Horror Movie Review: The Shed (2019)

A clever take on a horror villain that lacks originality, The Shed is vampire flick directed by Frank Sabatella with a story by Jason Rice.

It also doesn’t hang about, as we’re introduced to a man running for his life through a forest as the sun rises. He is being hunted by something we get glimpses of in the background, a pale and dark figure. The man stops for a breather, thinking he has escaped his purser but unluckily for him, this is a vampire.

The monster sinks its teeth into his neck but before it can finish what it started, the sun comes through the trees turning the vampire into dust.

The man, relieved to be alive discovers his skin now burns if it hits sunlight. So uses the trees as cover to make his way to a nearby house. It’s too far for him to get too without being burned badly, however a nearby shed isn’t.

Pulling his coat over his face, he makes as run for the shed managing to get in before meeting the same fate as the vampire who bit him. There, he will stay until night while going through a painful transformation.

The shed? It belongs to Stan (Jay Jay Warren) and his grandfather who lives in the nearby house.

The teenager is moody and withdrawn but for good reason. His parents died in horrible circumstances and his grandfather is a drunk, violent man. If that wasn’t bad enough him and his best friend Dommer (Cody Kostro) also regularly clash with a group of school bullies.

Putting it simply, life is tough for the lad and Warren plays it masterfully. A real human portrayal of a likeable lad. Aided by the comic relief of Kostro’s Dommer and the girl Stan is secretly in love with, Roxy (Sofia Happonen).

The characters are great and the actors portraying them do a top-notch job.

Of course, events conspire to ensure Stan makes the discovery of a vampire living in his shed. After much bloodshed, he makes sure to lock it in and plans to destroy it. However, when Dommer gets wind of it, he comes up with a different plan. One that can see them use the vampire to solve some of their problems.

Sharing more in common with the likes of 30 Days of Night vampires than say, Interview with the Vampire. The Shed is a brutal and gory movie. Blood and gore will be spilled, and the movie’s effects make it so much more visceral.

While the movie does slow down a bit too much in the latter half, it makes up for that with a frantic finale. One that is gleefully violent and over the top. The shift in tone might be a bit jarring to some but with this much blood and guts being spilled, most will enjoy it for it is. A mighty fine modern vampire movie.