Halloween Horror Month 2021

[Aclea]

21



Made at a time when Jan-Michael Vincent was the next big thing and Harrison Ford and Dennis Quaid were just ‘Jan-Michael Vincent types,’ 1976’s Shadow of the Hawk was part of a mid-70s-early-80s vogue for horror movies built around or incorporating elements of Native American mysticism like Shadow of Chikara, The Manitou, Prophecy and Nightwing (the latter conveniently sharing a Bluray with this). Seen today it’s a bit of a plodder, shot on the cheap in tax shelter-friendly Canada with a distinct lack of atmosphere and a less than unnerving ghostly spirit that looks a bit like the creature from the Outer Limits episode Cold Hands, Warm Heart.

In a classic bit of not-even-trying casting Vincent’s the Native American who’s made it in the white man’s world only for his grandfather (Chief Dan George) to literally crash his party and try to get him back to the reservation to help him lift a curse from an evil spirit seeking vengeance for being killed by their tribe, which for some reason she still holds a grudge about. To which his immediate reaction is to try to send him home on the bus before getting emotionally blackmailed into driving him back with reporter Marilyn Hassett along for the ride and, naturally, finding out that he’s not as crazy as he thinks.

You suspect that somewhere along the line this was pitched as a journey of self-discovery from the modern white society that has assimilated Vincent’s character back into his Native American past that he’d rejected, but no-one could be bothered to get round to addressing that aspect. Instead for the most part it’s a long walk in the woods with the odd bit of nice scenery while along the way they’re threatened by a man in a spectacularly unconvincing bear suit, peeved off and supposedly-but-not-remotely sinister gas station attendants and an exploding owl. There’s also some terrible stunt doubling, whether it’s that guy in the bear suit who isn’t even trying to mimic an animal’s movements (honestly, it’s like he’s taken his dog for a walk in the park and is trying to attract its attention after its slipped its lead) or the stuntman fighting with it who has completely different colour hair to Vincent, none of which is as much fun as it sounds. Directed by TV veterans George McCowan (Frogs) and an uncredited Daryl Duke (The Silent Partner, Tai-Pan) with an air of competent “Will this do?” lack of interest, it’s a TV movie – sorry, film with absolutely no narrative drive, just walking through most of the plot points without much commitment or any atmosphere before ending in a half-hearted rehash of the protective magic circle scene from The Devil Rides Out (one moment in particular is just crying out for Bill Murray’s Ghostbusters line “Okay, so she’s a dog” – and talking of dogs, Robert McMullins score at times sounds like it would be more at home in an episode of Scooby Doo).

The three main characters are barely developed, the film’s villainess never becoming a presence let alone a personality while Hassett has one of those thankless parts that seems to have been created solely to prove the hero isn’t gay. The chief asset is, appropriately, Chief Dan George, an actor who never seemed to do much and often read his lines in a flat manner yet always seemed genuine and a welcome presence on the screen, but he doesn’t seem to be particularly bothered on this outing. Even when bitten by a snake and the film develops into an incredibly lethargic and blasé race against time to get him to the magic medicine he needs to cure him he seems completely indifferent to either his own fate or anything that’s going on around him.

It’s not entirely mundane: there’s one good scene on the obligatory rickety bridge that’s falling to pieces in a high wind, a neat effect when a car hits an invisible wall a la Alan Bridges’ 1966 British scifi flick Invasion and a few good visuals with a warrior dressed in a Thunderbird transformation mask jumping from rock to rock overhead like a hawk. But ultimately it’s just the kind of humdrum film that just passes by without leaving any trace on your senses. Of course, you could always try livening things up by turning it into a drinking game and taking a shot every time Chief Dan George says “You have done well, little hawk,” but I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a low tolerance for alcohol.