Review by Russ Gomm
Stars Cindy Sampson, Aaron Ashmore, Meghan Heffern, Ben Lewis, Laura DeCarteret, Connor Stanhope, Trevor Matthews, Paulino Nunes, Monica Bugajski
Written by Jon Knautz & Brendan Moore
Certification UK TBC | US TBC
Runtime 85 minutes
Directed by Jon Knautz
Here we have a deadly serious film from the creators of the fantastic and funny Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. After a young boy goes missing (in spectacularly creepy fashion), a group of journalists travel to Poland in search of answers. What they find is a religious cult that has a strong dislike for visitors, and their own ways of getting rid of them!
The Shrine is a strange little film. It’s very slow burning and full of intrigue. It draws the viewer carefully in. There is some interesting (and some terrible) use of CGI and also some great (and fun) bloody moments to enjoy. Genuinely creepy scenes become more and more disturbing throughout the film. It’s nothing really new but has a combination of elements from many other different films. I really didn’t see where it was going and was actually impressed with the tone the film took towards the end.
The Shrine is probably only really a 2-star film, but I find myself with a particular soft spot for it. There are some really negative points, but at the end of the day it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed myself with it enough to kick it up one more star. Visually it is enough to impress and the level of gore is good, with some moments to actually make you jump out of your seat and some to push you back further into it!