Shelley (2016) Reviews

• Chilling and effective. A slow-motion nightmare.

  Red_Identity2016-08-05

  This is the kind of slow-burn horror film that really, truly gets under your skin. the type of horror film that America doesn't make (although the last two years that has been changing, with flicks like The Babadook, It Follows, and The Witch). This won't be for every horror fan, especially those that want more craziness or loud jump scares. Instead, what the film does is establish its characters very well and from then on it lurks and creeps you out until you become more and more terrified by what's happening on screen. It's exactly the type of film that really lingers on the mind and I really hope more people seek it out.

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• The new and improved Rosemary's Baby

  cjs65472016-12-11

  A subtle horror film not without its moments of suspense and utter creepiness. We follow Elena (accountant turned housekeeper, for some reason) who gets close to her employers (a couple who live in an isolated house without modern amenities, for some reason). She wants to save money quickly to go back to her son and so agrees to be surrogate mother for their baby. The film was too slow for some, so if you need quick doses of jumpscares and shock tactics, this isn't one for you. However, I found the departure from mainstream action horror and script to be very refreshing. I was not bored at any point in the movie, because it does an excellent job of building character and relationships in the first half hour. If anything, I was impatient to see where it was all leading, because the story has some unpredictable turn of events. Not a lot was answered by the open ending, so you need to pay attention to little details throughout the film, and theories will inevitably run amok with plenty of evidence for more than one horror scenarios. Also, it is always a good sign when you can sympathize will ALL of the characters (which are few to be sure, but very well played). It is the most convincing horror movie to come out in a while, and I recommend it to anyone who can get roped into a horror story without a sense of urgency.

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• DIsturbing, but incredibly slow paced.

  manuelasaez2016-08-07

  Like watching a Tarantula molt, this film is incredibly fascinating, disturbing and effective. But, man, is it slow! Everything happens at a snails pace, and regardless of how thought provoking the events are, it does not excuse the pace of this supposed "horror" film. I am all for a slow-burn, in fact, I prefer them to teenage jump scares and other sophomoric tactics. But this movie literally made me want to watch it at 2X the speed, just so that people would pick up the f-ing pace. You know how there are movies that would have been effective if the creative teams knew how to just get to the good parts and edit themselves accordingly? This is one of those films. Had they been more overt with the horror elements, and made things flow just a bit faster, this would have been a worthy addition to the "baby horror" sub-genre. As it stands, it plods along, thinking it is being suspenseful, but in reality, it's just not getting there fast enough. Not recommended, as I am unsure that even the most ardent "slow-burn" fan will appreciate the pace of this film. That being said, the acting is superb, and the cinematography is top-notch.

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• Don't lose your time. This crap doesn't even have a plot.

  etsenberg2016-08-13

  I trusted to the good reviews above, and it was a big mistake. This movie is not just slow-paced and boring - it just ends with no explanation of what was happening. The only thing you can guess - "probably there is some evil in this baby", but you guessed it from the very beginning and didn't need 1.5 hour for that. What kind of evil? Why? What's going to happen next? Did the husband die and appear in the house as a ghost, or did he just return home? No answers. The whole "plot" can be told in several phrases. A rather old woman never could carry a baby, so she and her husband ask their Rumanian worker Elena to be a surrogate mother. Elena agrees, but as her pregnancy progresses, she gets health problems and feels disgust to the baby, eventually trying to kill the girl in her womb. The doctors save the baby; Elena disappears from the plot. Then the husband begins to feel the similar disgust (for no reason) and tries to move the baby away from the house, but his wife prevents it (maybe killing him or maybe not) and returns home with the baby. Her husband is shown behind her. The end. There is NOTHING else in the whole movie, literally NOTHING.

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• Well made - not for everyone

  RussHog2016-12-18

  Look - I cannot imagine what it takes for a group of dedicated professionals to film a horror movie like Shelley. The countless time spent to get the shots right. The lights. Makeup. Actors. For all of the effort taken to make a movie look gorgeous and haunting - one might consider a script that takes less risks to alienate the audience with artistic decisions and instead uses a story with more clarity and a stronger reversal of expectation. This movie is really well made - the story begins with a Romanian girl who goes to live with her boss and his wife in the woods - but they have no electricity. This seems strange - and soon it gets even more strange when our young heroine agrees to be a surrogate mother for the couple. She becomes pregnant and soon there are signs of darkness - eerie dreams and a visit from a black hound. Then her body begins to decay as the life inside of her grows. This gets worse and more painful to experience for her and for the audience as well. Then - the film gets very strange and pretty scary but I honestly admit I had a hard time following the story. I believe the Romanian girl dies giving birth? Or - she goes missing? Or - she stays in the house but is out of sight? The couple begin to raise the child but soon they too have dark experiences and seem to be going down the same path as the surrogate mother. There is a final moment that sheds some profound insight into intimacy and childbirth that is pretty chilling - but it is also very confusing and full of symbolism that may have passed me by. Our conclusion is a final shot - and I am not sure what I saw - but I think the young Romanian girl who served as the surrogate mother looms in the background and observes the current mom as she holds the baby - and the baby seems to enjoy the fact it's birth is death itself. I think it's an evil demon - or Satan - or something - but honestly I dunno. I have watched a lot of horror movies and I have seen this type of end before - ambiguous and puzzling, perhaps to a fault. Yet I admit that as a man I might need to understand the pain of giving birth and the psychological horror of what could go wrong that all pregnant woman - may experience. This movie is 100% worth it if you love horror and want to watch a well made film. It is intelligent and controversial and artistic - and some of the creative choices are confusing. I look forward to another film by this filmmaker.

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