Directed and co-written by Joe Knautz, this 2010 Polish film is a horror with a twist. The Shrine is his second feature length film. It tells the story of a journalist who is pursuing what she believes to be the next big story. It stars Aaron Ashmore (Killjoys, Warehouse 13), Cindy Sampson (Swamp Devil, The Last Kiss) and Meghan Heffern (Chloe, What If). The Shrine can be seen as a message to those who aspire to greatness. “Be careful of what you wish for” or “Don’t you think the bee story would have been safer?”
The story
Carmen (Sampson) is a junior journalist who wrote an expose that caused a lot of problems for her publication. Her punishment? She is given mediocre and banal stories to cover. Somewhat ironically, given the mysterious virus that is killing off honey bees in the real world, she is told to investigate and write about two separate beekeepers whose bees have suddenly and mysteriously died. Finding the prospect of talking to a couple of “bee farmers” fairly dull, she tosses the assignment in the bin.
The fledgling reporter has been following her own leads. She has discovered a possible link between a local lad who has gone missing from Poland. Like others before him, the boy’s luggage showed up in an airport miles from his last known destination. They are in a small town in Poland. Carmen talks her boyfriend Marcus (Ashmore) and her intern Sara (Heffern) into going to the village. She wants to learn what really happened to the missing local man.
The three fly to the area and begin their investigation. They find a spot in the woods that the backpacker described in his last diary entry. A place where smoke or fog hangs in one spot. The trio are chased out of the small town. Carmen, Sara and Marcus double back and check out the smoke filled copse.
Sara goes into the fog while Marcus and Carmen argue. She disappears and Carmen goes in after her missing intern. Enveloped by the dense fog, she finds a statue of a large snarling creature clutching a heart in one clawed hand. She takes a picture and as she moves to get another shot, the statues head followers her.
Interesting
The Shrine is an interesting film. Starting off as more a mystery than horror, it has all the signposts of turning into another Hostel or something very similar. However once the protagonists reach Poland, it ceases to be a mystery and goes slowly and effectively into a sort of quasi-religious horror film.
The filmmakers keep subtitles off the screen when the local villagers are talking to each other. The visiting Americans do not speak Polish. The townies though think the reporters are British. “English?,” asks one man, “Go back to England, English, nothing for you here.” The lack of subtitles keeps the viewer in the same space as the three young Americans.
The Shrine is not too dissimilar to Ashmore’s twin brother Shawn’s horror outing in The Ruins two years earlier. It looks like the hostile townies are trying to keep the outsiders out at first. Later they want to keep them there permanently.
The twist at the ending is not earth shattering but impressive enough. The film does end rather abruptly, but not too ambiguously. This all works. The combination of no subtitles and the short chopped off ending puts the audience firmly in the shell shocked shoes of Aaron Ashmore’s character.
The Verdict
Quite an entertaining horror film that scores a full 3.5 out of 5 and is well worth a look. True horror fans will enjoy this little gem. Streaming on AMC plus and IFC at the moment.
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