User Reviews

Rick Cowan's "Shadow of Fear" showed up on cable recently. The only thing that attracted us to watch it was the presence of James Spader, Peter Coyote and Aidan Quinn, perhaps the best known actors in the cast. This film written by Matthew Hollaway and Arthur Marcum, will test even the most patient viewer's patience! First of all, the screen play is vague in explaining what we are watching.

The opening sequence shows us Harrison sitting near the table where his father-in-law and his cronies, presided by the creepy William Ashbury are discussing things that probably Harrison can hear, yet, he is not invited to participate in the discussion. He is given a drink, but when he goes to pay, the waiter shows him that it's already been paid by Ashbury. He then goes home on a rain storm. The moment he gets distracted, he hits the man standing in the middle of the road. What to do? Call the police? No, instead Harrison disposes the body not too far from the road, a move that will carry terrible consequences for this young man.

This being said, sounds like the premise of a good mystery film, but instead, the writers have complicated the story in such a way, that at times, one wonders with incredulity all the twists and turns in a plot that doesn't ultimately prove anything at all. By not making clear the activities of the group, we start losing interest in the film, and nothing that is done later on to explain why everything happened makes sense.

James Spader doesn't add anything to his otherwise excellent career in the movies. Ditto for Peter Coyote, Aidan Quinn, and the rest of the cast. Matthew Davis who is at the center of the story appears to be miscast for the role of Harrison. Perhaps with a stronger lead could have made more sense.

***SPOILERS*** Convaluted suspense drama that gets more and more confusing as it goes along with a conclusion that had to be inserted in since it makes no real sense at all to what you saw up until then. Being a member of this secret society headed by reclusive and weird high-power attorney William Ashbury, James Spader, young Harrison France, Matthew Davis, learns right away what is needed for him to belong to that secretive group; Ashbury having the goods on you and using them to make you do whatever he want's you to do.

Having trouble paying off the mortgage and also having a big real-estate deal fall through Harrison is up sh*t's creek with him too embarrassed to ask his father-in-law Congressman Henderson (Peter Coyote), also a member of this secret society, for help. Driving home in a rain storm Harrison hit's this stranger on a lonely country road and finds out that he killed him.

Panic-stricken Harrison pulls the dead body off the deserted road and hides it in the brush as he drives home feeling that whatever happened is between him and his conscience and no one else; until the next morning when he sees the news. A bank robbery took place the day before and two men got away with $200,000.00 but the bank security camera video taped one of the robbers who was dressed,in a black hood and leather jacket, a lot like the person that he ran over the previous evening.

Realizing that he must have run down one of the the robbers of the bank Harrison goes back to the underbrush where he hid the strangers body and finds a sack with the stolen $200,000.00 in it. Burying the robbers clothes on his property it's later dug up by his dog Shane, William Shakesbear, which alerts Harrison's wife Wynn, Robin Tunney, in thinking that it somehow has to do with the bank robbery! Also that Harrison, being in debt and desperate for quick cash, may have been involved in it; later Wynn throws it, the dug up clothes, off a local bridge into the river.

It's now when the story takes a very strange turn when it's discovered that the person that Harrison killed is, after DNA tests proved it beyond a doubt, non-other then Chris Henderson Harrison's brother-in-law a local town junkie and petty criminal. It's then when things starts to get bizarre for Harrison with Ashbury coming to his aid to help even though he never told him anything about his accident.

Harrison took the $200,000.00 and put it in a bus station locker but Ashbury had him photographed doing it where he could use the photos to blackmail him. Picked up by the police, who Ashbury obviously tipped off, poor Harrison is interrogated by Det. Schfield, Aidan Quinn. Just when it looked like he was going to crack and confess for Chris' death or murder as well as the armed robbery of the bank Schfield's boss chief Webb, John Grant Philips, comes into the interrogation room and tells Harrison that he can go free. There Ashbury again came to Harrison's rescue by getting this pasty Patrick Treadway a homeless drunk and drifter to go to the bus locker and take out the money, or half of it,out and have him photographed! Showing that Harrison had nothing to do with the bank robbery or Chris' death!

Now if you think that the movie was strange up until then it gets even stranger when Harrison later being at a social gathering, with his wife and father-in-law, goes up to Ashbury's suite in the hotel where the gathering was taking place. there he finds that Chris Henderson, whom he though he killed in a road accident and hid his body, is really alive and staying with Ashbury in his hotel room! Then who did he, or did not, kill that dark rainy evening?

The film completely falls apart after that in trying to make Harrison French into some kind of avenger and have him concoct this unbelievable plan to turn the tables on the conniving Ashbury and have him face the music that he forced him and all the other members of his weird society to face all these years.

