Woodyanders Review of Shadow: Dead Riot

Shadow: Dead Riot (2006)

Hugely entertaining grindhouse-style horror schlock

[8/10 · 7 March 2010]

Evil voodoo-practicing serial killer Shadow (deliciously essayed with lip-smacking villainous hammy brio by Tony Todd) gets executed for murdering pregnant women. Twenty years later the prison he was put to death at has been turned into an experimental women's penitentiary. Tough and fiercely autonomous new inmate Solitaire (nicely played with admirable seriousness and intensity by Carla Greene) has some kind of link with Shadow. When Shadow and his lethal shambling zombie minions are resurrected, it's up to Solitaire to stop them. Director Derek Wan and writer Michael Gingold whip up a suitably outrageous and hence immensely enjoyable homage to vintage 70's exploitation fare that blends elements of grisly zombie horror, scuzzy chicks-in-chains flicks, lively chopsocky, and groovy blaxploitation into an extremely nutty and energetic go-for-broke tacky'n'wacky whole: Among the choice cheesy low-rent cinema stuff to relish herein are plentiful gloriously excessive blood-spilling gore, a pleasing smattering of tasty distaff nudity (which naturally includes the inevitable group shower scene), brutal catfights, wild martial arts, gnarly CGI effects, hideous rot-faced flesh-eating ghouls, and even a nasty killer mutant baby who takes a gruesome bite out of one his own mother's breasts (ouch!). This movie further benefits from game acting by a fun cast, with stand-out contributions from Nina Hodoruk as bleeding heart liberal Warden Danvers, Michael Quinlin as mad, lecherous dirtbag Dr. Swan, Cat Miller as the sweet, pregnant Emily, Andrea Langi as mean, predatory lesbian guard Elsa Thorne, Tatianna Butler as fearsome top con Mondo, adorable soft-core starlet Misty Mundae as the mousy, browbeaten Crystal, Ruby Larocca as the scrappy Rage, and Anna Curtis as twitchy junkie Meth. Popping up in cool bits are veteran zombie thespians Captain Haggerty (the big fat ghoul at the very start of Lucio Fulci's "Zombie") and Bill Hinzman (the cemetery zombie in George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead") as two of Shadow's undead followers. Wan's slick cinematography gives the picture an impressive polished look. Vernon Reid's funky'n'moody score does the rousing trick. A total trashy blast.