The Shrine (2010)

I am a huge fan of B horror movies and I must say in recent years we see very few well made low budget horror flicks where lack of big bucks is compensated by a good story, hard work and movie-making ingenuity. The Shrine is one of those movies that make the effort to tell a good story relying more on psychology and suspense than CGI fireworks. That said: if special effects are called for – the makers of the movie did not cut corners and those few FX scenes look 100% real and add to the overall atmosphere of the movie.

One more bonus point: the people speaking Polish in the movie actually DO speak Polish and lines they speak DO make sense. That is something even big budget flicks mess up quite often.

I give the movie an extra star for the effort. I know some Polish-speaking reviewers blasted the movie for the "bad Polish", but come one – the movie was made by Canadians in Canada primarily for the North American audience. The whole point of people speaking Polish without subtitles was to add to the atmosphere of insecurity and confusion as felt by the main characters.

The fact that the movie-makers made such an effort to write a ton of dialog in Polish and have the actors (almost none of which is a native Polish speaker) speak it in a manner that was 90% understandable and in some cases sounded almost native – well that was awesome.

The bad: if you speak Polish you will know what is going on way sooner than you should.

The portrayal of a "Polish village" for the story was about as accurate as a portrayal of a Mississippi town in big-budget "Straw Dogs" (if you are not familiar with the South you MIGHT believe it will take an ambulance an hour to get to a town big enough to have a high school in 2011). Bottom line, if you never were to Poland it will do quite fineÂ… :-)

Fmovies: The movie has a great twist and entertaining storyline. Had all of the subtleties of a great horror flick and could have done really well. Money was wasted on gore scenes would have been better served on costumes and effects. The shooting location should have actually been Poland because the dialects were unconvincing (and Im not even polish).I loved the fact that I was really drawn into the story and wanted to know what was going to happen. The acting was good enough for any horror film and I was even impressed by some of the actors. The viewer's perspective really gave a mystery aspect and made me feel as confused as the characters would have been in a foreign situation. I applaud that they didn't need subtitles to move the story along. When film was over I still felt it was very entertaining and satisfied my horror craving. Just a little low brow with the gore.

just watched this film tonight and joined IMDb subsequently due to how impressed i was. got home from work late and turned the lights off and put the horror on. film flew by from start to finish. i watch a lot of horrors and think about eighty percent are rubbish, however this was very engrossing. acting all round was excellent(didn't expect that) and story was kind of believable which is odd for this type of film. very intelligently made film. everything made sense from start to finish. short sweet and to the point film. no messing about. i don't like drawn out two hour plus films. no comedy in the film which i like. if i want to watch a comedy, i pick a comedy. not the best film i seen in my life but for what it is, very impressive. well, I'm kind of to the point myself so hope anyone who watches it enjoys it. doubt anyone could dislike it. and congratulations to anyone involved in the film and hope there's bigger projects in the pipeline.

The Shrine fmovies. A hard-nosed journalist, Carmen (Cindy Sampson, Supernatural), her boyfriend, Marcus (Aaron Ashmore, Smallville), and an intern, Sara (Meghan Heffern, Almost Heroes), travel to Alvania to investigate the disappearance of Eric Taylor, the last person of many reported to have vanished after visiting the small Polish village. In the distance is a large patch of dense fog hovering above the forest, the same phenomenon documented in Eric's journal. The three of them make their way to the woods, only to be confronted by a group of men who dissuade the trio to proceed any further.

However, Carmen convinces Marcus and Sara to examine the fog following a confession that her boss thinks she and Sara are back in the states covering a scoop on bees. Her career is ruined if she doesn't return with a killer story. Sara enters the fog first and then Carmen, while Marcus stays just beyond the fog's edge. At different times, both women stumble upon a menacing statue, seemingly serving no purpose other than to scare the bejesus out of anyone who has the misfortune to encounter it.

After fleeing the fog, all three are hunted down by the same men who warned them to leave. Marcus is forced by gunpoint to dig his own grave while Carmen and Sara are brought to a secret sacrificial chamber, stripped of all of their clothing and made to wear the same white gown that they found the deceased Eric dressed in. This is the point of the movie where I almost shut it off, presuming it to be another torture porn flick. That may be your thing but it's not mine.

It turns out that this low-budget horror movie written and directed by Jon Knautz is a well-crafted thriller with better acting than most of its genre, with the exception of Ashmore who appears really damn angry about everything throughout the entire film. The build is slow but those who have the tenacity to stick it through will be rewarded. This is sincerely a creepy movie with the right amounts of fright and gore.

Speaking of gore, there are a couple of scenes in particular that may give you the dry heaves if you're not a horror veteran but if you can handle a film like the The Ruins, you can survive The Shrine. I'd endorse this flick to mainstream audiences who want to watch a horror movie now and then to experience some cheap scares without sex/nudity/torture.

The Shrine, 3 friends head off to a distant land in search of a story. Thats the story in a nutshell without me giving away any spoilers.

The script here was a very interesting one, it starts off slow, but gets moving along quite nicely. The acting was good, sure... it's not Oscar worthy, but it was good enough to keep me watching, everyone did a good job. I would like to praise the directing of the movie, it's nice to see good directing in unknown horror movies, it's a rare thing in my mind. This movie gave a good eerie feeling, which most horror movies fails at, it has a good amount of gore to keep those fans happy, but also gives us some twist and turns to keep ppl interested in watching.

Overall, good acting, good directing, decent script, a very enjoyable watch. Final verdict - 8 out of 10, i would recommend any fans of horror to watch this, even if u are not a fan, i still suggest you watch this.

I wasn't expecting much when I sat down to watch "The Shrine". The premise looked all too familiar in a sea of excruciatingly bad horror titles. The opening scenes did little to quash my suspicions, however, I decided to stick it out and go for broke. I'm actually really glad I did.

There is very little contrived material here. The film sets up it's story and moves forward convincingly. While some of the dialog tends to border on silliness, a rather strong cast is able to deliver it in a believable fashion, which, along with the top notch cinematography, sets "The Shrine" apart from it's contemporaries. Yes, the Polish accents were brutal, as were the ceremonial robes, however the suspenseful scene direction more then makes up for it. It's one of those films, where as, you don't really care all that much about the characters, but you really dig what the film is doing with them. It's easy entertainment, and sometimes that's all it takes.

No, this is not a film that is destined for cult status or a franchise tag, but it is an enjoyable little horror film that reminds us of why we love this genreÂ… Because it's fun.