From the Shadows (2023) by Mike Sargent

Director: Mike Sargent

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Following a mysterious accident, a researcher looking into the connection between the incident and a mysterious cult gets several survivors into a video chat to get the inside scoop on the situation but the longer it goes on the more they realize that a demonic spirit may have targeted everyone.

Review:

Overall, this was a pretty decent overall genre effort. One of the bigger factors going for this one is the strong setup that enables quite a lot to like about it. The initial starting point here with the tragic fire and explosion that alerts everyone around the world to learn of their shady backstory and history while also bringing about the survivors who are at the focal point of the film the rest of the way with the resulting interview taking place over the video-chat that serves the rest of the film. This comes together quite nicely with the type of action shown here with the interviews taking on a demented air including the belief that the creatures are after them once they’ve been released and going around stalking them which has some genuinely enjoyable supernatural shenanigans at play when they appear to torment the others in the chat that gets involved into a series of impressive stalking scenes featuring the spirit manipulating the environment to provide some decent enough scenes. These are enough to make the film rather likable.

There are some big issues keeping this one down. The biggest drawback to the film is the most obvious factor present in the presentation of everything taking place over a video chat for the near majority of the film. This reduces the film to a simplistic video call that has people simply sitting around their computer and discussing the history of the cult, their arrival in the society, and what happened the night of the original accident which is just not that interesting to see carry out. As it slowly becomes apparent that there’s not much else going on and it’s only going to be this split-screen multi-person chat presentation and only getting brief glimpses of other figures gathered together in the brief segments explaining everything, there’s not much investment that happens in here which is what occurs once the creature starts to appear providing the few brief instances of change compared to the rest of the action here but does stand out quite obviously. The other issue here is the overall cheap and cheesy look this all has as a result which could be a huge turn-off but otherwise, it’s not as big an issue as the presentation.

Overview: **.5/5

Overall likable and intriguing but really let down by several drawbacks, this is solid enough if you’re a fan of this particular approach although that can wear itself out rather quickly. Give this a look if you’re a fan of this overall style or intrigued by the concept while most others who are turned off by the negative points should heed caution with this one.