The Netflix Sci-Fi Crime Thriller Will Bend Your Mind Into Knots
In the years since Netflix started producing original content for its platform, the streamer has branched out into several exciting genres. Netflix has served as the home to some of Marvel’s best streaming series, some high-quality cartoons, and even several science fiction crime thrillers.
One such film available to stream on Netflix, 2019’s In The Shadow Of The Moon, contains several expertly placed twists and turns that will leave your mind boggled.
In The Shadow Of The Moon
In The Shadow Of The Moon stars The Predator‘s Boyd Holbrook, Infinity Pool‘s Cleopatra Coleman, Dexter‘s Michael C. Hall, and Fargo‘s Bokeem Woodbine.
The film was written by the screenwriting duo behind 2015’s Limitless, Gregory Weidman and Geoffrey Tock and directed by Jim Mickle. One week before the Netflix original appeared on the streamer to view at home, the film premiered at Fantastic Fest to generally favorable reviews.
Film’s Inspiration
The film’s director, Jim Mickle, claims that he was inspired to bring In The Shadow Of The Moon to life for Netflix after watching 2017’s Okja starring Paul Dano and Tilda Swinton.
The filmmaker is even quoted as stating, “Any studio that makes Okja has a permanent place in my heart,” according to a write-up in Variety.
In The Shadow Of The Moon’s Story
In The Shadow Of The Moon centers on a thrilling investigation in Philadelphia during 1988, wherein a series of seemingly random individuals suffer immediate onset brain hemorrhages, killing them instantly.
Philadelphia police officer Thomas Lockhart and his partner, known only as Maddox, begin studiously investigating, concluding that the deaths may actually be a string of connected homicides.
After chasing down a few leads, the officers encounter a seemingly psychic woman who predicts her own death moments before it happens, leaving the pair to wonder if there is black magic involved in the case.
Becomes A Cold Case
The cold case sits for over nine years unsolved until there is a new development, which sees a copycat killer reenacting the random hemorrhage event.
However, when Lockhart and Maddox set out on the killer’s trail, they encounter the very same woman from before, having not aged a day. As In The Shadow Of The Moon continues, the woman unintentionally kills Maddox before escaping the clutches of the law once more.
In The Shadow Of The Moon Reception
The story continues to cut forward to 2006, then 2015, and even further still, as Lockhart tugs on the strings of this supernatural and unsolvable case.
The final thrilling climax of In The Shadow Of The Moon manages to bring the whole film’s mind-bending plot together in a single cohesive scene that demands a rewatch to comprehend fully.
The film received mixed reviews, leaning positive, resulting in a 57 percent critical score on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
In The Shadow Of The Moon On Netflix
There has been no talk of a sequel in the years since In The Shadow Of The Moon‘s release, and the film has not spawned massive culture-shaking status.
But fans of the film will surely recommend multiple rewatches in order to catch all the intersecting plot devices and foreshadowing expertly laced throughout the movie’s runtime.
For those who have not yet had a chance to catch it, In The Shadow Of The Moon is available to stream on Netflix today.
