The Shadow Men (1997)
1h 35m | PG-13
Happily married couple Bob and Dez Wilson and their 12-year old son Andy are being attacked by a blinding light when driving home from a daytrip. They awaken a couple of hours later, seemingly unscathed but soon driven mad by recurring nightmares. It soon appears that they have been abducted by aliens as proved by their sons handycam that had suddenly started running right after the incident. This mysterious fact is discovered by even more mysterious Men In Black who start nagging the family up to the point of threatening to kill them. Laughed at by the police the threesome seek refuge at sf-writer Stan Mills' house and start fighting back.
Director: Timothy Bond
Studio: Encounter Productions
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
Video: 720p
Cast
Eric Roberts
as Bob Wilson
Sherilyn Fenn
as Dez Wilson
Dean Stockwell
as Stan Mills
Brendon Ryan Barrett
as Andy Wilson
Andrew Prine
as MIB #1
Chris McCarty
as MIB #2
Reviews
It seems not a single person behind-the-scenes on this project strived to make it anything more than passable. That's not to say the film is bad -- it isn't. It's not great either. It's just... *Meh* There were opportunities in the script for curve balls to be thrown at the audience, but the filmmakers declined. They stuck to the formula, never veered off the path of familiarity, and gave us the plot completely by the numbers. This is the type of movie that you can flip on at any time and not really pay attention, never having to worry if you'll miss any key plot points. I'm a fan of Eric Roberts and find him enjoyable in even the worst of movies, so having him in the cast definitely helped. And kudos to the filmmakers for playing off the ridiculously awful alien costumes for realism. They looked awful, but worked in that "so cheesy it's fun" sort of way.