Movie Review: THE SHADE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: September 27th, 2024 / 01:56 AM

THE SHADE | ©2024 Level33 Entertainment / Kino

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Chris Galust, Laura Benanti, Dylan McTee, Mariel Molino, Germain Arroyo, Brendan Sexton III, Manny Dunn, Charlotte Stickles, Sam Duncan, Michael Boatman
Writer: Tyler Chipman, story by Tyler Chipman & David Purdy
Director: Tyler Chipman
Distributor: Level 33 Entertainment/Kino
Release Date: September 20, 2024

THE SHADE works well for most of its length as a portrait of family trauma, especially as experienced by twenty-year-old Ryan Beckman. Directed by Tyler Chipman from his screenplay from a story cowritten with David Purdy, THE SHADE also has good moments of sufficient creepiness. But it falls apart at the end.

We begin with what we learn is a dream sequence, in which Ryan, as a little boy, accompanies his father Randall to a cemetery. Randall sets fire to his own headstone and shoots himself as little Ryan watches. Then four dark-robed figures step out of the shadows, and one of them approaches the boy.

Ryan, age twenty (Chris Galust), wakes up from this nightmare. He and little brother James (Sam Duncan) live with their widowed mom Renee (Laura Benanti). Ryan works two jobs – at a tattoo parlor, where he’s an aspiring artist, and at a diner, where he’s generally annoyed – in addition to going to college, and nurse Renee pulls double shifts at the hospital, but they still seem to be in relatively comfortable suburbia.

Still, Ryan is in therapy with Dr. Huston (Michael Boatman) and at least supposed to be on medication. Ryan’s loving girlfriend Alex (Mariel Molino) wishes he’d open up to her more.

Ryan is thrown when he finds out that older brother Jason (Dylan McTee) is abruptly coming home from college. Jason hasn’t communicated much with his family for months, and is notably closed off when he arrives – the exception is his warmth with little brother James.

Jason’s behavior is erratic, to say the least. Ryan is terrified when he begins to see what looks like a malevolent naked woman, first in Jason’s room, then throughout the house. The robed figures from the nightmare also appear on occasion.

What the hell is going on here?

Filmmaker Chipman and lead actor Galust both prove adept and insightful at depicting sibling love and resentment. We see a multitude of nuances in Ryan’s feelings about Jason. He adores his older brother, is concerned about him, is furious with him for not speaking up – even though Ryan is similarly prickly toward anyone who wants him to talk. Everyone, except perhaps Sam, feels guilty and defensive and blames people around them for perceived judgment. Add supernatural menace to this, and no wonder the Beckman boys are on edge.

McTee gives authenticity to Jason’s bottled-up anguish, and Duncan has an easy, persuasive way with all of his older costars.

While two hours and seven minutes is a longer than usual running time for a low-budget horror drama, this is not necessarily problematic. The steady human interactions of Ryan with family, friends, coworkers and customers all have a verisimilitude that keep us engaged.

But the filmmakers seem oddly averse to mythology. A college course speech about narrative by no means gets them off the hook. THE SHADE is neither trippy nor scary enough to get out of at least hinting at why this particular shade is terrorizing these specific people.

Worse, although being spoilery is wrong, a word of warning to potential viewers seems warranted here. THE SHADE does not so much end as it just stops. This stoppage is not in the style of, THE SOPRANOS, where what’s likely to happen has been foreshadowed. Rather, it seems that the filmmakers (partly because, as mentioned, they haven’t set up the mythology) don’t know what ought to come next. Rather than puzzle it out, they just have the surviving characters agree to a plan that we don’t hear, and that’s it.

Enigma and ambiguity definitely have their place in horror cinema, but when these are dropped on us at the climax of a mostly naturalistic piece that runs over two hours, it doesn’t make for a satisfying viewing experience.

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