A lighter, darker side of George Romero in 'Moonshadows'

George Romero grew up on E.C. Comics, and the influences of those horror comics is evident throughout his work, most notably Creepshow, which is presented as an anthology of tales within a comic book. A certain gleeful ghoulishness underlies much of Romero's filmography, suggesting if nothing else, he always remained a kid at heart who giggled at the grossout.

In the 90s and early 2000s, Romero attempted but failed to make horror movies for children, hoping to broaden his appeal beyond the ultra-gory. Despite a few attempts - most notably Goosebumps and (I would argue) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - he was unable to make that leap.

Goosebumps understandably has received the most coverage as far as aborted Romero projects for children goes, and indeed, with its critiques of capitalism and living dead threat, it's easy to see why. However, I want to talk about Moonshadows, a fantasy horror script he wrote multiple drafts for, and unlike Goosebumps, it's an original story, not an adaptation of someone else's book.

The spirits don't like lies

The main character of Moonshadows is Georgie Underhill, a bespectacled 14-year-old who, as the story begins still plays with G.I. Joes. It's nighttime, and Georgie uses the light of the moon to cast the shadows of his action figures on the wall, creating his own imaginary, homemade movie of sorts.

Georgie's younger brother Billy accidentally knocks some of the toys out of the window, and Georgie makes Billy go outside to get them. Naturally, Georgie uses this as an opportunity to scare Billy, especially since their widowed father Gary is away working. 

Scaring Billy, we soon learn is a favorite habit of Georgie's. This time, he tells Billy the shadows cast by the moon are alive, and if they touch him, they will eat him alive. Billy freaks out, and Georgie laughs.

This draws the ire of the boys' nanny, referred to as Old Lady Gandalf. Described as being from the "Old Country," Old Lady Gandalf speaks in a thick accent and is quite superstitious. She lambasts Georgie, sick of his lies and scares. She tells him this lie about the moon shadows is especially bad because the shadows contain spirits, and the spirits won't appreciate lies about them. She warns him that someday, his lies might become true.

Unfortunately, Old Lady Gandalf unknowingly curses Georgie, making every lie he tells become true. Whether that's telling his friends he's been recruited to play varsity football or the idea that shadows are alive and eat people, they all come true. 

Soon enough, the entire town is under attack, and it's up to Georgie, Billy, and their motley crew of friends to stop the shadow monsters and save the day.

G.I. Joes and teddy bears

Moonshadows starts fast and rarely lets up. The G.I. Joe shadows are the first to attack, but they don't cause much damage. However, the shadows take on the forms of what people who see them think they look like. For example, if someone sees a shadow and thinks it looks like a giant snake, the shadow moves and acts like a giant snake.

This conceit leads to a variety of shadow monster forms and attacks including skeletons, giant dental drills, Chernabog (the demon from Fantasia), and most amusingly, a giant teddy bear. Many of these incarnations are massive in size and potent in destructive capabilities. At times, the story feels like a Godzilla movie: a ragtag group of heroes is thrown together to deal with a giant monster (or monsters) on the rampage.

Of course, being shadow monsters, their vulnerability is light, leading to amusing scenes where our kid heroes concoct makeshift light sources to blast the shadows.

Romero also throws in some comedy. After the curse is placed, Georgie boasts that varsity football coach has recruited him to play offense and defense by buying him a red corvette. Cue the coach turning up with a red corvette to give Georgie the keys. Georgie is on cloud nine...until he gets utterly pulverized in practice.

The characters are drawn fairly simple. They include twin football bullies Larry and Louie, tomboy Ginny the Duke, Nancy the cheerleader (who starts acting like a jealous girlfriend when Georgie identifies her as his girlfriend), attractive teacher Lori (who doesn't remember Georgie taking a test he passed), the crotchety sheriff, a hunchbacked handyman named Willard, and more. 

Being a movie for children, Moonshadows doesn't have much in the way of twists or convoluted plotting. It unfolds in a straightforward manner as the kids race to stop the monsters and the clueless adults struggle to keep up. It's enough that an old European woman cursed Georgie, and that's why there are shadow monsters, no further explanation. Naturally, there are lessons to be learned: Georgie realizes lying is bad, and workaholic Gary reconnects with his sons (and begins a romance with the single Lori).

The shadow monsters eat people and dogs, seemingly killing them, but in the end, after Georgie learns his lesson and the threat is destroyed, everyone turns up OK, and except for Georgie and a few friends, no one else has any memory of any shadow monsters or the town almost being destroyed.

Autobiographical?

The draft I read was Romero's third version of the script. It needs some work to bring it all together and smooth out some clunky parts. The adults, in particular, felt mostly stereotypical, and I'm still not entirely sure how the shadow creatures operate.

Moonshadows lacks the searing social commentary we expect from Romero (or I didn't pick up on it). However, he has perhaps replaced it with something close to his heart.

It's a curious decision for him to have named the main character with a variation of his own first name and put him in thick glasses (similar to the ones Romero himself wore), but I think Romero felt a kinship with Georgie.

Georgie might be a nerdy kid who tells lies. He is distant from his dad and gets picked on by bullies at school, but he's also imaginative, someone who enjoys using his toys and inventiveness to conjure up stories of adventure and giving people a scare that's all in good fun. One wonders if Romero sees a bit of himself in Georgie, if casting shadows on the wall is a stand-in or metaphor for making horror movies.

Ultimately, Moonshadows has the feel of a Goosebumps story as envisioned by Joe Dante. It's not too dark, not too scary, as these kids go on a zany adventure with monsters. I don't know how much it would have cost in 1997 dollars to pull off what would clearly be ambitious and complex special effects, but I'm reasonably sure no studio would give that amount, whatever it would have been, to Romero.

Today, with the advances in special effects, I think something like Moonshadows could be done at a modestly budgeted level. It would work wonderfully as an animated movie, perhaps directed by someone like Tim Burton or Guillermo del Toro.

I doubt we'll ever see this filmed in any capacity, but stranger things have happened in the movie industry.