I just got played. Big time. By a movie. A movie that I didn't think was going to be all that great, so I underestimated it, and let my guard down. And now, all I can say is...bravo.
Jack Ables (co-writer Jordon Hodges, SAND CASTLES, THE DARK KNIGHT) is a respected doctor whose wife Stacey (Caroline Newton, A PLACE IN HELL) is about to have a baby. Their relationship isn't perfect, but maybe with time they'll work things out.
Trouble is, Jack doesn't have that time right now, because his ne'er-do-well big brother Pike (Randy Spence, "Halt and Catch Fire", "Turn: Washington's Spies"), a heroin addict who's always in and out of trouble with the law, just woke up with a murder charge hanging over his head. He doesn't remember what happened, but chances are that won't matter much to the police.
THE SHADE SHEPHERD (Indican Pictures, 2019) is about Jack's decision to risk everything--his reputation, his marriage, his freedom, maybe even his life--by helping the luckless and now hunted brother escape to Canada.
Director Chris Faulisi (A PROPER VIOLENCE, SHIFT), handles the lean, tautly-suspenseful, and emotionally harrowing script he co-wrote with Hodges with just the right touch at every turn.
He's lucky to have a wonderful cast to work with, especially Randy Spence who plays Pike to the hilt as a frantic heroin addict going cold turkey, freaking out over every noise and shadow and wracked with guilt for what he's doing to his straight-arrow brother.
As Jack, Hodges reminds me of a young Joe Pantoliano and is every bit as intense, putting us right there in his place as we feel the desperation of a man who must venture onto the way, way wrong side of the law for the love of his brother while also having to put his survival skills to the ultimate test as they flee cross-country with nothing but Jack's archery skills to sustain them.
All this sounds good, just right for some passable entertainment if handled as well as it is here. And indeed that was going to be the gist of my review--an okay movie that you won't mind devoting some time to, with what I assumed would be a fairly satisfying ending.
And then, that "fairly satisfying ending" turns out to be like one of those carnival rides where you spin around real fast inside a big wheel before the bottom suddenly falls out and you're stuck to the wall wondering what just happened.
That's all I'm going to say about THE SHADE SHEPHERD. I'd love to talk more about it, but let's wait until you've seen it too. I don't know if the twist ending is as good as the one in THE SIXTH SENSE, but right now, for however long it lasts, it sorta feels like it.
Buy it from Indican Pictures
TECH SPECS
Runtime: 90 minutes
Format: 1:78 HD
Sound: Dolby Sr.
Country: USA
Language: English
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