.

Cast

as Charlie Crowe *

as Sophie Lacombe * Anne Dudek as Ellen Camfield * Mattie Liptak as Preston Camfield * Mariah Bonner as Maggie Dunn * Christopher Berry as Tom DiMartino * Jonathan Baron as Jeff Pyatt * Tony Schiena as Robert * Richie Montgomery as Jim "Sparky" Taylor * Raeden Greer as Britney Daniels *

Gary Grubbs Gary Grubbs (born November 14, 1949) is an American character actor who has appeared in 178 credited shows and films since the 1970s and is still working steadily. He is best known as Captain Steven Wiecek in '' For Love and Honor'' (1983-1984) ...

as James Gering, CDC Director *

Bryan Massey Bryan William Massey (born June 13, 1971) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is best known for his gravelly voice and sense of humor. He has appeared in numerous movies, TV shows, video games and cartoons. He is also the co-creat ...

as Bill Ryder *

Marco St. John Marco St. John (born Marco John Figueroa, Jr.; May 7, 1939) is an American actor who has appeared in films and television programs. He is known for his role as the horny truck driver in the 1991 film '' Thelma & Louise'' and for playing Sheriff ...

as Professor Norman Fisher * Jaqueline Fleming as Nurse Marian Sobel *

Billy Slaughter William H. Slaughter is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in '' The Campaign'' and ''Focus''. In his free time he works with students that want to become actors and actresses at Launch Model And Talent in Metairie, ...

as TV Anchor

Production

''Shadow People'' was filmed in Baton Rouge,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, and Phnom Penh,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

. The film mixes dramatic scenes with both real and simulated

archival footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...

. The simulated footage includes interviews with the characters from the dramatic scenes, while the actual footage incorporates segments from the 2008

web documentary A web documentary, interactive documentary, or multimedia documentary is a documentary production that differs from the more traditional forms—video, audio, photographic—by applying a full complement of multimedia tools. The interactive multim ...

''Your Worst Nightmare''. The movie is dedicated to victims of Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS).

Release

The film made its

Marché du Film The ''Marché du Film'' (french for "Film Market") is one of the largest film markets in the world.Marc ...

premiere during the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. It was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on March 19, 2013.

Reception

Matt Molgaard of Best Horror Movies wrote, "This is a stirring flick, and in truth, I’d be holding back if I called ''Shadow People'' anything other than an outstanding success that far exceeded expectations... ''Shadow People'' has already established itself as one of 2013’s most inspired efforts." David Maine of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' wrote, "''Shadow People'' is a spooky little movie that could have been much spookier, but still makes good use of its limited means to convey an unsettling story."

Ain't It Cool News Ain't It Cool News (AICN) is an entertainment news website founded by Harry Knowles and run by his sister Dannie Knowles since September 2017, dedicated to news, rumors, and reviews of upcoming and current films, television, and comic book pro ...

declared that "it made me think twice about turning on the light as I went to bed. Any film that does that is a winner in my book." Brad McHargue of Dread Central rated the film 1.5 out of 5 stars and called the film "novel and ambitious" but too messy to fulfill the potential of the premise. Pat Torfe of Bloody Disgusting rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, writing that ''Shadow People'' lacks balance and "doesn't know what it is." Thomas Marcum of The Crypto Crew said "the movie is well done all the way around and well worth watching".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow People 2013 films 2013 direct-to-video films 2013 directorial debut films 2013 horror films 2013 thriller films 2013 horror thriller films 2010s supernatural horror films 2010s supernatural thriller films American direct-to-video films American horror thriller films American supernatural horror films American supernatural thriller films Direct-to-video horror films Direct-to-video thriller films Films set in Cambodia Films set in Kentucky Films shot in Cambodia Films shot in Louisiana 2010s English-language films 2010s American films