The Women in Prison genre was once saturated by the sleazy films of the likes of Jess Franco and Joe D'Amato; but has all but died out since then and all we are left is the residue; which includes Shadow: Dead Riot. The film is something of a coming together of the aforementioned Women in Prison genre and the zombie genre; although by only giving fleeting glimpses of both, it fails to really nail down either one, and what we are left is a rather silly mess; although it is a sporadically entertaining mess. The film begins with execution of a prison inmate who goes by the name of Shadow. Shadow is apparently a mass murderer with voodoo powers (and just to give you an idea of the overall quality of the film; he's played by Tony Todd in a ridiculous wig!). Anyway, Shadow is killed and his death triggers some sort of curse on the prison. Years later; the prison has become a woman's prison and is welcoming a new arrival in the form of a chick called Solitaire. Solitaire apparently has some link with Shadow and her arrival triggers his second coming...
The film is obviously very low rent and anyone going into it is liable to know that; so it would be a bit pointless to say that the acting is atrociously wooden and ridiculous. My main reason for seeing this film was undoubtedly the presence of soft porn star Misty Mundae. She's bad in this film even by her own low acting standards; and her role is made even more disappointing by the fact that she's not in it for long. The only other name on the cast list likely to be recognised by horror fans belongs to the aforementioned Tony Todd...who picks up his pay cheque. The plot is always silly and ridiculous; but there are a couple of good ideas in there that keep things interesting. There are plenty of coincidences and plot holes too...so, as is often the case with films like this, it's best to turn your brain off before the film starts. The central plot involving the new prison inmates is actually one of the less interesting parts of the film, however, which brings it down. All in all, this is a decent way to kill ninety minutes and while film critics won't be impressed; if you like low budget trash, you might like this.
