The Shrine - 2010

I found this movie by complete accident and ended up falling in love with it. There is always something to be said about a movie that has a death scene within the first five minutes. There is a beautiful simplicity to this film. It does not have over the top special effects. Something I really love, it lets the environment and ambient sound almost be characters themselves. There is Polish spoken in this film and it is not translated which adds to the creep factor for me a bit because there is an unknown as to what they are saying or why they are doing what they are doing.

The main characters in this story are Carmen, an ambitious young journalist who disobeys her boss’ orders to follow a story that she thinks is more important and a way to prove herself after a controversial story gets her knocked down a few pegs. Her photographer boyfriend, Marcus, who loves her but the relationship is strained. And, poor sweet Sarah, who ends up going along because she is too sweet to say no.

When a backpacker ends up missing in Europe and his journal reveals more to his disappearance than most are seeing, Carmen decides to take it upon herself and head out to find out what is going on. This is where the plot picks up and holds you to the final frame. All the colors in this film are subdued as well as the music is very light and unassuming. Instead, allowing ambient sound and deep drums to add to the eerie tone.

The gore in this film is pretty minimal, but that only helps the effect when you do see it. The tension plays well into this film as well because it doesn’t reveal too much at any given time. As well as the use of light and dark to add to the tension, as well as the use of fog and limited vision. The subtle appearance of demonic visages adds to the jump scares of the film. The supernatural aspect of the moving is just right, it is subtle not over the top and it moves the film along well, not too quickly nor does it make the film disjointed. The cast is rather small, which stops the film from feeling overly cluttered. And the cast is young and work together really, really well. So let’s talk about them for a bit, shall we?

Our first cast member is Carmen, played by the lovely Cindy Sampson. With a career that started back in the late ’90s, Cindy is not unknown to TV fans from her roles in “The Riverman” (2004) about the Green River Killer, The wildly popular series “Supernatural” as well as the 2016 series “Rogue” and “Private Eyes”. Carmen isn’t a bad character she is just a shining example of what can happen when you strike out on your own and don’t think things through completely. She is a bit self-centered and kind of pushy when she knows what she wants and doesn’t really stop and think of who else her actions are going to affect. But, even with all that, her heart is in the right place as she moves through the film trying to find the missing backpacker and then why things happened the way they did.

Our next cast member is Sara, played by the very beautiful Meghan Heffern. This beautiful little actress was pretty well known to the TV movie and series crowd with roles in such series as “Lovebites” (2007),

and “Wild Roses” (2009).

Her role in this movie is the sweet innocent Sara. The young intern who ends up following Carmen to Poland with tragic consequences. After her role in “The Shrine”, she went on to have roles in the series “Aaron Stone” (2010), “Almost Heroes” (2011), “Blue Mountain State” (2010-2011), and “Backpackers” (2013-2015). Most recently you can see her in the series “American Gothic” (2016) and she has a role in the 2016 film “Serialized” as well as the 2017 film “Chokeslam”. Sara is one of those characters that you really just adore because her sweetness and innocence really balance well with the rest of the characters. I look forward to seeing her future projects.

Our final cast member is Marcus, played by Aaron Ashmore. Aaron is another TV actor that made the leap into films. Some people will recognize him from such films as “The Safety of Objects” (2001), “The Skulls II” (2002) and such TV series as “1-800-Missing” (2005-2006), the wildly popular “Veronica Mars” (2004-2006).

Marcus is Carmen’s photographer boyfriend who ends up agreeing to go on this trip as a way to help her out and spend time with her. He is not the kind of character that really deep. The depth of his character is pretty shallow. Not that he is completely unlikeable, he is just not that much of a memorable character. After his role in “The Shrine”, he went on to have roles in the TV series “Smallville” (2006-2011), “XIII: The Series”(2011), the popular “Warehouse 13” (2011-2014). Most recently you can see him in the TV series “Killjoys” (2015-2016) and the 2016 film “22 Chaser”.

This film is not a deep film that will take you hours to figure out. But it is a fun Saturday afternoon film. It is a great almost panda friendly film if you are looking for something that doesn’t quite make the list but is not so over the top that it is going to traumatize your panda to the point they never watch a film with you again. And should you ever travel and you enter a village where they don’t seem all that happy to see you. You should probably just keep walking on the road as far and as fast as you can.

2 of 5 - There is a bit of side boob.

4 of 5 - Small cast, high death count

3 of 5 - Has it gory moments but it is not over the top

3 of 5 - It has a bit of jump scares and the demonic visages may bother some viewers

3 of 5 - This film just misses the panda friendly list. But it is great if you are looking for something that is just a bit more off the list but not quite so far to bother people.

Recommendations:

Absentia

The Den

Grave Encounters 1 and 2

The Pact