When your film opens with an early 1900s-style cartoon of a pilot drinking in a hammock, before falling out when the offscreen narrator says, “hey you! SHould you be more careful?!”, you know what you’re getting. The flippant cartoon about how gremlins do not exist and that its human error that leads to so many mechanical incidents in the sky completely sets the tone for Shadow in the Cloud, a film that feels like a nostalgic look to the days of the rollicking pulp adventures and serial films that populated theaters in the 1940s and earlier.

“Let’s keep our skies safe so we can win this war!” the narrator eventually cheers at the drunken pilot before pivoting to an old timey, nostalgic-looking runway at Auckland Air Base in New Zealand, 1943. But like the cartoon mentioned above that suggests a kind of winky-nod to the story, the music chugs in like a Carpenter synth score circa the early 80s. The score by Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper (Who also composed the soundtrack to Housebound) is lean and efficient, bridging the gap between the 1940 stylings and the more sleek feel from movies since the 80s. Onto this runway steps Maude Garrett (Chloë Grace Moretz), dressed in a bomber jacket, her broken arm in a sling and a satchel in the other.

She gets on an airplane cheekily named The Fool’s Errand and is immediately accosted by militant misogyny, as the men on the plane shout “get off my fucking plane” and comments on her figure. But she has a letter signed by the Major and while Captain Reeves (Callan Mulvey) isn’t happy about it, he lets her on but forces her into the sperry turret on the bottom of the plane. Her satchel, which she yells is top secret, fragile and must be protected at all cost, is put with SSgt Walter Quaid (Taylor John Smith), who promises to take care of it.

Here is where Shadow in the Cloud makes its first intriguing and slightly subversive narrative choice: The moment Maude ends up in the sperry turret, the tone of the film changes. Physically cut off from the rest of the crew and placed in a precarious position underneath the airplane, with glass separating her from the outside world careening past her, she’s on her own. Sure, the misogynistic voices of the men fill her ears as they talk about her mouth and body, not initially knowing she’s listening. But after the hatch lever breaks, she’s stuck in the sperry gun and is all on her own.

That’s when she sees a shadow lurking under the plane, picking at the mechanics. It’s a gremlin, both just like the monster in the famous Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare on 20,000 Feet” and completely different. It’s feral, a bat/rat-like creature that scuttles across the plane, tearing it apart bit by bit. Then she sees a Japanese airplane looming in the stormy clouds around the plane.

In both cases, no one believes her.

The first forty minutes of Shadow in the Cloud is an intense locked room horror story, the kind of narrative we see a lot of in indie filmmaking. It’s just a woman, stuck in a precarious position, unable to escape and being forced to rely on her wits and whatever tools she can find to protect herself. It’s intense as the paranoia and gaslighting mixes with physical threat not only for Maude but for the entire clueless crew. Writer/Director Roseanne Liang keeps the focus squarely on Maude and while the male cast is filled with talented actors like Nick Robinson, Joe Witkowski, and Beulah Koale, their voices form a sort of cacophony for most of the film’s runtime as they aren’t initially seen after being introduced.

But the film is also a mystery box surrounding just what is in the satchel that Maude carried onto the plane with her. And it’s that box and the escalating tension created by the gremlin and the enemy planes circling their aircraft that ratchets the film into the final half. It’s a decision that has proven divisive among critics but had me smiling in excitement as Shadow in the Cloud embraced its pulpy roots and went full-on action.

While the reveal of “what’s in the box” didn’t completely work for me, the resulting action and thrills more than made up for it. The incredible effects work by Barrie Ewens (Ash vs Evil Dead) and an entire team of Visual Effects artists who’ve worked on films like Deadpool, The Hunger Games and Alita: Battle Angel bring such life and excitement to the creature design as well as the resulting explosions and air combat.

I completely understand why the last half of Shadow in the Cloud didn’t work for some people and the choices made at the midpoint will continue to remain divisive. But let’s be honest. We’ve spent 2020 filled with dour, slow burning and incredibly sad horror movies. I’m ready for a change and, as someone raised on pulp adventures who has a desire for fun horror movies, seeing Shadow in the Cloud fully embrace its pulp roots made me fall in love.

Go in expecting a pulpy adventure and you won’t be disappointed.