WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shadow in the Cloud, now available in select theaters and on-demand.
Shadow in the Cloud is an action-horror hybrid that combines a twisty plot and social commentary with elements of a creature feature and a grisly World War II adventure. The end result plays out like a film-length version of an episode of The Twilight Zone, but with a whole lot more aerial combat and monster-punching. At the center of it all is Chloë Grace Moretz as Flight Officer Maude Garrett, the character who all but single-handedly saves the day during the rip-roaring, action-packed climax.
Directed by Roseanne Liang from a script she wrote with Max Landis, Shadow in the Cloud begins in 1943, at an Allied airbase in Auckland, New Zealand. There, Maude boards a B-17 bomber called "The Fool's Errand," along with a package she tells the crew contains confidential material. Despite his suspicions, the aircraft's captain, John Reeves (Callan Mulvey), allows her to stay onboard but orders her to sit in the ball turret during takeoff. After handing off her package to the only friendly crewman, Walter Quaid (Taylor John Smith), Maude settles into the turret and is forced to listen to the other crew members as they make sexist comments about her over the radio.
Maude spots a mysterious creature crawling on the bomber's exterior, along with a Japanese plane flying into their airspace. Unsurprisingly, the misogynistic crew members dismiss her claims and mock her for being hysterical -- save for Stu Beckell (Nick Robinson), a gunner who also spots the monster climbing on their plane. Before long, though, Maude and the others find themselves battling not only the Japanese, but also a gremlin, the mythical creatures World War II pilots used to blame for any strange or bewildering problems they would encounter on their flights.
If that weren't enough, Shadow in the Cloud soon reveals the truth about Maude: She's American (not British, like she pretended at first), and is fleeing her abusive husband. On top of that, her package contains her newborn baby, which she had out of wedlock with Quaid. However, before Captain Reeves can turn the aircraft around, a pack of Japanese bombers show up and the gremlin further damages the plane, attacks Quaid and kidnaps his and Maude's child. Left with no real choice, Maude shoots the gremlin before climbing on the underside of the plane to rescue her baby.
After falling out of the aircraft, only to be miraculously propelled back onboard by an exploding Japanese plane, Maude finally manages to shoot the gremlin and seemingly kill it for good. With most of the crew now dead and Captain Reeves killed by Japanese gunfire, it's up to Maude to assist the plane's co-pilot Anton Williams (Beulah Koale) in landing as safely on the ground as possible and lead Anton, Quaid (who survived his tussle with the gremlin), and Beckell out before it explodes. The gremlin pops up yet again to try and steal Maude's baby after that, but she chases it down and kills it for good.
Shadow in the Cloud then ends on a moment of tranquility, with Maude breast-feeding her baby. This closing shot is a fitting capstone to the movie's feminist themes, as is the glimpse of the image of an overly sexualized woman on the side of "The Fool's Errand" being burnt away. Of course, this symbolic visual packs the punch that it does because of the film's climax, in which Maude's action are the key to saving not just herself, but the remaining men and her newborn. Even better, the credits include archival footage of the women who fought for the Allies in WWII as a way of saluting these real war heroes.
Shadow in the Cloud, directed by Roseanne Liang and starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Beulah Koale, Taylor John Smith and Callan Mulvey, is available in select theaters and on VOD.