In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
September 28, 2019 2:47 PM - Subscribe

In 1988, a detective becomes obsessed with a series of murders that seem to defy explanation. Philadelphia police officer Thomas Lockhart, hungry to become a detective, begins tracking a serial killer who mysteriously resurfaces every nine years. But when the killer's crimes begin to defy all scientific explanation, Locke's obsession with finding the truth threatens to destroy his career, his family, and possibly his sanity.
posted by DirtyOldTown (10 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Released on Netflix on September 27th, 2019.
posted by Etrigan at 9:46 PM on September 28, 2019


I really like loopy time travel movies and there's stuff to enjoy here but wow I am not a fan of "the end justifies the means" as the core message of a film. Apparently the way to snuff out a dangerous idea is to murder anyone who might currently or in future be sympathetic to that idea. Cool cool cool.

I'd like Back to the Future 2 a lot less of Marty went back in time to murder Biff and his entire family and anyone who might have possibly been called a butthead by him.
posted by slimepuppy at 6:45 AM on September 29, 2019 [1 favorite]


on the plus side, it does put the hero cop in the back of a van filled with dead pigs, and that's not nothing

on the minus side, hurrah for extrajudicial murders, as many as it takes, I guess

what a pile of sick garbage huh
posted by queenofbithynia at 10:30 PM on September 29, 2019 [4 favorites]


Yeah I'm with queen of bithynia on this one. But I miss Michael C Hall so there was that.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:18 AM on September 30, 2019


I liked it. This is the kind of crackerjack, ruthlessly well-constructed genre b film I live for.

I was able to forgive the killings because a) I think the film meant for that to be ugly and b) I do not find white supremacists who end the world to be particularly empathy-inducing. I mean, I have my Real World Morality that I will accept and I have my Stopping Evil in a B Movie Morality and I am comfortable with those not having a perfect overlap.

I really, really liked the screenplay, not even for its larger time travel shenanigans but for its scene by scene rhythm, its ability to work virtually every scene not just for plot mechanics but for characterization, and just plain entertainment value.

Films that do an A+ job at being a B movie are pretty much my jam and this one nailed it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:14 AM on September 30, 2019 [3 favorites]


I was able to forgive the killings because a) I think the film meant for that to be ugly and b) I do not find white supremacists who end the world to be particularly empathy-inducing. I mean, I have my Real World Morality that I will accept and I have my Stopping Evil in a B Movie Morality and I am comfortable with those not having a perfect overlap.

Just watched this now after Netflix kept suggesting it at me, and, yeah, I'm in agreement with you. The premise is bonkers bad if I examine it too closely, but damn if it didn't push all my time-travel-tragedy buttons and get me all weepy at the ending.
posted by oh yeah! at 2:11 PM on October 4, 2019


Terminator meets Predestination meets True Detective, I guess? This was enjoyable trash that I probably never need to see again.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 11:19 AM on October 6, 2019


I only really watched this because I like Michael C Hall. Schlock but entertaining enough.
posted by figurant at 5:18 PM on October 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Oh wow, this was the dumbest, trashiest film I have seen in some time, and one that I actually sat and watched right through. So entertaining enough and starting from a B I’d give that an A- . But.
- Cute procedural plus time travel premise, + 1! But
- Woman dies to give main dude character development, twice. -2
- Person of colour dies to give the main white dude character development. -1
- taking another point off because of minute spent yelling at tv about the civil war, and I’m not even American.
- has a female “antagonist” but still fails the bechdel test. -1

So C+

Probably still a win considering the quality of Netflix sci-fi
posted by arha at 3:18 AM on October 12, 2019


Wow, this movie probably reads WAY different after Covid and the summer protests and January 6, 2021. Like, I was interested in the case but not rooting for the cop exactly, and then as soon as we found out it was white power terrorists being killed I was all in on that plan. Fuck them.

And it held up better than any time travel story Steven Moffatt ever wrote.
posted by rikschell at 6:42 PM on February 13, 2021


« Older Book: Spinning...   |  Six Feet Under: In Case of Rap... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments

poster