Curtis works in the local sand mine and is married to Samantha (Jessica Chastain). Together they live with their hearing-impaired six-year-old daughter and the family dog. Their homely life soon becomes disrupted as Curtis is haunted by his disturbing visions; apocalyptic storm clouds gather, an oily rain comes and faceless assailants attack him and his child. After being savaged by the family dog in one particularly vivid dream, he finds the pain is very real for the remainder of the day.

The visions increase and continue to plague Curtis, affecting his grip on reality. As his perception of sense and terror begin to blur, he questions if this deepening inner torment is a genuine warning of impending doom or something much closer to home. When he decides to build a storm shelter in the garden, Curtis struggles to keep his family together and his friends onside, willing to risk everything for survival. The only question remains; is he hiding from the storm or from himself?

Take Shelter is a slow burner, understated in its execution, allowing Curtis time to develop his fears and anxiety. At its core the narrative is one man’s desire to protect his family, a parallel with Nichols who wrote the film at the beginning of the economic downturn having just become a husband and father himself. It’s the fear that something terrible is coming that drives Curtis. Jeff Nichols holds the film together, from his own script, with tight direction and arresting visuals. There’s a social realism that makes Curtis ordeal all the more terrifying as he is an everyman.

The leads are fantastic. Shannon, finally with a role worthy of his talents, is outstanding as Curtis, none more so than the scene where he erupts at a community gathering. It’s a powerful scene that illustrates Shannon’s range, as he is sympathetic and aggressive at once. As Samantha, Chastain brings compassion and affection to a wife struggling with her husband’s ever increasing erratic behaviour. There is tenacity to the character that anchors Curtis through his ordeal.

At 120 mins the film doesn’t feel as though it should end any sooner, the pace is gentle but never feels protracted. The final act is both heart breaking and heart-warming, to say any more would give it away.

Take Shelter is an excellent indie and I can’t wait for Nichols’ next film.

Movie Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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The first story on the disc, Valley of Shadow, descends into laughably bad very early on and only gets worse.

A woman organises an expedition to a rainforest to search for her missing husband but only serves to agitate the natives, who become violent. This is the worst short on the disc and is poorly executed in every single way imaginable, storytelling, acting, cinematography, editing (the editing!) – avoid at all costs.

Wet is marginally better and has Monahan playing the lead role, if you thought he couldn’t tell a story… His character finds a jade box buried on the beach that has a horrible creature living inside that shouldn’t be released. Needless to say that the warning he is given is ignored and the narrative plays out to an obvious conclusion. Yet again the direction and acting is hilariously bad, I’m embarrassed for those involved.

Finally we get a segment that is half way watchable, House Call, sees an elderly doctor called to a remote house to check on a worried mothers ill son who claims to have been bitten by a creature. The way this one is shot is a vast improvement on the previous two with some actual effort going into framing and cinematography.

It is dark, shadowy and with a crude effect in post looks dated, but again the story is familiar and dull.

I’m afraid to say the only saving grace this disc has is its running time, a paltry 78 mins. Don’t be fooled into buying this on the strength of Romero’s name, it seems any budget was blown on getting his name on the box to shift copies.

Movie Rating: ½☆☆☆☆ 

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Animals was completed in 2008 and has been seeking distribution since. I only hope T&C Pictures and Anonymous Content do not pride themselves on a quality back catalogue, having brought this forgotten monstrosity to DVD.

The plot, should you manage to find it amongst the soft-core eroticism, revolves around Jarrett (Marc Blucas), a down on his luck hick, meeting a beautiful stranger called Nora (Nicki Aycox) – who is running from her previous lover, the strangely miscast and underused Naveen Andrews. A strange human/animal hybrid that needs to feast on human blood. There is no explanation given for the animals, who and why they are or why they need human blood. Trying to follow the plot is about as much use as saying ‘I’ll be right back’ when ghost face from Scream is lurking in the shadows.

Once the animals appear the film reaches a new low, as they look unfinished and less convincing than a Saturday morning cartoon villain. It really is beggars’ belief that the creative forces behind the picture thought they were scary or intimidating, or even realistic. Though it can be argued that they have more emotion and grounding in reality than the horribly staged and grossly gratuitous sex scenes.

A huge proportion of the blame must lie at the feet of director Cassius and his cinematographer Matthew Williams, as the film is difficult to watch both as a narrative and as a coherent visual form – it is an assault on the eyes, with noticeably bad composition and camera movement. The editing isn’t great either.

