Shadow Dancing (1988) User Reviews

Nadine van der Velde's first and only starring role

[a-cornlover_1988 · 5/10 · 22 June 2006]

"Shadow Dancing" is a bizarre experience: a mystery/thriller/drama set in a "Flashdance"-like environment with an overacting Christopher Plummer doing the male lead. Aside from the unconventional storyline, the movie doesn't offer very much: the direction, the camera-work, the music - everything's just okay, nothing special. It's not bad either. The one and only reason that made me going for this was Nadine van der Velde, the pretty girl from "Critters" and "Munchies". She was a starlet in the 1980s whose career never hit off, and this was her only starring part before she left to become a writer. Her performance as the troubled dancer who delves into the mysterious story is highly convincing, and one wonders why she didn't have a bigger career as an actress. If you like pretty girls, if you are a Nadine van der Velde fan, try to get a tape. It's hard to get, though. 5 out of 10.

Medusa!-The musical. Not since Carrie!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 5 August 2021]

Although this movie came out the year before the short lived Broadway transfer of Stephen King's horror classic, there seems to be a little wink at British theater audiences who got to see the disastrous show in London. Yes, movies had already given us "Springtime For Hitler", and we later had "Elephant!" and "Songbird" (based on "Sweet Bird of Youth") as parts of musical theater in the movies. So now there's a musical version of the story of the Greek gorgon Medusa, and we get cheesy choreography straight out of "Fame" (along with the disco score) that would be similar to the outlandish music and lyrics and dances of "Carrie", considered one of the most hideously bad flops on stage ever.

The talented and lovely Nadine van der Velde is an aspiring dancer trying to get a chorus part in this odd choice for musical theater (a Toronto production) and a mystery surrounding the Phantom like Christopher Plummer (dressed to look like Benjamin Franklin) puts a curse on the set as she becomes similar to Phantom's Christine. This was the same year that "Phantom" opened on Broadway, but at least the songs and choreography matched the theme and were not desperately out of place. But for some reason, van der Helde becomes far too obsessed with the rehearsals which seems to be tied into Plummer's past.

She gets far too into the character, eventually going out of her way to sabotage the leading lady.

The Gothic elements of the mystery thriller are obvious and the plot is straight forward, but individual plot devices are strange. Van der Helde begins to giggle eerily out of the blue and you start to wonder if the spirit of the fictional version of Medusa is taking over the production. There's a tough choreographer as well as the gruff but basically kind producer (both women) as well as fellow producer John Colicos, standing by as van der Helde out of the blue has a Helen Lawson moment, but unfortunately, there's nothing campy about that scene, so outside of the weird dance numbers, there's nothing fun to laugh at. Theater fans and artists will appreciate these aspects of the film, but others will be snapping their fingers, screaming at the film to pick up the pace.

Confusing Plot In League With Poorly Composed Script Cripples Would-Be Suspense Melodrama.

[rsoonsa · 3/10 · 28 June 2006]

Apart from appearances of several members attached to the National Ballet of Canada, augmented by a former principal dancer with that splendid organization, there is very little cause to recommend this below par effort that seems to decompose as it moves along. An aspiring dancer, Jessica (Nadine van der Velde), is in the process of auditioning for a new theatrical company in Toronto that is preparing to stage a modern dance performance to be held within the Beaumont Theatre, an old structure that has been dark for nearly 50 years, following the on-stage death there of ballerina Lili LaNuit, a possible homicide occurring as she was dancing in the role of Medusa, the Gorgon whose tale is a staple of Greek mythology. An injury suffered by another dancer results in a call for young Jessica, but she finds herself duelling with not merely her lack of confidence but, additionally, hostility from the troupe's management and cast. However, after Jessica discovers an abandoned dressing room upstairs at the theatre once utilized by the deceased Lili LaNuit, her personality is supposedly possessed by the latter's spirit, with Lili's flaws and superior skills distributed to the latter-day dancer, whose ability then naturally becomes roughly equal to that of LaNuit, this pleasing others of the troupe and causing her to be fully acceptable as one of the entourage. At this point the scenario turns into a farrago since, with troupe dissension no longer at issue, a viewer must instead concentrate upon the ambiguous activities of an elderly man, Edward Beaumont (Christopher Plummer), who resides with his sister in an apartment above the Theatre that he owns, and who had been a beau of Lili and perhaps her murderer, as well (from jealousy); Jessica's lover Paul, simplistically desiring only to marry her; Jessica's best friend Karen, whose new-born child is consistently transferred from one set of reluctant arms to another; financial backers of the new company, who also were somehow involved with LaNuit's final appearance; a large and vocal parrot that wings about at random, muttering obscurities; a local shopkeeper, also with a romantic history in connection with the LaNuit imbroglio, and so forth. Van der Velde tries very hard to make something of her silly part, and is physically fit here, but she does not move as a dancer moves, and the scornful treatment accorded her by her peers unfortunately seems apt, while her intended personality metamorphosis into a ballerina of the long ago is evidenced in a most mild form, when at all. Telefilm Canada assists with the film's funding, but there is little of merit in it, due to miscasting, tepid direction and playing, and a screenplay burdened with weak dialogue along with confusing transitional sequences.

This could have been Miss van der Velde's star-turn

[utelemper1963 · 10/10 · 14 January 2006]

"Shadow Dancing" is a merely forgotten thriller about a dancer who becomes the object of her director's obsession because she resembles his former (dead) lover.

A good choreography, some very good songs and the stunning photography (d.p. René Ohashi received a Genie nomination for his outstanding work) make this neat little film quite entertaining and highly watchable.

This was one of Nadine van der Velde's last films as an actress. The Canadian-born actress was close to become a 1980s superstar with her roles in "Critters" and "After Midnight", but the lack of starring roles and the lack of commercial success made her vanish into oblivion. She became an award-winning writer in the 1990s and now lives in her native Canada with her husband, actor Patrick Breen.

Imaginative, easy to get sucked in

[hoistthemain · 10/10 · 24 March 2015]

It's difficult, as an entertainment professional, to watch just about anything from 1988. This slice of cinematic history is riddled with ill-conceived plot diagrams, cumbersome scripts, and honestly, embarrassing special effects. But I think we often lose sight of why we sit down in front of a film in the first place. We want it to take us somewhere. I'm not sure we're even too concerned with where exactly, just anywhere. My most memorable road trip was in a VW bus, not flying first class to London. My point, is that this film takes you somewhere, somewhere else. It's thoughtful, even a bit mesmerizing. The cinematography was captivating and the costumes were perfectly period. Christopher Plummer clearly took the role seriously, and I was lulled to watch the film as a viewer, not as a critic. Put me in front of a modern indy, I'll watch as a critic- and I'll all too easily forget that there is a story, or a script altogether.