Shelter (2010 film)

Plot

After the death of her husband, Dr. Cara Harding's (Julianne Moore) faith in God has been shaken, but not her belief in science. In an attempt to get her more open to accepting unexplainable psychiatric theories, her father (Jeffrey DeMunn) introduces her to Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a patient with multiple personalities who also takes on some of the physical characteristics of his other personalities. Cara quickly discovers that his other personalities were murder victims; and the more she finds out about Adam and his past, the closer she and her loved ones are to becoming victims themselves. Cara then meets Adams mother, Mrs Bernberg, who tells her that Adam may have killed her husband but says that one of his personalities did the job for him as the man was an abusive alcoholic. Adam becomes more aggressive to those around him including Cara. David is the good half of Adam, while Wesley is the wild psychotic side that is beginning to take over. The film ends when Cara's daughter, Sammy gets kidnapped by Wesley, who plans on using her body as a vessel for his personalities. The plan is thwarted and Cara strangles him to death and saves Sammy, but the fate of Sammy is left ambiguous as it is never revealed if the plan had worked or not.

Cast

Production

Much of the film was shot in various locations across the Pittsburgh, PA region. Locations used include: Downtown Pittsburgh and its bridges, the Fort Pitt Tunnel, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Jones Hall at Community College of Allegheny County, Ritter's Diner near Shadyside, Spin Bartini & Ultra Lounge in Shadyside, various locations in Braddock including the Braddock Carnegie Library and home of Mayor John Fetterman, a residence in the city's Schenley Farms neighborhood, the Collier maintenance yard, and a recreated 17th century Native American village at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter. Peter Martorano, the film's location manager, worked with the Pittsburgh Film Office.

Release

The United Kingdom release was set with a cinema release on April 9, 2010.

Reception

The film has been met with entirely negative reviews, garnering a 4% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Mike Sheridan from Entertainment.ie gave the film two stars out of five stating Shelter is "A thriller desperately trying to throw the audience off at every corner, just as writer Michael Cooney's previous screenplay effort Identity did to mostly stellar effect, Shelter is instead a whole lot of stupid wrapped in moody packaging." Mark Harrison from Den of Geek gave a more positive review, calling it "horror by numbers, but it's at least sparing with whatever felt tip pen denotes ‘jump scares'".