The Shadow, as its title suggests, is a very mysterious film. We begin with a woman being stalked by a looming figure on dark streets, lit only by street lamps, which already creates an incredibly tense atmosphere right from the off. What Townley does well is to play on our expectations of genre, as unpredictability begins to kick in, as our leading female figure vanishes into thin air and from this reality completely.
We then pick up in a city that appears to be London, but from the past, textured in black and white, even still. As we continue with our leading figure, she is still being stalked through time by a presence that appears in a different form than before. Townley’s employs a cinematic horror approach to very real dangers that women face when out and about anywhere. With the various realities within this visualised the persistence of such actions to a surprisingly effective extent.
The short film has a vast array of visual tricks that you wouldn’t expect to be attached to such an overarching theme. Which is perhaps why it all slots into gear in the way it does. And yet Townley still isn’t finished with the film’s sense of a false identity, as its layers continue to strip back and reveal themselves in their true form.
Beyond its transforming of formal style and setting, the film utilises a shift in music to a strong extent. We begin with an electronic and pulsating piece of music in the first encounter. Townley manages to initially create a familiar environment before pulling the rug from underneath us. And the first score only adds to the darkness of its reality, along with a hazy effect on its tangible light sources, in its opening sequence. Whilst at first the film seems at a level with reality, the score adds an uncanny sci-fi feel to its atmosphere, just as it decides to dive headfirst into that world.
Aside from that, the film is at its strongest when using its shadows as a part of its identity. As characters move between dimly lit streets and its strands of light are just making our figures visible in its darkness, only aiding in a distant and void-like recreation of reality, where something small always seems off. Overall, The Shadow showcases a stylised approach to societal dangers, in a way that anchors itself to the fantasy of escape and to the darkness of reality.
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