The film has a good premise, a Romanian prisoner, sent on revenge mission, who can transform from human to beast and back again. <br /><br />Yes, the survival film in a confined space has been done before. But what's different is that you're never really sure when the beast is going to be monster and when it's going to be human. <br /><br />The cast is pretty good, particularly Marat Glazer and AJ Hammond. Jennifer Wiggins runs a bit hot and cold (it feels like she got more direction in some scenes and less in others), but it's great to see a female action lead who can throw a punch and not look ridiculous. <br /><br />The Beast design was well conceived. The Shapeshifter has this strange ancient quality to him. The horns, the four fingered hands, the nasty teeth - it's particularly effective when he gets good and bloodied up.<br /><br />The sound mix sounded great on our system. The music is good, although it gets a bit monotonous at times and at other times seems oddly absent.<br /><br />There's quite a bit of gore, although certainly not nearly as much as Dead Men Walking, another Asylum film which was clearly shot at the same location as Shapeshifter.<br /><br />Typical of film in this budget range, there are some parts that work and some that don't. Still, the good outweighs the bad and the whole thing adds up to a fun low budget thriller.