The Shrine (2010)

Running Time:  93 minutes
Release Date: July 25, 2010

Review by: Stacey

 

Looks like we've got a "new-ish" movie on our hands with 2010's The Shrine and it was a delightful damn surprise!  I originally watched this movie about 2 years ago and decided to re-watch last night and still enjoyed it as much as I did the first time.  Director Jon Knautz, who is known for his comedy/horror flick Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer,  switched it up with a genuinely creepy movie that seemed like some kind of demonic Wicker Man mashup. This was one that started off slow and a little "meh" in the first half and turned it right the hell around in the second half with a story that finally came out and made that first part worth watching.

 

The first scene of The Shrine alone draws you in as you see a man strapped down and getting a shadowy object sledgehammered into his face by a robed old dude reciting something in Polish that I cannot understand.  I can't understand it because EVERY scene that contains Polish dialogue is NEVER subtitled, but I'll get back to that later.  Thereafter you meet the main characters of the film:  A journalist, Carmen (Cindy Sampson), her photographer boyfriend Marcus (Aaron Ashmore) and Carmen's intern, Sara (Meghan Heffern).  The three find themselves in a village in Poland as Carmen is investigating mysterious disappeances of Americans there.  Following the "footsteps" of one American they're looking for by using his journal, they stumble into some hostile locals and sinister looking woods (SHOCKER!).  There's fog, there's an ominous statue complete with pumping, bloody heart in hand (which only the two women saw), there's overall mystery.

I dig that the scenes where Polish was being spoken weren't subtitled because it leaves us just as confused as the main characters were.  Like, literally zero idea what's being said to them, to the others, during the "ceremony" when reciting spells, it's all over our heads.  If you speak Polish, feel free to tell me what the hell they were saying!  I can only assume the majority was giving away the plot which makes sense because you don't see what's REALLY going on in the village until the second half and even then it's not fully explained to you so there's another layer of mystery to the entire film.  You don't realize the significance of the statue until locals are chasing the three around trying to smash iron masks into their faces.  Jerks.  Although you do get to see the intern get one, you also see that they're both starting to hallucinate that some of the people are demons so you can see where this is going.  Marcus helps Carmen escape the face hammering and they find themselves in a family's house where one line basically told you what all hooplah was for. 

There's some mild gore, some creepy effects and the demons gave me a bit of a scare; but I'm also kind of a pussy.  The final scenes were really intense and just kind of threw the real heroes in your face and didn't give Marcus the chance to fuck it up, thankfully.   Not to mention that this film was done well enough but didn't get the proper attention I feel like it should have gotten.  I mean, the first half makes you think you've got the whole movie pegged with the creepy, foreign village and the American-sacrificing villagers; we've seen it all before numerous times but this had a "pleasant"  twist with the antagonists becoming the heroes and the over all simplicity of film. 

I really liked this film; while the slow buildup initially turned me off in this one, it aided in the reveal that didn't let me down and is one I would gladly suggest to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. 

7/10 polski napisy