Review – Shut In
Shut In is everything that is wrong with modern horror movies. It is a scareless, dumb, predictable, laughable movie that made me immediately regret ever entering the theater.
Shut In is about Mary (Naomi Watts), a widowed child psychologist who takes care of her crippled son (Charlie Heaton) in an isolated house in rural New England. When one of Mary’s patients (Jacob Tremblay) goes missing near her house, she tries to find a way to rescue him from a vicious ice storm that is coming in. However, being isolated in the house and the emotions of the search cause Mary to hear and see things, questioning her sanity and happenings around her house.
The movie plays out like the worst version of The Shining (1980). Isolated house in the middle winter with a brutal winter storm on its way and sanity in question. Yeah, definitely The Shining. There are even shots and scenes that look identical, like when the “villain” uses an axe to breakthrough a door, or like when Mary is being chased in the snow-covered woods by the “villain” looked exactly like the finale of The Shining when Jack is chasing Danny in the maze. I’m all for a movie paying homage to other films, it is something that I love to seeing. However, when it is done this poorly, it is almost insulting.
As the movie goes on, you know exactly where it is going, and there is a “twist” that you can see from a mile away. When it shows up in the movie is interesting, because it happens sooner than expected, but again, it’s obvious that it is going to happen, so there is no shock value at all. That basically sums up the entire movie; no shock value at all. They try to get us scared with cheap jump scares, but even those don’t work. It just got redundant and annoying.
Naomi Watts is a fantastic actress and always a delight to see on screen, but even she can’t save this movie. This is the definition of a “paycheck movie”, which a lot of actors do, but I thought Watts was better than. Kudos to her for giving a shit and actually trying, but it doesn’t help. Jacob Tremblay, who made a huge splash in last year’s Room, is essentially useless in this movie. It’s unfortunate such a young, talented actor is wasted in garbage like this. But, he’s got a long career ahead of him and will bounce back.
Shut In is one of 2016’s worst. With it’s lack of scares, dumb plot, and wasteful acting, the movie is yet another terrible horror movie that continues to plague cinemas.
MY RATING – 1/4
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