Having cost a reputed $5m Animals is a train wreck from start to finish, the dialogue is appalling, the acting forgettable and special effects of the animals themselves laughable. If erotic horror/thrillers are your thing then give this cinematic catastrophe a miss and watch Species.

Movie Rating: ½☆☆☆☆ 

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Trailer:

Ghost Stories, written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, is the closest experience to a living horror film you will get.
Marketing departments across the globe will try to convince you that 3D is the next step of evolution in terror, yet having seen this theatrical delight I beg to differ. Few films can boast the level of suspense and thrill that the audience is subjected to, and there are moments of genuine icy cold terror scattered throughout the production.

An immersive experience begins as soon as you walk in off the street, as the entire theatre is themed for the event, with eerie sounds accompanying and dark, dank concrete walls and flickering light bulbs leading all the way from the foyer to your seat. As performance time draws closer, the tensions builds and screams start as the theatre suddenly goes black.

The show is set up as a lecture from Dr. Goodman (Nyman), a seemingly sceptical parapsychologist who begins with some debate about ‘ghosts caught on camera’. To all intents and purposes, the audience feels like they have attended a class in which they quickly become absorbed. He then moves on to sharing with us his life’s work; three recorded interviews from subjects who claim to have experienced the paranormal, or percipients as they are more formally known: a night watchman, a teenage driver and a businessman father-to-be.
As each interview is played back the story is brought to life on stage, with delicious direction and set design mixed with the illusion and slight-of-hand mastery you’d expect from Nyman, known for his work behind the scenes with Psychological Illusionist Derren Brown.

Upon leaving the theatre, a request is made to keep the secrets of Ghost Stories, and as such the wishes of the creative team will be honoured. It is safe to say, however, that this is the kind of production that leaves you analysing for days afterwards and begs for multiple viewings.
Even if you’re not much of a theatre goer you need to see this show. It is macabre, haunting, humorous, beautiful, moving and terrifying.

A master class in spine-tingling terror, no film has come close to this in a very long time.

Movie Rating: ★★★★★ 

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Shelter starts off promisingly enough.

After a court case and subsequent guilt-fuelled drinking binge – a problem that is hinted at but never explored – we follow Cara as she begins her standard questioning and testing regime with her new patient (who is initially a wheelchair bound man named David).
When Cara’s father, Dr. Harding (a warm turn by Jeffrey DeMunn) tricks his mind, by phoning the interview room and requesting another personality by name, David becomes Adam and Cara runs her tests again.
Here an interestingly peculiar anomaly arises in that one of his personalities is colour blind. Cara continually looks for the rational while her father challenges her to suspend belief and look beyond.

As Cara turns detective and delves deeper into Adam’s past she begins to realise all may not be as it seems.
The closer to the truth she gets the more danger seems to close in.

We’re made aware that Cara is devoted to God by her crucifix which is always on show, yet she is a ‘woman of science’ – surprisingly there is no strong narrative thread of battling ideologies.
Her daughter Sammie is a strong non-believer due to her father’s murder during a street mugging, and doesn’t believe any kind of God would allow this to happen. The religious undertones link into Adam’s history and the people he appears to be impersonating, each having died and been found with a cross etched in their back, and having previously lost their faith in God.
Faith, or lack of, is prominent throughout the film and one wonders if the creative forces behind the film are trying to hammer home a positive message about Religion.

The script plods through the second act at a very slow rate and unfortunately the film soon begins to meander its way into being a poor imitation of a drawn out X-Files episode.
Julianne Moore skulks around dark abandoned houses and questions the relatives of the dead people Adam is imitating, looking for clues that prove her theories and reveal her patient’s true identity.
Playful images, if a little clichéd, add to the supernatural element of the film with strange symbols cropping up in a desolate mountain village complete with obligatory strange mountain folk and dark figures lurking in the shadows.

There are interesting themes of witchcraft and exorcism in Adam’s motive which are force fed through a crude plot device but the audience are left to put the pieces together far too often, and with very little help from a script that lacks the intelligence to tie all the elements together.

The biggest mystery however is why Julianne Moore, an actress of true quality and numerous Oscar nods, signed onto the film in the first place.
She is far superior to the roles she has taken of late and her involvement in Shelter is no exception to this trend.

It is an average supernatural thriller that feels more like a forgettable television episode than frightening feature film.

Movie Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Shelter is in cinemas now.

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