Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 27, 2018

It’s maybe just a little surprising to hear some of the creative staff involved with Bram Stoker’s Shadow Builder talk about how easy it was to get this project approved simply because it had a “Bram Stoker’s” in front of it, a la the even then not all that recent Bram Stoker's Dracula. The Francis Ford Coppola version of the venerable vampire tale had met with somewhat disparate critical reaction upon its release in 1992, but it had gone on to fairly sizable box office (over $200 million by some estimates), and perhaps that data point rather than any perceived shortcomings as outlined by curmudgeonly reviewer types may have tipped the scale for the 1998 film based on what is arguably one of Stoker’s less celebrated properties. Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder traffics in a lot of the same material that has informed any number of "occult" themed films over the years, with a demon unleashed on an at least partially unsuspecting public, all with a surplus of religious imagery supposedly giving the film some kind of imprimatur of "authenticity". (The film's title is spelled variously as either two words or one portmanteau, and also quite often without Stoker's name attached, at least as far as I've been able to discern in doing some background research on the film in preparation for this review. It's perhaps salient to note that Stoker's own source short story is entitled The Shadow Builder.) With a "villain" that is largely consigned to being a puff of black smoke, Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder arguably feels more like a second rate Stephen King property, and that aspect is perhaps only reinforced by a kind of rural small town setting where the "everyday" folks are ignorant enough of the epochal dangers surrounding them to become unwitting victims.

Bram Stoker’s Shadow Builder starts off with a rather nicely ambiguous opening vignette where the viewer is not quite sure who is the bad guy and who is the hero, something that’s only revealed after a bit of carnage (and hints of a supernatural being) are doled out. An avenger of sorts is ultimately shown to be a priest named Vassey (Michael Rooker), but he’s not your common, everyday Padre, and in fact is something of a butt kicking marksman, as evidenced by an early showdown. Vassey is obviously on the hunt for — well, something, and something that might be tied to a couple of swirling special effects snippets that seem to suggest there’s a menacing entity at work toward some as yet unrealized goal.

There’s some actually kind of cool metaphysical musings at play in Bram Stoker’s Shadow Builder, including a rather intriguing subtext about the “unwanted” after effects of a Divinity proclaiming “let there be light”, but the film is perhaps hobbled by trying to connect Vassey’s quest to track down a shadow dwelling demon and what later becomes almost a police procedural involving local sheriff Sam Logan (Shawn Thompson). Catholic viewers, who may already have their emotional hands full with the recent recurrence of bad news that’s made national headlines (and which won’t be recounted here), may find the film a little “iffy” in terms of not just its iconography but also its emphasis on some “rogue” elements that are out to — well, that part isn’t made entirely clear, other than that the demon is more or less in league with them (or perhaps vice versa, depending on where you assume the “power” resides).

The “light” and “shadow” elements play into the plot proceedings, with an imminent eclipse providing the opportunity for a sacrifice of a little boy named Chris Hatcher (Kevin Zeger), who, if he lives, may be a Force for Good the likes of which the world hasn’t seen for a couple of thousand years or so. The Stephen King-ian aspect is evident once the shadow dwelling demon starts sucking up human souls, something that makes him (it?) less and less bothered by light and more and more powerful and not so coincidentally also more “substantial” (some might say transsubstantial, so to speak). But here the film may have made a slight misstep, since the very ephemeral nature of the creature is part of what makes several earlier key sequences in the film undeniably spooky.

Stoker’s source short story was evidently published almost two decades before Dracula, and while I have frankly never read it, I had to wonder if it is perhaps not as fully fleshed out (no pun intended, given the “shadowy” aspect of the creature in this film) as some of his later works. That may have led to a bit of “overkill” on the part of scenarist Michael Stokes, who stuffs this film full of a number of arguably needless supporting characters, including more police officers, friends of Chris, Chris’ guardian aunt (Leslie Hope) and the enclave’s “village idiot”, Evert Covey (Tony Todd), who of course despite his obvious eccentricities turns out to be one of the “smarter” people in town.

Bram Stoker’s Shadow Builder has a number of very effective elements, but it still tends to diffuse its own energy with too many sidebars. Performances are generally committed, especially Hooker and Todd, both of whom are kind of goofily gonzo in their own ways, but the finale may actually provoke a bit of unintended laughter rather than any major adrenaline rushes.

Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Rewind Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. MVD hasn't provided a ton of technical information on the release, stating only that this is a "High Definition. . .presentation of the main feature". One of the kind of peculiar things I noticed is what almost looks like stair stepping a couple of times, starting with some of the production mastheads and opening credits, but also occasionally afflicting supposedly straight lines in the actual presentation. (There's some noticeable wobble in some of the credits as well.) The element utilized for the transfer looks a bit faded to my eyes, with the palette regularly skewed toward brown. The dowdiness of the colors is probably only exacerbated by the fact that a lot of the film takes place in near darkness, as befits its title. In brighter lighting, things warm up considerably, and there is decent to very good fine detail on display in these moments. The grain field is fairly heavy quite a bit of the time (again, probably exacerbated by how dark so much of the film is), and occasionally can look a little coarse and unnatural (see screenshot 19 for one example). There is some occasional age related wear and tear on display, some of which (like white flecks) is probably more noticeable due to the overall darkness of the film, but there's nothing that I personally found overly distracting. My hunch is fans of the film will probably be pleased and maybe even excited by this release, since it does offer a generally organic appearance that has obvously not been digitally tweaked to within an inch of its life, but I still recommend a perusal of the screenshots accompanying this review.

Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 track that capably supports the film's dialogue, effects and moody score by Eckart Seeber. The effects accompanying the early "appearances" of the Shadow Builder are vivid if a little hokey sounding, and a couple of more explosive moments may arguably sound just a little anemic, but on the whole this track offers a nicely full midrange and there are no issues with age related problems like distortion or dropouts.

Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder (1080i; 33:22) is a well done piece that contains quite a bit of background information and some good interviews.


• Shadow Builder - Visual Effects (1080i; 13:26) offers some more of what look like the same interview sessions included in the above piece, detailing information on the film's VFX.


• Shadow Builder - Kevin Zegers (1080i; 5:06) profiles the young star of the film.


• Audio Commentary from Director Jamie Dixon


• Trailers includes Shadow Builder (480i; 1:32) along with other MVD releases.

Additionally, as with some other MVD Rewind releases, there's a folded mini-poster housed in the keepcase.

Bram Stoker's Shadowbuilder Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps ironically, Bram Stoker's Shadow Builder may ultimately be less controversial than Coppola's Dracula simply because the Stoker source is less well known. The film has some really interesting elements, but it tends to waste some of them in needless detours and a structure that may not really work up much momentum. Fans of the film are encouraged to carefully parse the screenshots accompanying this review to see what they think of the video presentation. Audio is fine, and the supplementary package is quite enjoyable, for those considering a purchase.