Yes, it’s cheap, and yes, it’s without any real direction, but for a film that probably cost only a couple of million dollars, it is what it is.

Credits Director : Michael Winnick Starring : James Marsters, Jolene Blalock, Tony Todd, Jonathan Hale Our Score :

By Clint Morris

My wife likes to use the saying “Two steps forward, one step back” – and I’m thinking if she sat through “Shadow Puppets”, a new straight-to-video sci-fi horror thing starring rising TV personalities James Marsters (“Angel”) and Jolene Blalock (“Enterprise”), she’d say it again. The Comic Con favourites might have been better off sitting this one out (or volunteered to do attend another convention the month this was due to start filming).

The film’s also a backwards trot for actor Tony Todd, who also pops up in the film, and yet another reminder that a) he’s not going to be making another “Candyman” movie soon and b) he’s happy to work on anything, so long as it pays in American dollars.

Maybe I’m being too rough on this thing – it isn’t that bad. Yes, it’s cheap, and yes, it’s without any real direction, but for a film that probably cost only a couple of million dollars, it is what it is. It’s just a pity that we’re used to seeing actors like Marsters, forever known as the bleach-blond vampire Spike in “Buffy” and “Angel”, and Blalock, who co-starred in the Sci-Fi series “Star Trek : Enterprise”, in better material – especially since the superior stuff we’ve seen them in before has been on TV, and therefore, free (as opposed to a video rental fee). For what it’s worth though, both actors are good here – and prove they are capable of playing a vampire, and Vulcan, respectively.

The flick tells of eight strangers (Marsters and Blalock among them) with no memories, who find themselves trapped in an abandoned facility. As they desperately try to find answers and escape, some sort of shadow begins to knock them off. I lost interest sometime around the 1 hour mark, but for that first hour, it ain’t bad – - – - maybe just need a punch-up script-wise a little after the half-way mark.

Extras include commentary and a featurette.