Conspicuously tailored with an unappetizing ’80s mien and determined to confound with a problematic twist, The Shade Shepherd doesn’t manage to operate artistically well. Chris Faulisi is a busy filmmaker, investing himself into his directorial debut by being the director, cinematographer and editor of his movie. Audacious and laudable, Faulisi obviously cares about how his film is structured and viewed.
Unfortunately, what appears to be a weighty exploration into a debilitated sibling relationship — fractured by the crackhead brother and his inability to escape his addiction — the emotional obstacles are synthetic, while the tension-fueled segments are motivated by specious story mechanisms.
After a neon-infused title sequence, the film opens up to the resistless and temerarious crackhead Pike Ables (played by a convincing Randy Spence), who’s undergoing withdrawals. Finding it infinitely toilsome to prevent his detrimental desires from taking control, he screams at the mirror, anathematizing his own existence.
His brother, Jack (played by co-writer Jordon Hodges), who happens to be a psychiatrist and is expecting soon, is seen with a patient, only to conclude the session by explaining how he’s taking a brief leave from work. One would probably expect his absence from work based around the fact his wife (Caroline Newton) is pregnant and wants to support her, but that’s not exactly the case. Jack is hiding out, seeking self-health through jogging and swimming, doing whatever he can to deviate from his own self-doubt.
Shifting back to Pike, his harebrained drug endeavors sometimes leaves him passed out on Jack’s couch. Things quickly spiral out of control once Pike wakes up one morning, and is charged for murder. Jack has already helped Pike get across the river and into the ample woodlands that span miles ahead, while on the way toward the Canadian border. Jack will do whatever it takes to transport his junkie brother to safety; and taking a weapon for protection, a bow and arrow will surely do the trick.
Stilted Nostalgia
Unfolding in Indiana, 1987, The Shade Shepherd makes it blatantly known that this is some serious ’80s buzz, driven by the brimming popularity of ’80s-oriented shows like Stranger Things. If executed well, the nostalgic pulse can work wonders, but with The Shade Shepherd, the nostalgia is plastic — essentially rendering the tension lifeless and unfulfilling. I will say this, the ’80s appearance of The Shade Shepherd makes it so the brothers’ precarious escapade holds logic and justifies their hardship. There’s no elementary fashion to navigate the obscure woodlands due to the paucity of technology, back in the day, so the way the brothers skulk the woods, not knowing what lies ahead, enlivens their journey.
Regrettably, composer Jonny Mendez roams freely while in the ’80s haze, upholding a synth score that’s obstreperous and deafening — seeking to amplify the tension and dubiety of a lawless journey through nature, when it only comes across as intrusive. There’s no delicacy measured in the nostalgia, and very little motivation to it as well, speaking as the breakneck editing, music and neon-drenched coloring delineates a thriller, not wholly realized. Maybe, just maybe, this could have worked, but Faulisi gave me restricted reasoning to believe there was ingenuity somewhere embedded in the nostalgic crux.
Emotional Journey Stumbles Along the Way
Faulisi and Hodges don’t really formulate a script that recognizes the gravity of drug addiction and the drug epidemic that plagued the 1980s — and, in many ways, still does. The acting between Spence and Hodges is mostly fine: Spence emulates the role of the tetchy junkie brother in a compelling manner, rendering his character’s withdrawals as frightfully palpable; while Hodges vividly insinuates to his character’s loss of direction through his impetuous actions.
Sadly, they’re given dialogue that misprizes their sibling relationship and familial troubles. Employed through pedestrian heart-to-heart conversations (and an American game of baseball), Pike and Jack converse about their abusive father, Jack’s (future) son and their seemingly sempiternal penitence, in a misguided approach.
As far as the suspense goes, Jack wielding a bow and arrow isn’t minacious, and about every prospective threat is a total fake-out, brazenly implied beforehand by magnified sound. That’s not to say there’s not a self-awareness to it all; but even taking that into account, Faulisi neglects to exhume a greater examination of the sibling relationship at the center here.
Faulisi hinges on conventional ingredients and lurid sentiment — usually in the form of unexplored drug addiction and parental abandonment, dredged up through stale narrative roots or a swift pace. He works to preserve the ’80s aura before acknowledging the actual potential of the subject matter. The emotional journey is soulless, and without any soul weaved in, all that’s left is a character journey that leaves no step of memorability.
If the execution was already lost in its typicality, the ending definitely doesn’t vitalize the brothers’ defective relationship; if anything, the ending elicits more questions than answers. The conclusion’s plot twist is disjointed, kindling the element of surprise, but undervaluing the need for exposition. There’s no scene that depicts why Jack ever leaves his pregnant wife to effectuate the labyrinthine plan he has in store for his brother, who’s charged for murder and forced to flee to Canada. Not to mention how the plotting during the final minutes, abandons any shred of reality by incorporating the birth of Jack’s baby and the asinine plot twist, all in parallel action. Because of this, any fragment of recently unscathed emotion is now shredded, and there’s nothing left to behold other than sheer confusion.
The Shade Shepherd: Faulisi’s Thriller Goes Nowhere
It’s bold when a filmmaker takes on the role of the director, cinematographer, and editor, but it appears that more minds behind the project could have offered a newfangled perspective, which could have enhanced the piece. Tonally disrupted by an overdone score and fragmented realization (largely because of the partial script), there’s no potency or evidence of empathy evoked by any of the stimulating topics.
At the end of the day, The Shade Shepherd is a thumping and garish character venture, made to look and feel alluring, yet ends up inheriting an artistic drive, low on fuel and brisk in speed. Sure, Faulisi tried to sustain a quaint and rapid chase thriller, but even with total control, The Shade Shepherd misses the mark, proving Fualisi’s directorial (and emotional) accuracy is off.
What is your favorite ’80s thriller? Do you believe modern movies should continue to use the ’80s as a necessary backdrop or setting? Does it add to the story, or is it designed to enlarge the recollection of better times and nothing else?
The Shade Shepherd made its premiere at the Newport Beach International Film Festival April 28, 2019, and is currently seeking distribution and a wider release. There is no trailer available at the moment.
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