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Customer Reviews of Shadow Hours

Nothing's shocking
Shadow Hours tells that story of Michael (Balthazar Getty), a recovering alcoholic who has a pregnant girlfriend at home (Rebecca Gayheart and an uncredited pillow under her shirt) and a dreary night job working in a gas station in L.A. In the opening scenes, the film actually does do quite a good job of capturing both the monotony and the underlying menace of working nights though eventually the continual montages of crazy homeless guys and rising gas costs grows almost as monotonous as Michael's life -- it's as if the director stumbled across something that worked once and then couldn't stop himself from repeating it over and over again.

Anyway, the film picks up once Peter Weller drives his porche into Michael's life. Weller plays a guy named Stuart who claims to be a writer and who, in one of those scenes that seems to take place exclusively in movies like this, quickly befriends Michael and takes Michael on a journey into the seedy underside of L.A. -- a world of perversion and temptation and nothing you haven't seen before in films ranging from Blue Velvet to Fight Club to the Matrix Trilogy to whatever happens to playing on Cinemax right now. Indeed, the main weakness of Shadow Hours is that in today's world, nothing's shocking and simply using a whole lot of neat little film school tricks isn't going to make the mundane any more interesting.

Natrually, Getty's character must chose between a life of stable, boring stability with Gayheart or the life of self-destruction offered by Weller. However, since the film makes both choices look positively dull, who really cares? Since the film never really bothers to give any build-up to Getty's plunge into decadence, it's pretty much impossible to judge just exactly what it is he's rebelling against beyond working in a gas station and living with a Noxzema spokesmodel with a pillow under her blouse. It doesn't help that Getty sleepwalks through his role.

However, I would recommend seeing this film for one reason and one reason only and that is the brilliantly bemused performance that Peter Weller gives as the film's perverse version of Virgil. Smirking like an aneroxic Jack Nicholson and never giving into the temptation to take any of his overbaked dialogue too seriously, Weller manages to breathe new life into a familiar character and he even manages to bring a few moments of genuine menace into an otherwise dreadfully silly film. Eventually, the film lets Weller and his character down but Weller never lets the audience down. It's rare that one actor alone can redeem an entire film but that is what Weller manages to do in Shadow Hours.

Shadow Hours is a film that was obviously designed to be a "cult classic" but ultimately it only serves to highlight the difference between a well-made, unconventional film that might take a while to find its audience and a flashy, derivative con job that tries to hide its lack of depth behind a whole lot of flashy camera moves and sub-Intro. to Philosophy-style monologues. However, if the film doesn't deserve a cult, Peter Weller's performance definitely does. Nothing's shocking except that such a silly film could contain such a rare piece of genius.

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A passable, mostly enjoyable drama...
Take note, I really give this movie ***1/2 out of *****. "Shadow Hours" is certainly one of the more notable films to come out of the vaults at City Heat Productions, the best DTV company in my opinion. It is about a young gas station clerk Michael (Balthazar Getty) who meets Stuart Chappell (Peter Weller) one dreary night in LA. Chappell is a writer, and takes to Michael because he reminds Chappell of his younger brother who supposedly died in a plane crash. He exposes Michael to an underworld with sights that stick in the mind for a while. The script is very engaging and moves quick, for the most part. The acting is mediocre except Peter Weller, who's fantastic as the scheming Chappell. It's interesting to me that the man is stuck making these DTVs when it's obvious he has Oscar-worthy talent. Maybe he'll get another big break. "Shadow Hours" is definitely good, if not painfully predictable. Director Isaac H. Eaton does a very commendable job weaving the story together with frightful images of night-life underground in LA. The Los Angeles of this movie is a far cry from the Hollywood glamour seen in movies like "L.A. Confidential" and "Get Shorty." This is a dark, bleak California. If you're looking for a great performance from Weller and a neat artistic feel, then I suppose this movie's not a bad decision. It's quickly becoming a cult hit.

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An Obscure Gem
This film was entered into Sundance I believe and from there it went to the shelves of Blockbuster Video. Literally, that was the only place you could find it for nearly a year. It seems they declared it an exclusive rental or something. I was lucky enough to find a ten dollar copy in their previosly viewed section and immediately bought it. Amazon now seems to have it and I suggest if you have any interest in the film to buy it here and now because this movie has a weird tendency to be hard to find. The film itself was panned by critics but so were several of the great cult classics and I would love to see Shadow Hours become one. Despite the obvious low budget, the film has an excellent cast. Balthazar Getty, who plays the lead, was in David Lynch's film Lost Highway. People continually call him the poor man's Charlie Sheen but he really does have talent. And yes, Peter Weller was the guy who played Robocop. But forget that. In Shadow Hours, he is suave and convincing as the mysterious writer who is a bit more underground than, say, Bukowski. Rebecca Gayheart is here, too, in what might be the best performance in the film and she plays a woman in this movie, not some whiny high school ditz like in Jawbreaker. And Brad Douriff is, well, Brad Douriff. Peter Greene plays a police detective and is probably the best "tough guy" actor since James Caan or James Cagney. He played Ben Stiller's drug buddy in Permanent Midnight. As far as plot is concerned: Michael (Getty) meets Stuart Chapelle (Weller) while on the night shift at a 24 hour Los Angeles filling station. Stuart befriends Michael and, with Stuart as his guide, Michael is led straight into a private apocalypse with the strange LA underground as a backdrop. Gayheart is Michael's pregnant wife who is understandably concerned. But she never comes off as whiny like all other movie wives. And Greene gets involved because Chapelle may or may not be a murderer.
In all, Shadow Hours is close to the vein of David Lynch but without the intricate plot and excessive symbolism. And you have to love how the film uses the classic idea of the Devil as a debonaire.