Shelter (2010 film)

Shelter
Official poster
Directed by	Måns Mårlind Björn Stein
Produced by	Emilio Diez Barroso Darlene Caamano Loquet Mike Macari Neal Edelstein
Written by	Michael Cooney
Narrated by	NALA Investment
Starring	Julianne Moore Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Music by	John Frizzell
Cinematography	Linus Sandgren
Editing by	Steve Mirkovich
Studio	Shelter Entertainment NALA Films Macari/Edelstein
Distributed by	FSF E1 Entertainment The Weinstein Company
Release date(s)	March 27, 2010 (2010-03-27) (Japan) April 9, 2010 (2010-04-09) (UK)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$22 million
Box office	$851,517

Shelter is a supernatural horror-thriller directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, written by Michael Cooney, and starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The movie is straight-to-video in the U.S. possibly in 2011.

Plot

Widowed psychiatrist Cara (Julianne Moore) is at an airport planning to go home. A little after she calls her daughter Sam (Brooklynn Proulx) from the airport, who is being looked after by her brother Stephen (Nathan Corddry) she receives an intriguing call from her own father Dr. Harding (Jeffrey DeMunn), also a psychiatrist. He tells her about an interesting new patient he has found (a medical oddity as she puts it), but Cara would want to hear of it but her dad hangs up on her and they met.

Cara meets the patient (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who is wheeled into the room and introduces himself as David Bernburg. "David" as the patient where asked by Cara several questions which he answered normally as anyone can. Cara then went to her Dad somewhat complaining on her meeting David. Doctor Harding then picked up the phone and called the other line where David was seated. David after several rings answered the phone and Doctor Harding asked for a certain Adam. David then convulsed, David after several seconds answered the phone again and said "This is Adam." Cara re-entered the room again and talked to David, which was now Adam. Cara introduced herself and Adam spoke of her husband who was murdered. Cara made some tests, which revealed that Adam was of the color red deficient. Before Cara left the room, Adam was shown able to stand straight. Doctor Harding then gave her daughter all files about David.

Cara then met with Doctor Charlie (he names her Little Sissy). Cara asked about some files over David and Charlie was shown havong some wounds over his back. Cara tells her Dad that David is an invention of Adam, contrary to what her Dad believes. Cara continues her investigation of David, even checking his yearbook, on which he finds the name David Bernburg with a different photo. Cara then seeks the address where David lives and is able to talk to his mother. She learns that David is bound to a wheelchair after an accident but seeks to find a cure to let him walk again. David then leaves home and is found tortured and dead. His mother tells Cara that David turned his back on God.

Cara then meets with his Dad again and discusses about what she found out about David. It turns out that Adam was only 6 years old, when David was found dead. She thinks that Adam was creating an impersonation of David who was murdered 25 years to the day Adam was 6. Cara then arranges a meeting with David's mother to cure Adam. Her Dad calls on the phone during the meeting and Adam transforms into David and talks to her mother. David-Adam speaks things he knew with his mother, like the nail she carries on her pocket at all times, which is to ward off evil.

Cara decides to bring David to the place where David Bernburg was found dead. David experiences fear. Cara tries to move David while he seats on the wheelchair but she cannot. Cara calls her driver for help, and as she turns around she finds David standing up, asking her questions, and telling her his name as Wes.

Cara confronts her Dad for not telling her the other personality. Cara goes on to find out about Wesley Crite, a front man for a band, who allegedly committed suicide. Cara then talks to David-Wesley, shows her a newspaper clipping of Wesley's death. David then convulsed again, falls to the floor and tells Cara that he was here, and then hums a tune. Cara goes on to meet David's mother again and confirms that the tune was David's song.

Cara decides to check Adam's old house and there she finds a dead body with a cross etched on the man's back. Cara then goes home to pick up her daughter Sammy, sees her talking to Adam and calls the police about it. Cara tells Adam to leave them alone, Adam tells Cara that she invited him, calling her as "Little Sissy" and then telling her that he actually is Charles.

Cara meets up again with David's mother and asks her about the cross etching. David's mother tells her to seek a "Granny" and ask about the sign. A child comes up to her and a woman tells her without looking to it that it is a "Holler's Cross." As Cara is about ot leave, she hears a scream and goes back, watching as the woman cures a man while seemingly taking away his soul first, putting on a shelter, and then putting it back to the man to live again.

Cara's brother, Stephen, meanwhile, has discovered that the video of David while sleeping and convulsing shows an audio recording. He finds out about where to find the source of this recording where Cara goes. Monty and his family turns out is a witness to his father's filming of the 1918's influneza epidemic. A faith healer appears during that time and tells that the cure lies on believing on the Lord. It turns out that the faith healer-reverend has already lost his faith to God. The reverend's children are all found dead, the reverend is metted a so-called mountain-justice, putting earth on to his mouth but only after sucking out the life of him by the Granny.

Cara calls her Dad to tell her that Adam is the same faith healer that was put to death before and is taking revenge. But Cara is already too late. Adam is able to kill and get the life out of his Dad.

Cara tells Stephen to bring Sammy to her as Adam tries to get to her daughter. As Sammy gets to the Granny, the Granny tells her that Sammy has lost faith in God (Sammy lost her own Dad). Granny tells her that she can only be saved thru the Shelter but Cara refuses to accept that and runs away with her. Adam catches up with them and gets to Sammy. As Adam transforms to Sammy, Adam-Sammy goes to Cara and and Cara kills him. Cara leans to her child and embraces her. Sammy wakes and hums shows hums David's song, showing that Sammy's body has now awakened as David.

Cast

• Julianne Moore as Cara
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Adam
• Jeffrey DeMunn as Dr. Harding
• Frances Conroy as Mrs. Bernburg
• Nathan Corddry as Stephen
• KatiAna Davis as The Familiar
• Michael Graves as Holler Man
• Rick Applegate as Warden Collins
• Nicole Leigh Belle as Random Street Walker
• Aaron Bernard as 1982 State Trooper
• Jim Brough as Holler Man
• Jeffrey Jones as Police Officer
• Drew Levinson as Governor's Attorney
• Brooklynn Proulx as Sammy

Production

Filming took place in Pittsburgh starting in March 2008.

Release

The United Kingdom release was set with a cinema release on April 9, 2010.

Reception

The film has been met with entirely negative reviews, garnering a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Mike Sheridan from Entertainment.ie gave the film two stars out of five stating Shelter is 'A thriller desperately trying to throw the audience off at every corner, just as writer Michael Cooney's previous screenplay effort Identity did to mostly stellar effect, Shelter is instead a whole lot of stupid wrapped in moody packaging.' Mark Harrison from Den of Geek gave a more positive review, calling it 'horror by numbers, but it's at least sparing with whatever felt tip pen denotes ‘jump scares.

External links

• Shelter at the Internet Movie Database
• Shelter at Rotten Tomatoes