Review of The Shrine (2010) by Jesse O — 28 Oct 2015

Not a half bad movie all things considered. It certainly starts out slowly enough, much like a lot of horror movies, but it honestly progresses at a nice pace. It gives you bits and pieces of information without really revealing anything.

So, at the very least, you'ref invested in seeing what exactly is going on here and why the village is so unfriendly to outsiders who venture far too deeply into the woods. Perhaps the film doesn't really have enough material to go 80-some odd minutes, but I think they do about as good a job as they possibly can with the material they were given.

But the film, to me, is never bad at any point. It's just about building to the climax and getting to the climax isn't what I would call laborious, it just takes a little more effort to stay with the film until that point.

I mean I wanted to see how it played out but there were parts were I could've just stopped the film and it wouldn't have bothered me none. Though I definitely do think that the climax itself is, easily, by a country mile, the best part of the entire movie.

There's some solid gore and it builds really well. It's not that the third act of the film itself will set any new standards for excellency in horror, it clearly didn't judging by the score I gave it, but it was pretty fun in all honestly.

I just wish that the rest of the film had matched the third act in intensity and just fun horror elements. The film, obviously, doesn't have great cinematography or great acting, that holds it back a bit.

The familiarity of the story itself might be an issue, but that never really bothered me as much as some of the pacing issues. Honestly, not the best horror film you will ever see, but the third act is pretty entertaining and it makes this movie, while still below average, one of the better below average horror movies you will ever see.

Not exactly recommended, but still a fine diversion that won't piss you off too much.