Written by Michael Cooney (the scribe behind 2003’s Identity), and directed by both Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein (who directed the 2005 film Storm together), Shelter is a supernatural, psychological, horror/thriller, about an established psychologist, and the new patient that may just change everything she thinks she knows about psychology.
The psychologist is Dr. Cara Jessup (Julianne Moore, Chloe); a well regarded forensic psychologist who has spent her career arguing against the existence of multiple personality disorder, as she believes it has been sufficiently disproved, and has never been present in a single case; who has been tasked by her father Dr Harding (Jeffrey DeMunn, The Mist) to examine his most puzzling patient; a young man named Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors) who exhibits all the unexplainable symptoms of the very disorder Cara has spent her career denying.
Cara’s refusal to believe in the multiple personality disorder that appears to be affecting Adam means that she tries everything she can think of to explain away his changing mannerisms, accents, and the way in which the wheelchair-bound man sitting across the table from her can somehow walk when his personality shifts, and even x-rays confirm that his spine seems to be breaking and re-healing itself at will.
However, it isn’t simply Adam’s mannerisms, attitude, and accents that baffle Cara the most; as when she delves further into exploring each of his personalities, she finds that they are all perfect replications of murder victims, who seem certain that they are that person, and not simply a fracture of Adam’s broken mind.
Attempting to prove that the alternate personalities are fictitious, Cara attempts to find connections between Adam and the deceased people she believes he is emulating, and even goes to track down some of their family members, who are startled at how real the personalities seem, and can’t believe that Adam could have known the things he does unless he really does contain the personality of the deceased.
Racing to solve the mystery behind Adam’s unique case, Cara must find out who he really is, how he could have come into contact with each of the murder victims (did he know them? has he just heard about and researched each case? or is it something much worse?), and how she can fix it; but as she tries her world begins to fall apart, and she begins to question not only every scientific belief she holds true, but her strong faith in God as well; something that may have serious, and life threatening consequences for both her and her family.
The film itself plays out in a rather interesting and engaging manner that has viewers wondering exactly what is going on with Adam right up until the eventual revelations, and tense climax; which manages to maintain interest, despite using an age-old formula that can be seen on horror/thrillers dating back decades; finishing in a manner that’s not so much shocking, as expected for a movie in this genre.
In terms of acting however the cast does a great job, as Julianne Moore’s Cara is a character that’s a cross between Dana Scully from The X-Files, and Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs (who Moore actually played in 2001’s Hannibal), and played with the right amount of pain (for someone that is supposed to have lost a husband several years back), determination, conviction, strength, and vulnerability, as she deserves, and likewise Jonathan Rhys Meyers manages to wonderfully craft each of Adam’s distinct personalities and give them each a degree of believability; changing his actions, accent, and attitude appropriately; making each of them as creepy, scary, or vulnerable and endearing, as required.
The supporting cast also does a good job, with Jeffrey Demunn’s Dr. Harding being suitably eccentric and slightly twisted, Nathan Coddry (The Ugly Truth) excellently playing the concerned brother, Frances Conroy doing a great job of once again playing the quirky mother (as she did in HBO’s Six Feet Under) who is both scared, apprehensive, and bewildered by Adam’s representation of her son, and Brooklyn Prolux (The Time Traveller’s Wife) excels as the damaged little girl who lost her faith after the death of her father.
Suspense is well maintained throughout; with dribs and drabs of information slowly being leaked to the viewer so they can attempt to piece the puzzle together; and there are a couple of genuinely jumpy moments during the film (even if most can be seen a mile off), making it a tense and intriguing thriller that’s well worth a watch, despite the fairly flaccid and unoriginal formula that leads to a generic and somewhat disappointing, yet strangely fitting, climax.
Shelter is a generic horror with little flair for original thought, but still stays interesting, scary, and genuinely thrilling right through to the end; something that was helped no end by strong performances (Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Adam being the obvious standout), and an interesting X-Files like formula (that keeps the audiences guessing for a time as to whether or not the multiple personalities inside Adam are real or a pure fabrication); that means any horror/thriller fan, or casual film fan, that likes a bit of creepy escapism, is bound to enjoy watching Shelter.
Picture:
Shelter’s Blu-ray transfer resembles a number of other darkly themed horror/thriller movies, as it has a very grey and dreary colour palette; that serves to create a rather drab mood, yet stills fells lifelike, and makes any strong elements of colour really stand out against the mostly dull and earthy tones; that are all represented well thanks to the transfer’s strong contrast levels.
Most importantly for a film of this nature, the black levels are more than suitably deep, and remain relatively free from crush, while creating good shadows and delineation, with strong fine object detail evident throughout; detail that holds up well, despite a fairly soft overall look to the movie, which features consistently pale, yet naturalistic, skintones; in a transfer that’s not exactly eye-popping, and far from the perfect example of a Blu-ray movie in terms of quality, but remains consistently stable and free from any print errors such as scratches, blemishes, or ringing.
Overall Shelter’s picture quality may not be the best example of what Blu-ray has to offer, but there’s no denying it is miles ahead of its standard definition DVD counterpart (which in itself is a very solid and stable transfer), accurately represents the movie’s source, and does nothing to distract or disappoint any viewer; making it a solid, yet not stand out, effort that’s sure to satisfy its fans.
Audio:
But even better than the video transfer, is Shelter’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track; which has plenty of ambient noise emanating from the rear channels in a number of appropriate situations, very strong and powerful bass (that’s well used in order to five weight to certain effects, and create a disturbing atmosphere), and crisp and clear dialogue that’s always easily intelligible, and never drops out.
There are also a number of sound effects that originate from all channels (particularly in the more boisterous scenes), which feature some good directional effects, and combine with the rest of the mix’s sounds to create a very enveloping, and audibly pleasing, soundmix that is befitting of the film itself, its genre, and production values, and should definitely live up to fans expectations.
Extras:
Where this disc is lacking however, is in its bonus materials, as the special features included are anything but, as they only consist of a collection of short interviews with Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Shelter’s directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein; which discuss everything from the characters and the plot, to working with each other, and some of the scenes they found the most interesting, but somehow manage to remain tremendously tedious, and not in the least bit engaging; and lacks anything else, bar trailers for The Killer Inside Me, and The Collector (which play when the disc is first inserted, but are not accessible from the main menu).
Shelter lacks even a basic audio commentary, has no Blu-ray specific features, and misses the opportunity to include a making of featurette, or any other informative material (such as a visual effects feature, or more in depth look at the film’s development), and as such is a real let down, that will not only leave fans wanting, but actually insult them by suggesting that there is some worthwhile content included, when there isn’t a single piece of extra content here worth taking the time to watch.
The Bottom Line:
In the end, Shelter is a very solid thriller with an intriguing story, two top actors, and a whole heap of suspense, that mean it’s difficult to turn away from, very engaging, and well worth checking out; the only problem is that while the picture and audio quality may be above average, and serve the film well enough, neither is liable to test anyones system, or really showcase what Blu-ray can do, and as the extras are pointless and practically non-existent, it’s not really worth shelling out the extra couple of pounds for the Blu-ray; which is why Shelter comes highly recommended as a rental, or DVD purchase, for thriller/horror fans, but not a Blu-ray must.
