The Shed review: A bullied teen discovers a monster hiding in his shed and must decide how to deal with it in this angsty genre-led coming-of-age thriller.
Following the death of both his parents, Stan (Jay Jay Warren) lives with his bitter grandfather. School isn’t much better; Stan and his friend Dommer (Cody Kostro) are the targets of the school bullies, and the object of his affections Roxy (Sofia Happonen) has left him for the said gang. Things take an unexpected turn when he finds a violent creature lurking in his shed. Hoping to keep the monster under wraps, it isn’t long until Dommer stumbles across the creature, and he has deadly intentions for how they can use it to their advantage.
The premise of The Shed plays out very much like Deadgirl minus the sexual assault, and with vampires rather than zombies. Those familiar with Deadgirl will recognise a similar tone and style within The Shed, and the two films could almost both inhabit a shared universe. There’s a nostalgic nineties aesthetic to of The Shed, and whilst we are never explicitly told when the film is set, Stan’s cassette player and the fashion clearly point to this era. It’s a great decision from director Frank Sabatella as it means he can skirt all the modern-day technology, and remind us of the simpler times. In a way, it also helps the audience accept a monstrous depiction of the vampire as the nineties were one of the last decades in which an evil vampire was the cinematic norm. These days, vampires seem to always be portrayed as moody and conflicted super sexy beings. This is most certainly not the case here.
The Shed falters slightly towards the end. After having spent a long time, almost half of the run time, building-up the shed situation, events begin to spiral at a rapid rate and some of the resulting story feels a little rushed and muddled. It also veers off track tonally; Stan and Roxy’s preparation for nightfall is oddly reminiscent of The Lost Boys. An argument about who boarded up the attic, for example, feels a little silly and out of place. Up until now, there’s been the odd smattering of wry humour, but this instance is too ‘in your face’, and detracts from the tension.
The slight wobble towards the end aside, The Shed has plenty to offer genre fans. There are plenty of parallels to Deadgirl in terms of style and tone, but The Shed is much more palatable. It also scores big points for making vampires monsters again.
Signature Entertainment presents The Shed on Digital HD from May 11th.
