Realm of Shadows is a dark anthology movie featuring a series of low-budget short sketches knitted together by a good-versus-evil plot involving the influential Dagger of Destiny, the blade that pierced the side of Jesus Christ on Cavalry.
The first feature-length movie by Colorado-based director Jimmy Drain, Realm of Shadows is produced by ThunderKnight Entertainment and available to watch on streaming services like Tubi. The 2024 film boasts solid ratings of 7.3 out of 10 on IMDb and 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as I write this review.
The short films are a mixed bag of styles, giving the anthology an arthouse, experimental, and surrealistic quality. One reason for the varying styles is because the seven tales that comprise Realm of Shadows were shot as separate shorts between 2011 and 2020.
Interspersed between the short films, the anthology weaves an epic storyline involving a sisterhood of witches battling priests for control of a powerful holy relic called the Dagger of Destiny. According to legend, the dagger offers its owner a choice between serving the spirits of good or evil along with the power to conquer the world.
Setting Stage for Trilogy
In an exclusive interview with MalevolentDark.com, Drain explains how the shorts developed into a feature-length anthology, setting the stage for a planned trilogy of films about the Dagger of Destiny.
“I felt like they were worthy enough to be added into an anthology of short thriller tales that coincide with the legend of the Dagger of Destiny, which will be the focal MacGuffin in the upcoming feature film The Dead Rose now in production,” Drain says. “The overarching storyline of the priests having a spiritual struggle with the witches didn’t arrive in my brain until I chose which short films I wanted to highlight in the anthology. Once I lined the short stories up, I took pieces from real-life tales I had heard from some of my families’ close associates – one of whom was the archdiocese of Denver’s official exorcist at the time – and weaved in some of the principle characters from The Dead Rose into the overarching storyline to connect the dots, while at the same time introducing a basic prefiguring story setting up The Dead Rose trilogy.”
Drain admits the process was “kind of difficult” because a couple of the shorts were not horror tales.
“The film has had some backlash from horror purists on that front,” Drain says. “The challenge was making the lighter-spirited tales in the film weave into the other darker stories in a way where it felt like one complete piece. Then from there it was the attempt to make them gel with the witch coven’s overarching stories in a way that felt like a complete piece when watching and trying to relay that element to the audience, so they hopefully could better digest it.”
The first two sketches in Realm of Shadows range from whimsical (“Mallick’s Dreamlady”) to emotionally dramatic (“Hike”). However, the remaining five – “Abashed,” “The Initiation of Professor Kimmer,” “Cadaver,” “Meet Michael,” and “Fate Upside Down” – show how dark forces affect the lives of average people in the world. A voodoo doll, witches, and a bogeyman illustrate the darkness at work.
Combining more than a half-dozen seemingly unrelated short films with the Dagger of Destiny storyline gets complicated, and Realm of Shadows can’t quite avoid the common pitfall of many anthology movies, which is feeling disjointed at times from a lack of cohesiveness. However, Drain conveys the spiritual battle clearly enough, and I’m interested to see how his epic vision plays out in future films.
Working With Tony Todd
The cast features brief appearances by veteran actors Tony Todd (Candyman) and Richard Tyson (Hayride) with Erika Monet Butters portraying lead witch Nalum. Watching Todd play a priest in the final short, “Fate Upside Down,” is a highlight of the film.
“Working with Tony was a wonderful experience,” Drain says. “He was very kind and respectful to me. We had a lot of fun on the set and going to a few places in downtown Denver before the filming. It was surreal to act alongside him. It really didn’t hit me until a few weeks later that I had this opportunity. When I took him back to Denver International Airport, we had a great talk about life, the film industry, and other life sub-cultures. He even gave me his priest coat that he wore in the film as a memento. Hope to work with him again one day if the stars align, but it was an amazing experience that I will always cherish.”
Drain also acted and wrote for the movie. Some of his favorite filmmakers include Mel Gibson, Martin Scorsese, Brian DePalma, Quentin Tarantino, George A. Romero, and Clint Eastwood.
“I liked all the aspects of acting, directing, and writing this film, mainly because it gave me a wonderful opportunity to tell the story how I wanted to,” Drain says. “And even having control over the poster artwork was another element that was really gratifying. The aspect of having total control over a production is why I liked the whole process and will continue to produce in this fashion.”
Drain has several upcoming projects.
“The next one out the gate is the feature film version of one of the segments in Realm of Shadows, ‘The Initiation of Professor Kimmer.’ The feature film version is called Professor Kimmer’s Initiation and is now in post-production near picture lock,” Drain says. “Then after that we have our big production that follows in the same universe as Realm, and that is The Dead Rose also starring Vernon Wells, Richard Tyson, Harley Wallen with Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts and versatile English actor James Faulkner. The Dead Rose will kick off the trilogy that showcases the epic battle for control of the Dagger of Destiny introduced in Realm of Shadows. The dagger will be similar in scope to the ring in The Lord of the Rings saga.”