Shadow Master (2022) User Reviews

A Story That Was Completely Lost In A Film Saved Only By The Martial Arts!

[silicontourist · 3/10 · 4 December 2022]

B-Movie or not, this was a dark and deeply disturbing film; in a supernatural film noir style. I liked that about it and I liked the Martial Arts fight action scenes very much also. The major let down for this film is the script/story was muddled and fractured all the way through.

You understand the very basics of what the horror is about but you are left never knowing why it was happening, why were the children needed for a sacrifice you never know what it's for and more so, why those particular children from that particular building; and also why the inhabitants - who were squatters anyway - did not just leave to live elsewhere.

The bad guys wore those bird beaked masks that originated from an earlier part of history, and in a different country entirely, when the Black Death, better known as the Plague swept many to their deaths. Being that they were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse they would all have been different so, that made for no practical film story sense at all!

Anybody that is into Martial Arts films will immediately have noticed the fighting style similarity to the great Tatchakorn Yeerum, better known internationally as Tony Jaa (and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom). Its the only reason this gets a 3 star score from myself.

Horrible wig, good fighting choreography - the rest of the team sucks

[henrijsleja · 5/10 · 11 November 2022]

The only good thing about this movie is fight scenes. Reminded somewhat of Tony Jaa style. The make-up crew failed big time - I mean how can you let main character wear a wig like that!?

The story-writers - please get off from the drugs you're on! I don't mind the idea of children being the key of apocalypse but explain me why the horsemen can't get children from outside the building? Or if kids disappear only in that building - why people don't just leave it? It's bad!

The post production team could probably save the day by a star or two if they cared, but they clearly didn't.

It's a wasted time for viewers, wasted money for cinema industry and the only thing that comes out of it is - hopefully those 3 or 4 actors in the movie can get another , better offers in the future. The main actor is not really an actor - fight choreography I give 8/10, it was really good( apart from one kick that clearly didn't hold any power in - but at least it was difficult and respect for that).

Element of curiosity but ultimately a terrible movie

[khaledhussain-13540 · 3/10 · 11 November 2022]

You know when you make dish, sometimes ingredients are left over, so you make a side dish. This was the same. Its clear everything about this film is from a Power Rangers movie set, and someone thought we have enough here for a moiie.

Characters in the movie The Four Horsemen and Hanuman looked like they were dressed spontaneously from what ever was lying around. It looked so amateurish, I've seen better from Youtubers with 0 money.

The plot cantered around the 4 Horsemen who were taking children for ritual sacrifice to bring about the end times. The residents of this block then clubbed together to hire a Night watchman to protect the kids. However, you're left asking why they were all dirty?

The plot is okay but the script was like it was translated from a 70s martial arts movie - really bad.

I watched it, though I'm not quite sure what I watched.

[yatinmulky · 2/10 · 14 November 2022]

Horror? Post-apocalyptic sci-fi? Redemption? Martial Arts? I'm not quite sure what this movie was supposed to be. Don't get me wrong the action was on point. Just that it was so muddled you can't really understand what they're trying to get at. Quite disappointing to be really honest. They could've invested a little time into character building, or explained a little about the situation. You pretty much go in blind and stay that way till the end wondering what exactly is going on! Why are things like this? What's actually going on, why is he fighting these things. Honestly, if you've got 90 mins to spare, have a blast. Else, avoid by all means necessary.

silly and boring 😐

[jojodd-96441 · 2/10 · 8 November 2022]

I did not understand until now what this movie is devoid of anything. Even the hero did not employ him well. Everything is absurd and out of place, a lot of screaming, etc... He wants revenge for his soul, but he is unable and always fails. The important thing is a silly movie that does not rise to the level of action films. Silly and boring and does not contain elements that bind you to continue. From half an hour, you will feel that you are in front of a meaningless amateur work. Except the fighting was pretty good and the actors were amateurs even the voice-over was horrible and pretty hopeless.

Not sure what should I call this, definitely not a movie

[nikgujeran · 1/10 · 14 April 2023]

I still don't understand what was the story? Horrible bird masks, horrible casting. And I am not sure why an Indian Hindu God Hanuman who is worshipped by all Hindus is shown as God of Death with a skull face. People sentiments are tied to it and your portrayed him so loosely.

Why were the cops the ghosts? I mean, absolutely senseless. A hospital with few people with no good reasoning why are they there in the first place. Why were the so called ghosts taking the kids? Only 2 kids returned so what happened to the rest? So many questions and the movie ends with no answers and the guy leaves the hospital.

Save the children

[nogodnomasters · 3/10 · 4 May 2023]

Our lead character An Voaen (D. Y. Sao) is in an interrogation room with Detective Russells (Layton Matthews) being questioned about dead bodies. An tells him a story which is most of the feature. He was part of a gang that didn't carry guns and got into trouble. He answered a call for a nightwatchman at an abandoned building where there are a bunch of squatters. Boon-Nam (Craig Ng) seems to be in charge. An's job is to protect the children at night from being kidnapped by hungry ghosts. An has his doubts. An has great fighting ability with wonderful fight scenes. Almost worth watching for that alone. However in order to save the children that go missing, An must give his soul to Hanuman, the Monkey King God of Death.

The building was dark and dank by design, but not easy to watch. Great fight scenes, but Sao isn't the best at reading lines so they make him into a stiff character by design. No funny Jackie Chan roles.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Simply waste my time

[kavithiru-43658 · 2/10 · 10 December 2023]

What is the picture? This is Hanuman's death god. It's an abandoned building. It looks like there are four or five families inside. Someone has killed the children in that family.

