The Shrine (2010)

The Age of Commercialism

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film is one of the best horror films I have ever seen in my life. This film may not be scary but its very disturbing and this is the true definition of horror. I don't understand why this film is rated 5.6 out of the 10 in imdb because this is a very fantastic film and it deserves at least a 9 out of the 10 overall. Great acting. Good picture quality, very interesting and fun story, perfect sounds effects, and realistic special effects are really good. This film deserves awards and if you're a horror fan, you definitely need to see this!

Even though I have watched hundreds of horror movies, I have never seen such a twist end. Very clever story, to such extent that ordinary people can't understand the plot of the movie. That's why it's underrated. We can give 10 stars simply for the cleverness of the director alone. If we consider the creepy horror elements in the movie, we can give additional 5 stars. It's a real treat for fans of intelligent horror movies.

Eastern Europe is undoubtedly attractive to today's American horror films. Movies like "Hostel" or "Chernobyl Diaries" have made good use of the gloomy environment of these regions and the virtually void knowledge that American public has about them. This is another of these films, setting in Poland where, curiously, everyone can speak English well, even if loaded with a forced accent. The story happens in a small village, apparently stopped in time, where locals are very hostile with foreigners. What tourists are unaware of is that they seek to keep a terrible secret from the eyes of the world, which insists on entering through their doors. This could be extremely xenophobic to the peaceful and friendly Polish people if, in the end, the story did not completely change its tone (I will not tell you what happens to not spoil it). To summarize it is enough to say that the film has a vulgar script punctuated by some original solutions, always misused, a third class cast that never surpasses average and to whom were given mediocre characters and a very bad sound, visual and special effects, direct consequence of the low production budget. The natural result is a histrionic film that is far from good, reaching only a bearable quality.

I wasn't going to write a review because I felt that the ones here pretty much give a good idea as to the type of film it is. However, as I read many of the comments, I could see how VERY polarized the reviews are.So, I thought it might be helpful to TRY to give a general description to help people to determine whether they would enjoy it or not. Basically, this is the kind of movie that is ultimately rather simple and mostly ambiguous until the end. Some people here found it kind of boring, stupid, and confusing and really hated it. However, if you notice, it seems that most people here did like it; at least that is the way it seemed to shake out to me. I think the basic vibe and atmosphere of the film grabbed a lot of people and resonated with them, thus the strong positive reactions. But, apparently, not with all... So, what is the dividing factor?I liked the film and found it to be very creepy and suspenseful. But, I am the kind of person who REALLY likes atmospheric, ambiguous movies, probably because I have an EXTREMELY vivid imagination. So, my mind quite easily fills in all the supposed 'empty places' with more Horror and mood, even when things are not being explained very well. Also, you are VERY much left in the dark as to exactly what is going on right up until the end; so, if you are easily intrigued by this kind of Mystery, then you would be more likely to get caught up in it.Please note, the movie takes place in a foreign land. So the people pretty much ONLY speak their language and there are NO subtitles. This was clearly done DELIBERATELY to UP the Mystery quotient and to keep the audience guessing and wondering what the HELL is going on. And it REALLY works! You may or may not like that.So, all in all, this film is pretty much a simple, although effectively made, Old-School Horror film, made with kind of an Old Fashioned atmospheric style, not unlike some of the old really Gothic Hammer films, but more contemporary. Also, VERY importantly, it is religiously themed; some people either really love that type of film or they really don't, so keep that in mind.It is kind of difficult to explain this in a way to help others to see whether they would enjoy this movie or not. But, I would say that IF you are the kind of person who VERY EASILY AND QUICKLY gets caught up in a mystery where you DON'T really quite know what is going on, AND if you do like kind of Old-School, atmospheric, religiously themed Horror stories, THEN you have a good chance of enjoying it.I hope this helps...