Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

The Shed Blu-ray Movie Review

Stay out.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 8, 2020

Co-written and directed by Frank Sabatella, The Shed is another feature-length original from AMC's Shudder streaming service, following in the footsteps of Revenge, last year's impressive Gwen, and many others. It's a low-budget and simple, straightforward affair that never rises above Jason Rice's cliche-ridden source story, relying heavily on jump-scares and other cheap tricks to pull most of its dramatic weight and suspense. Nonetheless, horror hounds may want to give The Shed a shot anyway, if only for the solid visuals and surprisingly good sound design.

Our story follows teenage Stan (Jay Jay Warren), who lives with his abusive grandpa Ellis (Timothy Bottoms) after a stretch of time in juvenile detention centers. His pal Dommer (Cody Kostro) is bullied by the same guys that give Stan trouble; namely musclebound Marble (Chris Petrovski), who has eyes for Stan's crush Roxy (Sofia Happonen). Soon enough, none of that matters: turns out Stan and grandpa have a monster living in the shed out back. Its fear of sunlight and contagious bite are vampiric qualities, but they're just concerned with getting rid of the damn thing. It won't be easy...thanks to the script, because The Shed pulls out all the stops with dumb decisions, annoying jump-scares, and no more than four "it was all a dream" moments to keep new viewers guessing. Lazy writing makes The Shed more of a chore than a nail-biter, and its left-turn third act somehow drops even further into mediocrity.

Tonally, The Shed never really establishes a specific time or place, but it feels like late 80s or very early 90s: flannel is worn, cassettes are in full effect, and school discipline in response to fights is a hell of a lot looser. This doesn't affect the story a great deal (except answering "Why not just get a cell phone video?"), but it does grant The Shed a certain throwback charm that smooths over several rough patches. By no means does it give the film a free pass, but those steeped in low-budget horror from this era might appreciate the effort; just remember going in that it's heavily cliched and absolutely doesn't stand out in an already overstuffed genre. If you'd like to decide for yourself, RLJ's Blu-ray at least supports the solid cinematography and sound design but comes up way short on bonus features.

The Shed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot digitally, The Shed looks quite good on Blu-ray thanks to a serviceable 1080p transfer and solid cinematography. Framed unusually wide at 2.40:1, the compositions are clean and don't feature a lot of stylistic flourishes, which is fine given the genre and intended aesthetic. Colors appear accurate and natural, with a handful of nighttime scenes heavily tinted blue or cyan for effect; these sometimes exhibit slightly clumpy noise levels and flattened detail, but nothing to worry about. For the most part, fine detail and textures are well-rendered, while shadow details and harsh gradients look fairly smooth with only minimal banding. I was unable to spot any other obvious defects along the way, and any potential problem areas already mentioned may very well be baked in to the source material.

The Shed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Shed's DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix offers an ample amount of sonic presence that manages to wring out a few good scares and memorable moments. Dialogue is cleanly recorded and fills the front channels nicely, with the original score by Sam Ewing (The Walking Dead, Happy Death Day) and other atmospheric touches frequently spilling out into the rears. There's even some rather nice discrete LFE use during a few scenes, but it's used sparingly for the most part. Overall, this is a fine effort that makes The Shed feel a bit bigger than it actually is. Optional English (SDH), Spanish, and French subtitles are included during the film; they're formatted nicely and fit inside the 2.40:1 frame.

The Shed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Shed arrives on Blu-ray in a standard keepcase with no inserts or slipcover. No on-disc extras, either.

The Shed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Shed is a mostly flaccid and cliched horror film that relies too heavily on cheap jump-scares and other easy tricks. What little fear and suspense it brings to the table is overshadowed by weaker elements, even if the technical merits are relatively decent for a film of this type. RLJ's Blu-ray offers much-needed support in the A/V department but the lack of bonus features hits this one especially hard. It's good for a rental or stream at the very most.