City of Shadows (1987)

Director:

David Mitchell

Writers:

Damian Lee (writer) and
Steve Ippolito (story)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Plot:

In the same vein as Cain and Abel, here we have two brothers, one a renegade cop and the other a murderer with a taste for little boys. The brothers come to blows, from which only one can walk away. |

Plot Keywords:

Ms. Pac Man | Toronto | S&M | Mother Son Relationship | Suicide

Cast

Benjamin Barrett	...	Joey
Sonja Belliveau	...	Maria
Tim Burd	...	Billy
Danny Burnes
Brian Cooper	...	Ruben
Paul Coufos	...	Paul
Mike D'Aguilar	...	Fighter (as Mike D´Aguilar)
Ernst Emanuell	...	Fighter
Paul Harding	...	Malcolm
Lawrence King-Phillips	...	Punk
Damian Lee	...	Garrett
Marsha Levine	...	Toni
Frank Moore	...	Lieutenant Johnson
Mark Parr	...	Street Hustler
Tony Rosato	...	Rosie
John P. Ryan	...	Sergeant Fireman

Also Known As:

Nightmare City (UK) (video title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R | UK:18 (cut)

Company:

Rose and Ruby Productions

Movie Connections:

References Ms. Pac-Man (1981) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Brother or Stranger

Viewing This Desecration Of Good Taste Is Time Not Well Spent.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There is very little of interest to be discovered in this basically mindless Canadian production, technically a science-fictional tale set in a future large and dystopic city, wherein no sympathy can be readily found for any of the principal characters. We know that the city is a dystopia due to an active smoke machine that emits its murky product throughout the affair, and there are also small fires burning in alleys of what is in reality an industrial district of Toronto. Coherence is totally neglected within a plot that revolves about a police officer, Paul (Paul Coufos) who, along with his partner, is trying to locate a suspect in their "precinct" busily engaged in kidnapping young boys (12 thus far), and killing at least one of them. The villain, named Garrett, played by Damian Lee who also produces here and cobbles together the screenplay, is in fact found, proving to be in some fashion related to Paul by blood, with both men being manipulated in a mystical manner by a mysterious old man, but because Paul's character lacks any form of appeal, it is difficult to be concerned about what may happen to any of them. To develop a menacing aspect for a rather bland Garrett, the scenario has the latter kidnap the young son of Paul's girl friend, following which are the to be expected sequences depicting a clash of temperaments between varying ranks of police personnel, including the obligatory suspension of the rogue cop hero, in a work shot largely with video tape. Coufos poses rather than acts, although he is given free rein to violently chew scenery during several scenes, while most of the other players merely walk through their weakly written roles, not aided by tepid direction. The film is lightly budgeted, but not to an extent as to preclude effective building of sets; utilization of automobiles from the 1970s provides a particularly jarring note, as do other design shortcomings that fail to manifest a futuristic mise en scène. This is a coarse grained effort from its outset, as the production fails (if indeed an effort is even made) to combine its elements into a reasonable adventure tale, it instead being noteworthy only for offering little or nothing that might earn a recommendation for viewers.