The ending taking place on the same road, and even in a likewise rain storm, where all the troubles for Harrison began in the movie is so outrageous that you wonder if "Shadow of Fear" wasn't really meant to be a comedy instead of a suspense drama and that the real story got lost during the final rushes and editing of the film.

I felt quite at a loss after this movie. I wondered and wondered, remembering fine details that might contain some important clue for the story. There might be, but I found none. So I concluded either it may be a very intelligent mystery thriller, or it may be just pure crap. So when they showed the film again four days later I began to see it again and found it intolerable after 30 minutes.

I don't know just what the screenwriter was thinking. Same old premises, average locations, predictable camera angles and not-too-bad acting. You can't make a masterpiece out of this. Probably the director or screenwriter set a goal too high. Well, James Spader as an actor is always nice to watch and here's no exception. But the others were below average (especially Robin Tunney). Really, I expected the film not very good, but I didn't know I won't get the story at all.

a movie about a secret society of men who are made to pay too high a price to redeem themselves of their sins. The movie focuses around main actor Harrisson French who is made to believe that he ran over his brother -in -law by the leader of this secret society, William Ashbury and the only way he is to keep from getting busted by the cops is to provide favours for Ashbury. Surprise, surprise French becomes the hero of this really boring story. A very average performance coupled with an even poorer plot make this one something that will probably and most rightly so, never be seen by the lucky majority. My rating: 4.5

This past Sunday evening while waiting for SIX FEET UNDER to start, & having nothing better to do & being a JAMES SPADER fan I watched this.

This is a very confusing film, hard to understand for a few reasons. 3/4 this of the dialog is incomprehensible due to the fact that an annoying music score is heard that was louder than the actors voices. Many times the actors spoke so low I doubt that the actors they were speaking to heard them.

Matt Davis, a newcomer(very good looking) is the lead performer, SORRY TO SAY HE NEEDDS ACTING LESSONS. James Spader, Peter Coyote & Aiden Quinn all accomplished actors in other movies do not shine here.All the actresses seem to walk through there roles.

At 88 minutes it is very long. I cannot remember it being shown in theatres when it was released in July 2004

rating IMDb 4/10 ** out 4 53 points/100

I'm surprised this movie has got such a high rating. It starts out very promising with some nice images in the rain. In fact, it is extremely fascinating about until the time when he gets back to his wife and they begin talking. After that the movie falls apart little by little, until it becomes so borderline non-sensible that I just had to turn it off. It is not a matter of "plot twists" as some viewer suggested. Obviously, it is a question of just not being able to put a decent plot together. I see an alarming trend in the new DVD-market where many movies are put out quicker and easier to DVD than it was possible in the good old video days. American horror has suffered in recent years, and did not improve with the pathetic remakes of brilliant Asian horror. Anyway, "Shadow of Fear" is not a horror-movie. It is hardly even a movie. If it had only lasted until he got back to his wife, and she then turned into a demon or something; then it would have been a good "Twilight Zone"-episode but when a movie-plot collapses like that in one superfluous scene after the other then it becomes irrelevant to watch. As one viewer suggested, we are never told what this "organisation" does. I think, this is a major problem. On the back of the DVD it said something about a secret "cult"-organisation with big power. It sounded promising but in the movie this organisation seems completely devoid of power, so what's the point?

"Shadow of Fear" draws upon the elements of suspense from the famous genre of film noir. It also shares similarities to films from earlier decades in "The Brotherhood of the Bell" (1970) and "The Star Chamber" (1983). All three films focus on a secret male society that goes outside the law to protect the interests and advance the agendas of its members. I admired director Rich Cowan's camera angles and stylish cinematography in "Shadow of Fear." There was also good suspense sustained in the mysteries activities of the secret club.

At the heart of the action is the character of Harrison French, admirably played by Matthew Davis. Harrison is caught in a web of intrigue after an unfortunate incident of manslaughter while driving in a blinding rain. He is subsequently manipulated by the ringleader of the secret brotherhood, performed with great relish by James Spader. The cast is rounded out with veteran actors Peter Coyote and Aidan Quinn, along with good support from Robin Tunney, Alice Krige, and Lacey Chabert.

Beyond the effective and suspenseful plot, I was especially intrigued by the consistently morose and clinically depressed cast of characters. Despite the great affluence portrayed in the film, the main characters all suffered from guilt for their past conduct and by the obsession of keeping their skeletons in the closet, through assistance of Spader's oily attorney, William Ashbury. It is especially revealing when throughout the film, the protagonist Harrison is chomping on prescription antidepressant medication in order to cope with even the slightest setback.

In "The Brotherhood of the Bell" and "The Star Chamber," the secret society went outside the lines of society's ethics in the pursuit of such concepts as "truth" and "justice." By contrast, in "Shadow of Fear," there were no redeeming ideals as the members of the society sought only to cover up one another's past transgressions. Literally, no one seemed happy in this film. Not even the powerful attorney Ashbury could remedy their sorry state of depression.

I liked this movie. I even watched it a second time so that I could catch the little things I missed the first time around. I suppose it was a lame plot with lame actors (average B movie), but I liked it. James Spader plays his usual sleaze-ball rich guy and as usual, he does so quite well. I thought he was pretty tricky in the way he trapped society's best. I have to admit I was a bit confused the first time through as to the exact purpose of the Tuesday meetings--things became clearer as the movie progressed. Overall I thought the "secret Tuesday society" was a pretty cool (albeit sick) idea. The ending was very cool and worth the wait. I love murder mysteries and this was a good smooth-flowing storyline.

I mostly liked this movie for James Spader's terrific performance as an enigmatic and powerful lawyer. Love the kind of intensity and passion he brings to his every role. Matt Davis on the other hand gives a very insipid performance. He is the weakest actor in the entire cast and cld not hold his own before some of the other accomplished actors, specially Spader and Coyote. The girls have hardly anything to do in the movie sadly.

The story is different and manages to keep the viewers engaged, though the end seemed a bit implausible. If only the screen play had been a bit tighter and someone better had been cast in Harrison's role, it wld have worked even better. Still, I wld say the movie is worth the watch for Spader's work

They say that Hollywood always is looking for something new. So how come they decided to produce this film? There's nothing new in "Shadow of Fear". I mean: rainy night, a moment of inattention and the dead guy in the middle of the road. There rest is as unimaginative as the beginning.

Well, there were some positive moments. The concept of the secret society created by demonic William Ashbury is quite entertaining and relationship between main character and his father-in-law is somewhat original. But that's it. The main character is rather dull and Matthew Davis isn't the best actor for the part. What's more, Lexi Nikitas must really hate him, since his make-up was overdone. What's with the lipstick? Davis looked almost like a lazy drag who didn't remove the make-up after the show was over.

"Shadow of Fear" has some pretty good production values for a low budget direct to DVD movie. It also has some decent acting by the various participants on the screen. Unfortunately, it's hard to build any enthusiasm for the rest of the movie. The story elements and the characters are often so murky that it's hard to understand what is going on at times. It's like starting a novel at chapter 3, since a lot of the elements in the movie movie go are never explained at all. Some elements are (eventually) explained, but much of the movie remains confusing. What went wrong here? Since I find it hard to believe that production would go ahead on an incoherent screenplay, I suspect that the original cut of the movie ran a lot longer, and when the movie was subsequently cut down to run at a more reasonable length, a lot of explanation was removed. It's too bad, because there are signs that the original cut would have been engaging despite its length. You'd be better off waiting for a director's cut instead of watching the movie as it is right now.

Now some movies have been known to be boring and Shadow of Fear is nothing different.

And this is no movie for a fan to watch.

Shadow of Fear try is a boring movie.

There's no point so trying to figure out the story is a pain.

Also the movie can't be worth anything.

The movie limits the enjoyment of the movie, so the movie itself becomes rather boring, rather fast.

The acting in the movie is just simple awful it's not even funny.

Don't get me wrong, I like the cast of the movie.

The music is not all that great.

Shadow of Fear is a failure.

If you really want a great movie, try something else, this movie has nothing that makes it worth watching.

I give Shadow of Fear 4 out of 10.

AVOID AT ALL COST

Overcomplicated screenplay trying to show off with too many TV twists... so as to cover up the poor quality of character writing. Spader is lost and tries to find confort by looking into his box of tricks but they don't fit since the story is going south. The only one playing right is Aidan Quinn. This isn't really a movie but a second hand TV serial quality something.

Secret society affair that can't quite decide whether its goal is to be strategic or sadistic. Drifts by without ever really giving you a sense of why it's happening, other than to serve the movie itself. The characters are all unlikeable at some point, which leaves you with no one to route for. It also seems to hope you forget that the main guy does actually do something really terrible, to begin with.

This could have been a prequel to The Blacklist. James Spader's portrayal of William Ashbury was pure Reddington. Using the easily corruptible Police Chief is just a precursor to blackmailing heads of State 😂. Loved Aidin Quinn as the detective from the city. Robin Turney is awesome as always as were the rest of the cast. There are enough twist and turns to keep the story interesting without getting overly convoluted with extemporaneous characters (sorry trying to meet the #of character requirement for the review) Seriously though it's worth the viewing, get the popcorn and a pop and enjoy the show.