Death in the Shadows is a movie from Holland. It has no actors in it I've seen in anything, it has a director I have never heard of, and I'm in the cabin writing this without any internet to find information about this obscure ass film.
We begin by following 17 year old Valentine. She is a confident, but in-over-hear-head and naive young woman. She is taken for a turn when her mother dies suddenly, hit by a car. Soon enough, this is added to by a police detective coming around and telling Valentine that her mother was not actually her mother. The woman who raised her and just died had never had children. Soon enough, someone is also after Valentine as the mystery deepens....
I really loved this movie. What is it about slow building suspense mysteries I love? This movie reminded me a lot of the tone and feeling present in Footprints on the Moon. Footprints and this both share a bizarre, ambiguous and ethereal feeling. There is a "otherness" to this movie, a unknown factor that makes it really great.
But let's stick to known factors for now. And...I scrolled down and I seriously forgot the terrible title of this movie because it's not at the top of the page here. Fuck it, let's start on the bad actually:
First of all the fucking dubbing is terrible. Bland and lifeless, these people seem like they are in a black room without being told what their characters are thinking, going through, hell these voice actors don't even know they're being recorded.
Secondly in a short list, it is a bit uneven just like Footprints was. Intense deep bizarre mystery is evenly met by long, nonsense scenes that could have been cut. The first hour of this movie flies by while the last 30 minutes was slow.
Okay, back to the good stuff about Death in the Shadows. Number one, the music. The music in this is SO good. It's weird, it's all over the place, it's zany and miraculous. Honestly, I would get the soundtrack to this movie. Straight up.
The acting. the dubbing aside, the acting in this movie is great. The main actress is confident, childish, mature, energetic, morose, and smart enough. She kills it in the movie. The police detective, the few other characters are all great in their small roles. Minor characters like the boyfriend are greatly written, and each given enough to make them likeable.
In the end, there is not really horror aspect to this as much as the other films in the boxset. There is a killer after Veronica, but mostly this is a straight mystery. I'm glad it made the boxset though, I'm ecstatic with this film.
I can't quite justify 5 stars though, I'll give this 4 stars.
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