The Shrine

The Shrine

When a young American backpacker (Ben Lewis) goes missing in a small village in Poland, ambitious newshound Carmen smells a story.  After a little digging she uncovers a pattern of disappearances in the area that date back over 50 years.  Tourists and travelers visit the area and every so often they don’t come back.  Ignoring her editor’s opposition, she takes off for Poland with reluctant photographer boyfriend Marcus (Aaron Ashmore) and her perky assistant (Meghan Heffern).

Exploring the village, the group find themselves met with suspicion and hostility by the unfriendly villagers.  The deeper they dig the more threatening the villagers become, eventually running the outsiders out of town.  Wandering through the woods, they spot a strange, smoky mist through the trees similar to one described in the missing backpacker’s journal.  Investigating, the trio become separated in the dense fog and Carmen finds a strange, demonic statue which seems to turn to follow her.  Escaping the fog, she reunites with her companions.  But the villagers aren’t happy that the trio trespassed on sacred ground.  Someone’s going to pay, a sacrifice has to be made…

I watch a lot of horror movies.  Doesn’t matter what kind, I watch them all.  Cinema releases.  DVD Hell.  Big-budget, Hollywood mainstream. Low budget indies.  No-budget knock-offs.  Quirky foreign horror. Giallo.  J-horror.  Ghost stories.  Psychological horror.  Body horror.  Survival horror.  Gothic horror.  Urban Gothic.  German Underground.  Found footage.  Final girl.  Slasher flicks.  Vampire movies.  Zombie movies.  Torture-porn.  Gore-no.  Splatter movies.  I’m not keen on horror comedies and anything with Sarah Jessica Horse-face positively gives me the shits but it’s probably safe to say I watch a lot of horror movies.  In fact, I definitely watch a lot more horror films than you. 

Everything I know about the world, I learned from horror movies.  I know that as a sophisticated, urbane city-dweller, the last thing I want to do is go to the country.  Country folk are just plain weird.  Often they’re uneducated, smelly, redneck rapists.  Or incestuous, inbred, mutant cannibals.  Or hostile bumpkins with a secret.  Or lascivious pagan nymphs who’ll seduce outsiders just so they can sacrifice them to the Devil or an ancient Celtic fertility goddess or Cthulhu.  Visiting the country is never a good idea.  Unless you want to be bummed, murdered, mutilated and eaten.  And you’re lucky if it’s in that order.  And you never, never, ever visit a foreign country!  That’s just asking for trouble.  Ain’t you seen Hostel?  Not only will you be bummed, murdered, mutilated and eaten, some rich pervert will have paid for the privilege.

Obviously Carmen and her friends haven’t seen the same films as me.  From the start, I knew they were in deep trouble.  I’d just watched a bunch of hooded guys in robes sacrifice the backpacker.  As soon as Carmen and her Scooby gang showed up, I knew they were screwed.  I’ve watched so many of these films, I knew what was going to happen.  I knew she was going to drag them off to Poland (which looks suspiciously like rural Canada).  I knew the villagers would be surly and hostile.  I knew they’d ignore the little voice in their heads telling to run, blow town, get the fudge out of Dodge.  I knew they’d go exploring in the woods.  I knew they’d find something weird/horrific/supernatural.  I knew not to trust that little girl.  So far, so predictable.  Sure there were a couple of nice little scares but I’d seen this film a hundred times.  You’ve probably seen it a few times yourselves.  And then…then something unexpected happened.  A third act twist that pull’s a complete 180° turn, changing the meaning of everything that’s gone before, redeeming the film.

Despite its low budget, despite its cheap effects, despite it’s adequate (but nothing more) performances, The Shrine does something few horror films manage these days; it pulls off a scary, visceral, satisfying twist that you feel right in your guts, a twist that was right there in plain sight the whole time, you just didn’t see it.  What more can you ask of a horror movie?

David Watson

Writer/Director

Jon Knautz

Starring

Cindy Sampson, Aaron Ashmore, Meghan Heffern, Ben Lewis, Trevor Matthews

Country

Canada

Running time

86 minutes

Year

2010