nobonesl This film chills with ideas and suggestions more than with visuals and gore or straight action.The director, IMO, does a great job with a modest budget and pulls out a bag full of skillful director's tricks (lighting, camera angles, shadows, color variations, etc) to achieve his ends. When there is an effect, it happens in shadowy spots of the screen image, reinforcing a spooky ambiance in the film.One of the best low-budget/minimal-FX films I've seen in years.It worked for me.My hat is off to the director/writers and actors for a job well done.

mike-gordonm7 What was enjoyable about this movie for me was that the (HD?) camera work was clean and nicely composed, the direction and acting was entirely competent and the editing was cool too, in what I imagine was a film with a relatively modest budget. A pleasant change from average Hollywood. It was made by people with a real feeling for film. Mariah Bonner as the librarian was a bonus who definitely did not hurt the eyes. Shame she was an early victim.The story wasn't great, though it exploited common enough fears of things that are half-seen (or were they there at all?), and move in the night (as opposed to go bump in the night). And the placebo effect is undoubtedly real, though whether it's killed anyone is questionable, I'd say, certainly in Western cultures.I did once see a shadow person in bright daylight (or did I?). I was about three at the time, and lying in bed. The shadow of a figure ran across the wall, flowed into a shallow recess, slid behind a wardrobe, came out the other side, and vanished. It was more scary than Shadow People, and as you can tell, I haven't forgotten it. However, the good news (for anyone who's worried) is that it hasn't reappeared since, and 70+ years later I'm still here.

Peter Midknight This gets a eight out of ten for a job well done. It wasn't perfect and it didn't blow my socks off, but it was a solidly good movie.This entire movie was on the power of suggestion, which is what the Placebo Effect is, you are told that a sugar pill is an aspirin so you believe it'll stop your headache and it does. Mind over matter - so to speak.The effects weren't cheap, but they weren't top of the line at all. The effects were just above passable, so it does not take away from the movie. The sound work was great and they did a good job with suspense.The shadow people, is a very special subject, as the stories have been around since the beginning of time, so much so, that it almost hardwired into our DNA. Our instincts since birth and as kids, tells us that fear of the dark is not from disorientation or worry that we cant see, so we cant function; we are afraid because somewhere deep in our subconscious we know that there is something in the shadows - there ARE things that go bump in the night and many of them we can't see, especially in the dark. This movie explores some of that, using both film and actual found footage. I would love to see more movies on the subject and more movies about the Mothman. These movies tease us and introduce us but they never really take us on a good journey. We never really fully explore, and that kind of gripe is what took a star or two from the movie, that and how the CDC lady figured it all out, without any actual proof that the power of suggestion is the cause and the cure.I definitely find movies like this better than movies like Paranormal Activity. Watch it alone in the dark or with friends, but not during the day or when the lights are on ... and sleep tight. Don't stare into shadows and don't think about the shadow people.

mickran What is this movie really about? I don't think it knows. Is it a horror movie? Is it a suspense thriller, a mockumentary or a based on a true story drama? It's no genre busting masterpiece just a movie that doesn't know what its own genre is.Is this a movie about the man or about the shadow people? Is it a warning to mankind or an admission of fraudulent behaviour and a portrayal of questionable character? No. it's a move that doesn't even understand it's own message.Is it a movie that leaves us with questions about what really happened or about the nature of the universe and how we really understand? No, it's a movie that leaves us with the question why? Why did anyone bother to make a film about something they clearly have no understanding of or belief in? I suspect half way through the process the director lost faith in his message so meandered between believer and skeptic.The 'real' footage of interviews with the original people was weak and completely pointless. None of them had anything to say either way and all seemed to be quite confused as to why there were being interviewed at all.It's a very weak movie that doesn't deserve your time.