They say that they are going to be kidnapped. At the end, it looks like someone is kidnapping them from the lower floor of the same building and giving them human sacrifice. Then the hero comes and fights. That is good. At the end, I don't know what they are going to say in the film. In between, the police comes and interrogates the hero, he keeps telling the same story, the story is gone, then a small fight comes, the fight is all good, to be honest, the bit choreography is great, but the screen play is not good to watch.

AS OF NOW WATCH THIS MOVIE IN 2024

[adolflakshmanan · 13 March 2024]

I WATCH THIS MOVIE IN MY LANGUAGE TAMIL LANGUAGE AM FROM CHENNAI INDIA .. REALLY WHAT KIND OF MOVIE IS THIS WATS THE CONCEPT .. MIND DISTURBED.. WATS THE STORY TELLING ABOUT ... SO SAD ITS VERY ... BUT FIGHT SCENE AND THRILLER AND ACTION AND SUSPENSE AND SOME OF FEARS AND AND CLIMAX FIGHT IS BEST THING AWESOME FIGHT. WE LOVE TOO WATCH THIS IS MOVIE VERY SILENECE AND RELAXATION AND WE WILL GET UNDERSTAND FINALLY ONLY .. BUT THE GET UP OF THE VILLIANS WAS TOTALLY DIFFRENT THINKING I THINK I GET NOT UNDERSTAND WELL IN MY LANGUAGE USING PRIME VIDEO ... I WILL DON'T KNOW THIS MOVIE WILL GET SUCESS OR NOT.

What did I just witness?...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 1 February 2024]

The storyline in "Shadow Master" was a dumpster fire of a script. The narrative was sluggish, all over the place, and actually made very little sense. And in terms of "Shadow Master" providing adequate entertaining, as a movie is supposed to, then writer and director Pearry Reginald Teo simply dropped the ball.

The pacing of the narrative was sluggish and slow, and that made sitting through "Shadow Master" a bit of a struggle. The movie could definitely have benefitted from a more upscaled narrative with more action, or at least a better constructed script and storyline.

As for placing "Shadow Master" in a genre, then it was a bit all over the place. There were elements of horror in it, of course elements of action given the martial arts, elements of supernatural to it. So it was a bit of a strange mix.

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, and the acting performances were mediocre. Yeah, you're not in for an evening of Shakespearian theater here. Not that I was expecting an action movie titled "Shadow Master" to be a cinematic masterpiece.

The martial art sequences in the movie are good, and leading actor D. Y. Sao (playing An Voaen) definitely has fighting skills. I will say that his martial arts helped carry the movie quite a long way. There is just something that works about that Thai martial arts style where they use their elbows and knees for striking.

The wardrobe and costumes in the movie was just hands-down horrible. It looked abysmal, especially since there was no consistency or sense to it. The garments people wore were just all over the place, from cheap masks bought off of Wish, to mesh shirts bought at an adult store, to burlap garments that made no sense that anyone would be wearing.

Writer and director Pearry Reginald Teo set out to accomplish something with "Shadow Master", that much was certain. But the end result was a rather messy heap of an inconsistent storyline that just leaves you baffled and trying to figure out what you actually just sat through.

"Shadow Master" is not a movie that I would recommend you waste 90 minutes on watching, especially not if you enjoy a movie with a compelling and interesting storyline.

My rating of "Shadow Master" comes to land on a very generous three out of ten stars.

I Thought It Was Cool!

[gab-67599 · 6/10 · 10 November 2022]

Cheesy at times and low budget for sure but cool! It was like they took the characters' from Mortal Kombat and made them real! I also loved the fight scene they were real looking, not that fake look where you can see the punches not land, I hate those kind of movies. Enjoyable enough to pass time with so I do not feel disappointed. Lately, with work I wish I had picked a better movie to watch now that I am watching fewer and fewer movies. I didn't hate the story but it was hard to follow at times. Loved the lead, and his moves were on point! A solid B + movie so don't expect Marvel or DC like the description suggests.

Shadow of a film

[Stanlee107 · 4/10 · 11 July 2023]

This is a very confusing film. As I watched it, it confirmed this. It wants to borrow elements from superior films such as Big Trouble in little China, The Raid, Old Boy & also bad ones such as Mortal Kombat & a generic bargain bucket Asian horror film. Those that attempts to emulate the classics more than often create something that amounts to a tribute. Tributes rarely do justice to the original inspirations and Shadow master is a prime example of this. One might say this is shadow of a good film as it failed to master the fundamentals of good film making.

The only saving grace to this ham fisted attempt of a gritty action, supernatural film is the well choreographed fighting scenes.

Poor quality Horror Movie with good martial arts choreography.

[jdiam-857-125722 · 3/10 · 3 August 2023]

Spoiler alerts: I understood the Premise to be that his new powers from being brought back from the dead let him go clean out the crime/trash in a seriously depraved community.

Instead he gets killed by the 4 horseman and brought back to life by the devil/god of death (Hunaman).

He really just wants to rescue the kids but he has to make a deal with Hunaman to let the devil live in his body forever sheet he slaughtered his enemies, the 4 horseman.

They had a ghastly Santa Maria ghost statue trying to tell him he could save the kids without having to go all in with Hunaman.

Instead, he rescued the kids using Hunaman's power. Maria told him he could keep his soul from Hunaman off her didn't kill the last horseman. Now Hunaman lives in him and is planning the death and description of everything. What happens with the children and others that he befriended and saved. So now does he/Hunaman now go about destroying everything and everybody? Why make a deal with the devil so you can save a group of kids only to end up as the destroyer of worlds. To be one with the being who wants to kill all souls.

In the end he leaves the hospital where he rescued the kids and other people. He goes out into the world to kill and take souls.

They could have ended this movie several different ways that could have boosted it's rating by 3 or 4 points.

The acting was better than mediocre but not much. The plot and characters generated enough interest to keep me to the end of the movie. Barely.