Shadow (2009)

In yet another film that contains a villain torturing his captives, "Shadow" is a film full of little plot points that you don't expect. I have probably already said too much but I did find it enjoyable and I was pleasantly surprised by a few moments in the film. It takes place in an unnamed country in Europe where people speak English with an accent from somewhere in the UK. The film was directed and produced by an Italian crew, so that doesn't help narrow down where the story takes place. But does it really matter? In the grand scheme of things, no it really doesn't.

The movie opens with a voice over from the main character David, a young American soldier who is serving in the Iraq War. He is writing home to his mother, telling her that he plans to go biking in a gorgeous area in Europe, a forest that is called The Shadow in a magazine article that his friend gave him. The movie then shows him biking around a lovely forest. He stops by a small bar where he meets a cute girl and the bar owner; they are the nice people. The mean people are two hunters and their dog that begin harassing the girl for no reason. David intervenes so she can leave and then the bar owner intervenes so David can leave. The girl, Angeline, is also biking around the forest and the two meet up and travel together. They come across the hunters about to kill an elk so Angeline yells out and ruins their shot. The hunters are pissed off and chase the two down, shooting at them and hitting David in the arm. David and Angeline get away for a moment before the hunters are on them again. They take refuge in a part of the forest that Angeline was told is haunted. Not exactly but close enough because an unseen menace captures the four and kills the dog. When David wakes up, he finds himself tied to a metal table in between the two hunters. A skinning European (he reminds me of a young, hairless Richard O'Brien) wearing leather pants comes in and begins torturing the men, first by cooking one of the hunters and then cutting off one of David's eyelids. David escapes and the rest of the movie becomes your typical cat-and-mouse movie except for the plot points that I mentioned before. Hmmm......