The Man in the Shadows (US/UK video release: The Shadow Man) is a 2015 Canadian supernatural horror film, the first feature film directed by Joshua Fraiman and written by co-star and co-producer Adam Tomlinson, based on a personal experience, as well as on reports by "millions of people around the world" of so-called shadow people, a phenomenon associated with sleep paralysis. The plot centres around a prescription drug-addicted newlywed photographer (Sarah Jurgens) who appears to be stalked by a dark man in a brimmed hat who follows her from her nightmares into reality. Rachel is aided by William (Adam Tomlinson) who has been investigating the "Hat Man" phenomenon.

Plot

Rachel Darwin, a pregnant woman going through a career crisis, has recurring dreams in which a shadow man wearing a fedora forcibly removes a deformed baby from her womb. Searching online, she discovers a world of night sufferers like herself, visited by watchers while they sleep. Her husband Scott believes that her experiences are hallucinations born from a subconscious still coping with his previous infidelity and a fear of childbirth. She seeks help and determines she is suffering from sleep paralysis. Troublingly, she also sees the "Hat Man" while awake, as a distorted blur in the background of a photograph, or a flicker in the corner of an eye. Rachel believes she may be being stalked by a malevolent supernatural entity.