As far as the world of hiring out videos from video rental shops was concerned, I was something of a late starter, inasmuch as by the time that I'd begun to frequent them on a regular basis during the 1990s, many local video shops here in the UK had already begun to close, and even the mighty Blockbusters chain store with numerous video shops the length and breadth of Great Britain as well as far beyond was fast approaching its sell-by date. Consequently, I never got around to renting out many of the videos that were once so commonly available. What makes matters far worse, however, is that a considerable number of these latter videos proved to be only available in big box, rental format, never being rereleased in the small box sell-thru video format that was available for purchase in general shops and department stores.
This meant that once the video rental shops began closing, it was well worth turning up to their closing-down sales where their now ex-rental videos could be purchased at bargain prices, and this is indeed what I did on many occasions, enabling me to buy movies that I would never otherwise be able to obtain and view (or at least not back in those pre-internet/YouTube days). I've already reviewed some of my ex-rental exotica here on Shuker In MovieLand, and tonight I watched another one.
Directed by Robert Kirk, and released in 1988, here in the UK it was entitled Shadow of Death, but in the USA it was entitled Destroyer. This was one of those big box-only movies that I'd seen so often in the video rental shops but had never got around to hiring out – nor did I ever see it in any video rental shop's closing down sale. And as I couldn't even remember its title, it seemed doomed to be of those films that had got away, never to be found again, let alone watched, by me. Last year, however, while browsing down lists of ex-rental big box videos for sale online, I saw its very distinctive cover, and in so doing discovering its title at long last. My first attempt at purchasing a viewable example with a cover in decent condition failed on both counts, but after obtaining a refund I had better success second time round.
Although I've seen Shadow of Death described elsewhere as a slasher (a genre that has never appealed to me), I can safely say that except for just a couple of extremely brief scenes, there is nothing gory about it at all. Indeed, for the most part it is much more a comedy horror/thriller than anything else (especially during the first half), added to which is an intriguing albeit never-elucidated sci fi/fantasy aspect (see later for details). This movie's two principal stars are ex-NFL American footballer turned actor Lyle Alzado and none other than Mr Psycho himself Anthony Perkins in one of his last film roles (Perkins replacing Roddy McDowall in this role at short notice).
The basic premise of Shadow of Death is that Ivan Moser (played by Alzado), an extremely powerful, wholly remorseless serial killer who is known to have raped, tortured, and murdered 24 men, women, and children, is about to be executed via the electric chair inside the prison where he is being held. He is strapped into it securely, the black hood is placed over his grinning face, and the lethal switch is pulled to its maximum extent, sending intense electrical pulses surging through his body – whereupon the prison's entire electrical system abruptly shorts out.
Fast-forward 18 months, and a movie crew has been granted permission by the authorities to film inside this now long-abandoned prison, which was closed down after a murderous onslaught had taken place there after the electrical shorting, as this had enabled the convicts to break out of their cells and go on the rampage.
The movie crew is headed by Robert Edwards (Perkins), a somewhat sleazy, immoral director of cheap, low-budget exploitation flicks. This particular one, Death House Dollies, has been written by enthusiastic writer and aspiring investigative journalist David Harris (Clayton Rohner) who hopes somewhat improbably that it will actually lead to bigger and better assignments for him. Assisting David and the other crew members on site inside the prison is his girlfriend Susan Malone (Deborah Foreman).
SPOILER ALERT – if you don't want to know what happens further in this movie, stop reading right now!
What none of them realize, however, is that this ostensibly deserted, defunct prison is not entirely deserted after all. Due to some mysterious, hitherto-unsuspected genetic capability possessed by him, Moser had actually survived his supposedly lethal embrace by Old Sparky there. However, the electricity sent pouring through him had turned him into a rampaging 'half-alive' monster of a man (think bargain-basement Hulk), even more psychopathic than before, but it had also gifted his body with the ability to heal any wounds or injuries inflicted upon him, regenerating his flesh fully and fast. (It was this particular plot line in Shadow of Death that had induced me to watch it, as I was interested to see how it would play out.) Helping to keep Moser's existence in the prison concealed from everyone is his father, Russell (Tobias Anderson), who is employed there as a guard to keep out vagrants and prying eyes.
Needless to say, it's not long before the monstrous but very mighty Moser begins surreptitiously picking off the film crew one by one, killing them in a variety of seriously unpleasant ways, until only David and Susan are left standing (barely). And just to add to their problems, Russell is also on the loose, with intentions upon them that are no less evil than those harboured by his ferociously feral offspring, whose regeneration capabilities frustrate their ever more desperate attempts to disarm and destroy him. Do they escape? Now that would be telling!
The massively muscular Alzado plays Moser with eyes-a-bulging ultra-violent malevolence that never falters for an instant. If Hercules had gone over to the dark side, this is what he would have looked like and how he would have behaved, unquestionably. True, at times his pumped-up, pent-up fury becomes not so much animated as animation, like a Manga villain made flesh, but as Shadow of Death is certainly not a movie to be taken even remotely seriously, this doesn't really matter.
Perkins as Edwards is given some delightfully dry one-liners, and no doubt felt right at home here because this movie features not one but two shower scenes! Perhaps the most interesting character is Rohner's David, who gamely takes on the cool, obligatory leather-jacketed action-hero role, albeit with stand-out and-up hair that probably required so much aerosol spray to keep it in place that it can lay claim to its very own hole in the ozone layer. Nevertheless, it is Foreman's Susan who is responsible for most of the actual action, running around at the slightest provocation and being constantly chased for almost the entire second half of the movie by the increasingly tiresome but never-tiring Moser. Disappointingly for me, the scientific reason behind his freakish survival ability is never explored or explained in any way – he just has it, end of story.
Shadow of Death is one of those movies that is sufficiently entertaining for you to keep watching it until the end, but which leaves little if any impression afterwards. Nevertheless, for me it embodied a memory retrieved from those long bygone days of video rental shops that I used to enjoy visiting so much. Hence I'm glad to have watched it tonight, and also to own it at long last, residing now alongside those varied other ex-rental big box movies that I've enjoyed tracking down over the years, yet whose very existence is quite probably unknown to most people, especially younger film fans, for whom the past – including its vista of video rental shops – is indeed a foreign country, where they definitely do things differently.
Having said that: in 2016, under its American Destroyer title, Shadow of Death was re-released in double-feature Blu Ray format, twinned with Edge of Sanity from 1989 (and also starring Perkins), but featuring its American cover artwork rather than its much more iconic Shadow of Death UK illustration that is still so fondly remembered here by ex-rental video aficionados.
If you'd like to watch an official trailer for Shadow of Death, please click here to view one on YouTube. The entire movie is also available to buy or rent there.
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Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly
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