Shapeshifter (2005)

User Rating:

2.2/10   

Director:

Gregory Lemkin

Writers:

A. Everett Howe (writer)
Gregory Lemkin (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Inmates and guards alike become trapped in a maximum security prison when they fall prey to a demonic beast that feeds on human flesh...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Beautiful Woman | Murder | Female Nudity

Cast

Jennifer Lee Wiggins	...	Ginny Lydon (as Jennifer Wiggins)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vaz Andreas	...	Velku
Ava Bellamy	...	Sasha (as Natalia Bellami)
Stephen A.F. Day	...	Russian Pimp (as Stephen Day)
Thomas Downey	...	Beast (as Tom Downey)
Scott Evans	...	Partner
Chris Facey	...	Riggs
Brian J. Garland	...	Andrews
Marat Glazer	...	Marcoux
Steven Glinn	...	Jimmy
A.J. Hammond	...	Mohammad
Joel Hebner	...	Beast
Martin Hristov	...	Andrei
Bobby James	...	Warden
Louis Mendoza	...	Eddie
John Nelson	...	Big Sam
Ocean	...	Tyrese
Jim Polivka	...	Iosif
Elliot Ruiz	...	Pedro
Charles Schneider	...	Father
Leigh Scott	...	Harry Ellis
Byron Washington	...	Leonard

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence/gore, language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Asylum Home Entertainment, The

Movie Connections:

References King Kong (1933)

Fun Low Budget Horror

I have to admit that I enjoyed this movie.

You probably have to be a fan of the low budget horror film to understand what makes Shapeshifter stand out. I've seen a lot of these films (including those by The Asylum). They're one of my guilty pleasures, outlandish gore fests often filled with hilariously campy acting.

Shapeshifter is a bit different. It's is much more of a horror-thriller than a straight horror film, it has a plot that makes sense, a solid cast, and only a moderate amount of gore.

Underneath it all, Shapeshifter is a classic siege film. It's has a solid premise, a female prison guard gets trapped in a jail with a deadly beast and must band together with the prisoners in order to survive. It's kind of like a supernatural version of Assault on Precinct 13.

The cast is a lot of fun. The inmates are one of these classic crews of ragtag prison characters. There's the Goofy Young Black Guy, the Old Excommunicated Priest, the fallen Brother from the Nation of Islam, the White Trash ex-Junkie, the Romanian mobster and the Prisoner who never talks.

Jennnifer Lee Wiggins plays the female prison guard, a former solider with an other-than honorable discharge and a chip on her shoulder. Okay, it's s bit cliché, but once she gets the dorky prison guard shirt off and starts running around the prison in her wife-beater t-shirt, she looks totally hot.

There are almost no special effects or computer graphics. The film could have used some, but I still thought the Beast was convincing.

The plot gets a bit goofy at the end. I'm not sure why, because the writing and the directing are pretty solid up until that point. Editing tricks and flashbacks are overused but still add to the film's impact.

Overall, a good rental for fans of the genre.