About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

A dramatic, refined ghost story that overcomes its flaws with strong performances.



Pros

• Good acting
• Carries dramatic weight
• Refined, old-fashioned scares

Cons

• Mediocre special effects
• Distracting direction

Description

• Starring Laurence Belcher, Hayley J. Williams, Beth Winslet, Rod Hallett, Bonny Ambrose, Belinda Peters, Lacey Bond
• Directed by Silvana Zancolo
• Rated R
• DVD Release Date: May 25, 2010

• Trailer

Guide Review - 'The Shadow Within' DVD Review

In a small French town during what appears to be World War II, a nine-year-old boy named Maurice causes a bit of a stir due to his supernatural ability to communicate with the dead. With his father away in the army, Maurice's mother tries to shelter him from the rest of the world, holding him out of school and forbidding him to read books at home, but it becomes apparent to a group of local townswomen that the boy is gifted. Led by Madame Armand, the women approach Maurice's mother with the intent of having him contact their dead children.

But Maurice has problems of his own, with the shadowy figure of his twin Jacques, who died during childbirth, haunting him. As his mother becomes increasingly unbalanced from the grief of her son's death and the influence of Madame Armand and company, the only people around to protect him are his teacher, Mr. Prevost, and his wife, a local doctor who takes a liking to the boy. But what can they do to prevent the dark plans of the spirit world?

The Shadow Within is basically The Sixth Sense meets The Others, with a young psychic boy in peril from supernatural entities beyond his control amidst a period backdrop of global conflict. It's of course a notch below those films in quality and several notches below in production value, but this low-budget Italian production (featuring British actors playing French characters) is still effectively dramatic and creepy when it has to be.

The shortcomings come primarily from the CGI special effects, which reduce the shadowy specters to a Saturday morning cartoon, and the direction of Silvana Zancolo, who delivers too many jolting cuts during action sequences that end up obscuring the events and dulling their impact. However, Zancolo does manage to maintain a quiet, refined air throughout that doesn't devolve into cheap scares and shock tactics.

The strong performances likewise pull us through the film's weaker moments -- particularly Beth Winslet (Kate's sister) as Dr. Laurence and Laurence Belcher (Messengers 2: The Scarecrow) as Maurice, who conveys the sort of beyond-his-years maturity that helped make Haley Joel Osment such a phenomenon in The Sixth Sense. The script is also very solid, with plot nuances that touch upon the nature of grief and the power of social influence. All in all, The Shadow Within is a thoughtful and emotion-packed, if inconsistently executed, thriller.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: C+
DVD: F



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