The Screen Addict | Shadow in the Cloud

A few years ago, the big-ticket production Shadow in the Cloud (2020) somehow flew completely under the radar (pun intended).

Chloë Grace Moretz headlines this High-Concept Horror about a WWII pilot on board a B-17 “Flying Fortress” who discovers there is an evil, destructive creature hiding on the plane.

It is unclear why exactly SitC didn’t find an audience, but the fact that screenwriter Max Landis was accused of sexual harassment during production, probably didn’t help a whole lot. A shame either way, because SitC is quite an effective and originally crafted Creature-Feature.

The concept of mysterious monsters – or “gremlins” – jeopardizing an aircraft has been floating around Hollywood for decades, and is based on actual reports from pilots and other aircrew.

It was Roald Dahl who first used the word gremlin in his 1943 children’s book The Gremlins, which was optioned by Disney but inexplicably never produced. Warner Brothers, Amblin Entertainment and Joe Dante eventually made Gremlins (1984), but aside from the title, this film has little to do with Dahl’s book. For his story, Dahl had drawn inspiration from his time served in the RAF, where tall tales were told about mythical creatures causing mysterious damage to planes.

Around that same time, the aerial urban legend inspired Warner Brothers to produce the cartoons Falling Hare (1943) and Russian Rhapsody (1944), in which Bugs Bunny and Adolf Hitler respectively, are also besieged by nefarious sky-critters.

SitC completes the circle in its opening sequence – a gremlin-themed animated short based on the “Private SNAFU” instructional films for military personnel during WWII.

Long before SitC, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone also dealt with gremlins on a plane, in a story written by SciFi icon Richard Matheson titled Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963). The episode starred William Shatner as the frantic passenger, and was directed by the legendary Richard Donner during his prolific TV-phase.

The strength of the concept is further illustrated by the fact that when Steven Spielberg had to pick four classic stories for Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), he made sure Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was one of ‘em. Once again, the installment was made with industry legends in front and behind the camera – George “Mad Max” Miller in the director’s chair and John Lithgow playing the passenger.

There is another, more unsettling connection between SitC and TZ:TM. John Landis, Max Landis’ father, directed one of the other episodes in Spielberg’s portmanteau film. Landis’ segment, titled Time Out, is infamous for a horrific on-set helicopter accident that left two children and lead actor Vic Morrow dead.

Landis eventually overcame the tragic events and continued to have a very successful career, but will the same be true for his son?

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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict