‘Shadow In The Cloud’ review; Dir. Roseanne Liang (2020) [TIFF 2020]

Chloë Grace Moretz leads the cast of this entertaining, though often vicious WWII horror movie set in the skies over New Zealand – an 83-minute crowd pleaser playing tribute to the women who fought in the war, and monster B-movies at the same time.

Moretz is WAAF officer Maude Garrett who has been assigned to take a flight aboard The Fool’s Errand, a B-17 bomber taking off from the Auckland Allied Air Base. She’s got what appears to be battered face and a broken arm, along with a leather holdall under the other. The package is highly classified and of utmost importance on the flight, but on a plane made up of repulsive, misogynistic male officers, Garrett is confined to the cramped lower gun turret alone and without the precious object that she has brought on board. The package must stay above, but Garrett is able to stay in touch with her new colleagues over the on-board comms radio – and constantly tells her male counterparts that the leather bag must be left alone and kept away from harm at all times.

Things start to go wrong when a gremlin – a kind of rat with wings – presents itself in the first reel, and attempts to make its way on board. There are other problems, too, Japanese zero fighter jets persistently coming at The Fool’s Errand as they continue on their mission.

Shadow In The Cloud is clearly a mish-mash of genres – part monster movie, part chamber-piece, and part WWII dog-fighting epic, all delivered with a welcomed punch of feminist flare. Moretz is outstanding in the lead, particularly in the opening half where all of the attention is focussed firmly on her, the camera never moving away from her face – we can only hear the male characters over the intercom and see them very briefly in sharp cutaways. Its here where we first get a glimpse of Moretz’s kick-ass Garrett as he first comes face to face with the aforementioned gremlin as he (or she) presents themselves in the cramped hatch, a scene that’ll warm audiences for the following hour of onslaught that is to follow.

From 30 minutes in, the pace of this film switches to a higher gear and never lets up, scene after scene delighting either due to its ass-kicking protagonist winning another small war over the idiotic men on board, or against the dastardly creature who won’t let up.

Some of the effects look cheap, but that’s part of its charm. A hairy exterior move from one side of the underbelly of the plane to the other is particularly worthy of mention. The monster effects, which look like part-CGI and part stop motion, are excellent and an almost hark-back to the glory days of the creature feature.

There’s also a killer retro score from Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper, and a great track that plays over the end credits, too.

While we reviewed the film remotely – as with all of TIFF press previews this year – this is definitely a film to see with an audience. From its pre-titles animated intro to the many glorious set-pieces, will have you punching the air with excitement. Roseanne Liang’s latest delights and would have gone down an absolute storm at a physical Midnight Madness screening at TIFF as originally intended. An absolute blast from start from start to finish.