Review of Take Shelter (2011) by Eric R — 05 Dec 2014

Curtis is just a common simple man who lives in small town Ohio, with his wife Samantah, and their six-year-old daughter who is def. Curtis works at a mining plant and money is tight but the family seems to be doing well.

That is until Curtis begins to have hallucinations of a gigantic storm and hallucinations where terrible things happen. Although they don't have a lot of money, Curtis, decides he has to build a storm shelter to protect his family, must to the dismay of his wife.

Curtis' Mother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and his wife and most of the town soon to believe that Curtis may be following in his mother's footsteps. Take Shelter is Jeff Nichols' second feature and it is one hell of a Psychological thriller.

The film is brooding and slow paced, but had me entranced from start the finish. The visual and sound design perfectly capture the both the tranquility and foreboding horror which Curtis feels is coming.

Mostly using still images and saving slow tracking shots for the right moments this film can be down right terrifying and creepy at times. Particularly the dream which Curtis has between him and his wife which made me more creeped out than nearly every horror film I have seen in recent years.

Michael Shannon, where do I even start.. He is pitch perfect in this film as the unstable, weird, troubled man. Shannon is such a force in this film that I couldn't even take my eyes off him. This is the type of film that could be discussed for a long time and some probably won't neccessarily get it.

Some may not to read farther cause I am getting in ******Spoiler Territory****. This is the best apocalyptic end of the world film I have ever seen and the last five minutes of this film blew me the fuck away.