Review: ‘Shadowland’

It’s been said time and time again, and it bears repeating every so often, that if you’re a filmmaker working with a low budget, the best thing you can do is come up with inventive ideas.  Ideas are free.  It doesn’t cost a dime to create an original and engaging story.  This is something writer/director Wyatt Weed has taken to heart and achieved with his first feature film, ‘Shadowland.’

Purely written for the screen, ‘Shadowland’ is among the best, original, vampire movies in recent memory.  Told in non-linear fashion, it keeps the viewer enticed in its mysteries without ever force-feeding exposition or crossing over into boredom.  The film is driven by plot and character, something Weed has no trouble in delivering ample amounts of.

The film jumps back and forth between the modern world and a small community in the late 1800s.  In the present day, a girl, Laura, awakens to find she has no memory of who she is or where she has come from.  She also cannot speak.  She soon discovers, however, that she is being chased by a man named Julian.  Julian is a hunter sent out by the Catholic church to rid the world of vampires.

The fact that Laura is a vampire is not part of the mystery to the story.  We see in the film’s opening scene how she came to be buried having been staked by a priest.  However, Weed does an excellent job of hiding Laura’s true self to us for much of the film.  We simply do not know who she was prior to being buried, whether she was an evil vampire of lore or something far more human.  This is the decision Julian must face, too, as his methods of killing a vampire as soon as he comes across one does not, exactly, align with the beliefs of the church.

This level of character is brilliantly crafted in Weed’s screenplay.  There is so much depth to even some of the smaller roles in the film.  A man working at an all-night diner who Laura comes across has as much depth as the leads, and that is an incredible level Weed achieves with his characters.  What we believe about Laura’s character switches sides numerous times throughout the course of the film.  What’s more, you care about her just as much as you do Julian, and, even though they are both on opposing sides, you understand where each of them are, why they make the choices they make.

Also of note with ‘Shadowland’ is the liberties Weed takes with the vampire mythology.   Much like “True Blood,” we know very little about the vampires of this world.   As the film progresses, more and more of their characteristics are revealed.   The vampire in ‘Shadowland’ is something Weed makes his own, keeping certain, familiar aspects and completely scuttling others off to the side.   These aren’t Hot Topic rejects with pointy fangs who burst into flames whenever they step into sunlight.   These vampire are playing on a much deeper level than most, and the mythologies Weed creates in ‘Shadowland’ are a welcome surprise.

‘Shadowland’ was filmed on a minuscule budget, but the film looks incredible.  The scenes that take place in the 1800s are beautifully shot by cinematographer Nicholas Gartner.  Some of these shots rival anything found in a film that costs $200 million.  The makeup effects and visual effects are superb, as well.  Weed does a great job of shooting around any trouble spots in his production.  You can never tell where the film had to hold back on certain things, and that is a commendable ability in a low-budget filmmaker.  Even a fight scene in an alleyway is shot particularly well and has some very clever and enjoyable choreography.

Caitlin McIntosh, a former semifinalist in the Miss Teen USA Pageant making her debut here, is near faultless in her performance as Laura.  She gives the character a deeper sense of mystery, but she allows herself to be likable, too.  The same can be said for Carlos Leon as Lazarus, a stranger whom Laura falls in love with in the film’s flashback scenes.  He gives Lazarus the perfect amount of charm and darkness the character requires.

Driven by its intricate story and beautifully developed characters, ‘Shadowland’ is an inventive entry into the vampire sub-genre, something the film’s big-budget siblings should take a cue from.  Wyatt Weed has crafted a fabulous screenplay and his director’s eye pulls the film’s execution off with very little in the way of imperfections.  ‘Shadowland’ is a low-budget film that never tries to be something it’s not.  It is highly original and a fresh return to the creativity that made the vampire film so popular to begin with.

‘Shadowland’ will play at the Tivoli Theatre from July 24 thru July 31, 2009 during the Saint Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase.