SHADOWS RUN BLACK is a sleazy little slasher film of the 1980s that took years to get released, although watching it today the film seems surprisingly decent given that I was expecting nothing from it. It's no classic for sure, and it's not even a particularly great film, but I found it relatively suspenseful and the whodunit aspect of the film's structure is handled well.
The narrative concerns a cop (the effectively hard-ass William J. Kulzer) on the hunt for a serial killer who has been killing young and nubile women. He also goes around making dodgy heavy breathing telephone calls. If you're looking for gore you'll be disappointed, because the kills are slapdash and sped through without much interest; instead the director's intent seems to be to cram as much female nudity into his film as is humanly possible. Thus every victim is required to strip down and parade around in the nude for around ten minutes before being hastily dispatched. It's hardly high art, but the presence of a pre-stardom Kevin Costner in the cast helps to keep this one interesting, the atmosphere is suitably dark and gritty, and the twist ending is a hoot.
The narrative concerns a cop (the effectively hard-ass William J. Kulzer) on the hunt for a serial killer who has been killing young and nubile women. He also goes around making dodgy heavy breathing telephone calls. If you're looking for gore you'll be disappointed, because the kills are slapdash and sped through without much interest; instead the director's intent seems to be to cram as much female nudity into his film as is humanly possible. Thus every victim is required to strip down and parade around in the nude for around ten minutes before being hastily dispatched. It's hardly high art, but the presence of a pre-stardom Kevin Costner in the cast helps to keep this one interesting, the atmosphere is suitably dark and gritty, and the twist ending is a hoot.