After making Dead Men Walking, upcoming B-movie studio The Asylum decided to use the same location (a maximum security prison) and a few of the same cast members to quickly crank out this one-note monster flick. And while, for the most part, it's not worth your time and it suffers from a ton of poor banter between the cast (and some obvious dialogue such as a moment where they're watching security camera footage in the final third), there are a few okay things about Shapeshifter as it starts off with a decently gory scene at a hotel room (that gives us our only scene of nudity and has regular Asylum director Leigh Scott being ripped apart yet again - like he was in Dead Men Walking), there's a strikingly shot moment with a face being smashed into a glass door window, and the creature looks pretty decent - even with its rubbery swaying horns.

Jennifer Lee Wiggins stars as Ginny Lyndon, an ex-solider turned prison guard who finds herself in the middle of Hell on her first day at the job. Seems they've picked up a new inmate (Vaz Andreas) who has an elaborate tattoo on his chest and doesn't speak a lick of English. He just happens to be the same guy we saw transform into a demonic creature in the opening sequence and it's not long before he's chewed a pendulum out of his arm in order to turn back into the flesh-hungry beast and torment Ginny, the other guards, and the eccentric (and heavily clichéd) group of fellow prisoners.

Seems our shapeshifting creature is the doing of the Russian mob, who just happen to have the ability to use these demonic beasts to go after their enemies. Too bad for everyone that one such enemy (Martin Hristov) happens to be in the prison. And too bad for us viewers that we're now assaulted with way too many scenes of the creature "feeding" (hey, they have to get in their gore quota!), characters arguing with each other, and a final third filled will dull scenes of people splitting up and creeping around in the prison hoping not to get picked-off. This all leads to a finale involving a gas chamber, but by the time it rolls around you really won't care.

Shapeshifter is a second-rate movie all the way and it doesn't help that the reason for the creature being there is so dumb and that it's shot in such a way we find ourselves disoriented to just where the Hell people are in the prison. Plus director Gregory Lemkin (who also co-wrote) decides to shoot most of the attack sequences using the typical hyperactive camera and blurring most low-budget movies use to try and hide the fact their creature is just a "man in a suit" - which I find unnecessary as the film's main audience are people used to this sort of thing. As for the acting, Wiggins fares best here amongst the so-so cast while Ocean (as loud-mouthed Tyrese) just manages to get on your nerves.

In the end, Shapeshifter is just another passable effort from The Asylum, who have a erratic track record as some of their releases turn out extremely well (Frankenstein Reborn) while others turn out like this one.

Visit The Asylum for more info. (Chris Hartley, 12/16/05)

Directed By: Gregory Lemkin.
Written By: Allie Everett Howe, Gregory Lemkin.

Starring: Jennifer Lee Wiggins, Ocean, Chris Facey, Vaz Andreas.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The picture here is a bit soft at times but generally solid although there was a huge pixelation problem at the 38 minute mark of note (a problem that's plagued a few other Asylum releases in the past).

Extras: We get a trailer (plus trailers for 5 other Asylum releases), 4 deleted scenes, the jokey "Ode to Shapeshifter" reel (with country music and wacky sound effects on the soundtrack), a brief "behind the scenes" featurette, and a mostly skippable commentary track with director Lemkin and some of his cast members.