The Shrine
The Shrine
| 14 October 2010 (USA)
The Shrine Trailers

A group of young journalists investigate a cult said to practice human sacrifice, but their ambitious ways may lead them to becoming the cult's next victims.

Reviews
Buffronioc One of the wrost movies I have ever seen
ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
Lauren I had decided to just watch this after being intrigued by the summary and cover and since I'm a huge horror movie fan I always give everything a chance regardless of my expectations or reviews, sometimes you find gems that way. With the Shrine I felt like the movie had potential but failed in fully executing it. I'll admit there was parts that were surprisingly good and scary yet that was about it. The plot was full of holes, the acting mediocre.. I mean it is a B horror film so do not set high expectations and it was quite frustrating at times to watch in which u wonder why someone would put themselves in that situation but I guess it was part of the plot ..id say give it a shot but like I said don't expect much.
jlthornb51 A powerful horror film that features a stunningly moving performance by Aaron Ashmore and which is imaginatively directed by John Knautz. This motion picture is dark and disturbing, its atmospheric angst benefiting dramatically from what appears to be authentic Polish locations. When crazed fanatics from a insane Polish cult threaten the lives of an innocent group of tourists, the results are horrific, suspenseful, and unrelentingly awful in what is a very good horror film indeed. The imagery of the forest in the fog is especially haunting and the environment of Poland is simply chilling in itself. Flawed but well done movie of superior quality.
lathe-of-heaven I wasn't going to write a review because I felt that the ones here pretty much give a good idea as to the type of film it is. However, as I read many of the comments, I could see how VERY polarized the reviews are.So, I thought it might be helpful to TRY to give a general description to help people to determine whether they would enjoy it or not. Basically, this is the kind of movie that is ultimately rather simple and mostly ambiguous until the end. Some people here found it kind of boring, stupid, and confusing and really hated it. However, if you notice, it seems that most people here did like it; at least that is the way it seemed to shake out to me. I think the basic vibe and atmosphere of the film grabbed a lot of people and resonated with them, thus the strong positive reactions. But, apparently, not with all... So, what is the dividing factor?I liked the film and found it to be very creepy and suspenseful. But, I am the kind of person who REALLY likes atmospheric, ambiguous movies, probably because I have an EXTREMELY vivid imagination. So, my mind quite easily fills in all the supposed 'empty places' with more Horror and mood, even when things are not being explained very well. Also, you are VERY much left in the dark as to exactly what is going on right up until the end; so, if you are easily intrigued by this kind of Mystery, then you would be more likely to get caught up in it.Please note, the movie takes place in a foreign land. So the people pretty much ONLY speak their language and there are NO subtitles. This was clearly done DELIBERATELY to UP the Mystery quotient and to keep the audience guessing and wondering what the HELL is going on. And it REALLY works! You may or may not like that.So, all in all, this film is pretty much a simple, although effectively made, Old-School Horror film, made with kind of an Old Fashioned atmospheric style, not unlike some of the old really Gothic Hammer films, but more contemporary. Also, VERY importantly, it is religiously themed; some people either really love that type of film or they really don't, so keep that in mind.It is kind of difficult to explain this in a way to help others to see whether they would enjoy this movie or not. But, I would say that IF you are the kind of person who VERY EASILY AND QUICKLY gets caught up in a mystery where you DON'T really quite know what is going on, AND if you do like kind of Old-School, atmospheric, religiously themed Horror stories, THEN you have a good chance of enjoying it.I hope this helps...
GL84 Trying to investigate a missing person's case, a reporter and her friends travel to Poland to follow up on their clues only to find the suspect's involvement in a deadly cult and are forced to fight them off to get away alive.Overall this one turned out to be quite an enjoyable if slightly flawed effort. One of the better aspects to this one is the rather impressive and enjoyable atmosphere throughout here, which makes for a lot of impressive moments within here. The initial walk-through of the group of the village is quite impressive as there's a large amount of creepy visuals that are rightly observed to be their traditional way of life in such a situation and no moralizing is done anyway which is a nice touch while also really getting this going for the big reveal here in the revelation of the fog cloud surrounding the tree-line that's quite eerie as well. Those later scenes in the fog-cloud are highly creepy as well with the obscured trees and thick fog providing the perfect blanket for the reveal of the statue which is quite scary and chilling as well as the ensuing marks to get away that generates some fine action in the woodland chase and eventual escape as well as the brawling with the cult members and finally the film's first rather impressive scene in the sacrificial room. These chilling scenes and the eventual escape, resulting in the finale's absolutely delirious amount of chases through the woods and into the house on the outskirts, the demonic possession that follows the utterly chilling tactic of the deformed demons in her mind and finally into the big confrontation with the group at the end which makes for a lot of good, creepy images and ideas strewn throughout this one. Along with the gory kills, these positives are enough to hold off the few minor flaws in this one. The biggest one being the first half spending way too much time on ensuring that the whole trip is set-up for them to be cut off from help, with the errant cover-story and secrecy surrounding it all just filling up time needlessly by hammering it home when it's already been established about that fact. Also, the fact that this continues a long, long trend of films in which the entirety of the events could've easily been avoided had something useful been passed along to the participants instead of simply kept secret does render this one with a mildly irritating factor, but otherwise this one was highly enjoyable.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, violence-against-animals and children-in-jeopardy including an assumed violent kill.