Rent Shadows and Fog (1991)

Extended sketch. - Shadows and Fog review by Steve

This slender horror film pastiche (loosely based on Woody Allen's own one act play called Death) disappeared without much trace, released between a pair major Allen classic dramas in Crimes and Misdemeanours and Husbands and Wives. Its main attraction is the photography and set design.

It sets a Kafka-esque nightmare inside the look of German Expressionism, which is a good fit. It looks great in inky, clinging black and white with the deep shadows swallowing up and releasing the characters. All this atmosphere is deepened by the music of Kurt Weill, performed in a variety of styles.

It feels like an extended sketch, with all the superficiality of character that implies. Woody is woken up in the night time (in an unspecified location in about the 1920s) and coerced to join a vigilante group seeking out a serial killer. And becomes suspected himself for vague, frivolous reasons.

There is an amazing cast of well known actors playing supporting roles and cameos, including genre great Donald Pleasence. And it's a blast to see Woody back in his old, neurotic stand up persona. It's a curiosity which is fun over its brief running time but it's not one that lingers long in the memory.