MovieChat Forums > The Shrine (2010) Discussion > Quite a bit better than I expected

Quite a bit better than I expected

posted 12 years ago by david-3444
10 replies | jump to latest

If you're thinking about watching The Shrine, let me give you a push toward doing so. It was much better than I thought it would be.

As someone who watches a LOT of horror films, I'm fairly cynical when it comes to most. I like Aaron Ashmore, so I thought I'd give this one a try. At the beginning it looked like yet another Hostel knockoff, so I was expecting a lot of gruesome gore and a bad serial-killer-driven story. I was surprised to find it didn't go where I expected it to go.

Sure, it suffered from many of the problems found in low-budget horror movies, like some questionable acting and fake-looking SFX, but the story was surprisingly well developed, and there were some excellent scares and truly creepy sequences. It was well-paced and tightly crafted, so nothing felt unnecessary.

It's not on the level of The Exorcist or Silence of the Lambs, but it's a good late-night horror flick for those who like a good scare.

[–] milessadler 12 years ago

This was surprisingly good for me as well. Cynical is the right word for my reaction to seeing this film as I searched through Netflix...pleasantly surprised.

[–] tresestrellas 12 years ago

The problem with Netflix was that they categorized this movie as a "mystery/thriller". At some point during the film I realized it was horror, not merely a thriller. I was OK with that, but it did give me the wrong expectation going into it. I found it very creepy. And I could have done without all the gore at the end. I know that horror fans expect that, but I prefer the kind of scare that I got from that creepy statue grinning evilly at the characters, rather than the shock of severed body parts and blood spray everywhere. YMMV.

[–] misterbfd 12 years ago

Yes, it was better than I expected as well.

[–] cgraves04 11 years ago

totally agree with everything you've written here. part of me is hoping for a bigger budget remake, but the other part of me knows a big budget would kill the story. there's a lot to criticize, sure, but this film is going in my top ten for low-budget horror.

[–] RomeoKnight 11 years ago

Indeed. The beginning act was not so good at all and the actors weren't great but half way trough the film improved a lot. Better than average hollywood crap. 7/10

[–] RomeoKnight 11 years ago

Indeed. The beginning act was not so good at all and the actors weren't great but half way trough the film improved a lot. Better than average hollywood crap. 7/10

[–] Golfinguy75 11 years ago

I completely agree w all of this. I also felt the Hostel knock - off vibe coming in the first 15mins. It does turn out to be a good story, some decent scares, a couple twists.The production value could have been more, the acting at times was hard to keep you in the moment. All in all it's worth checking out I even liked the way it ended, I don't believe you need to answer all the questions leaving it open for the viewer to come to their own conclusions is fine. Then again they could just be trying to set up part 2? Which wouldn't be all bad either.

[–] two_hot_indiana 10 years ago

Nothing like Hostel. Why are ppl saying that? Just because it wasn't in America? Hostel was totally different in every aspect.The Shrine had: No supernatural. No religion. No organ harvesting. No abductions. No tricking anyone.

[–] jsmith0730 11 years ago

I enjoyed it for what it was. I just wish they had Marcus stay in the village at the end since he knows what's going on now (and I never get how in so many horror movies people go through something like that then just leave as if they're going to resume their normal life). Maybe have a final scene with some other American tourists showing up and him telling them to leave.

"Your entire life has been a mathematical error. A mathematical error I'm about to correct."

[–] two_hot_indiana 10 years ago

I thought it started off a lot like The Ruins (good flick) so I knew what was gonna happen.