The Shrine (2010) User Reviews

Better than average horror pic

[alansmithee04 · 6/10 · 4 June 2011]

Yes, the script is kinda cheesy. Yes, the actors are blandly pretty. Yes, the characters do annoyingly dumb things in the woods. But there are some pretty decent aspects to "The Shrine" that make it worth the 90-odd minutes out of your life time to watch it.

First of all, it's not as entirely stupid as 99.9999% of horror movies currently in release. Early on there are some sequences which are, though derivative of J-horror, at least nicely scary. There's a very well done mid-movie change up and an ending that actually doesn't make you want to throw up your hands in disgust.

Faint praise, I know. But compared to the brain dead gore porn masquerading as horror films these days, this film's attempt to generate some real scares seems almost revolutionary by comparison. "The Shrine" is, at the very least, a pretty fair port in a storm of Hollywood crap.

A big fence and a warning sign or two: job done!

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 18 June 2016]

Investigative journalist Carmen (Cindy Sampson) travels to Kozki, Poland, with her photographer boyfriend Marcus (Aaron Ashmore) and intern Sara (Meghan Heffern) to try and find out what has happened to a missing American backpacker. There, they experience hostility from the locals, who are harbouring a terrible secret hidden by a strange fog in the middle of the woods.

At first it seems like The Shrine is simply another xenophobic horror, existing to perpetuate the myth that rural Eastern Europe is a backwards hellhole, and anyone from America foolish enough to pay a visit is destined to die a horrible death. In a rather neat twist at the end of the film, it transpires that the hostile locals are in fact the good guys (of a sort), desperately trying to prevent a terrible evil from possessing unwary travellers and escaping their village.

This neat, unexpected turnaround of events helps prevent the film from being a total disaster, but the fact is that, for much of the time, this is frustratingly routine stuff, the American characters predictably ignoring all warnings, doing their utmost to ensure that they wind up dead, and the Polish villagers acting in a threatening manner and carrying out grisly rituals, when all they really need to do is quarantine the area that is cursed (build a big wall or fence around the foggy part of the woods—problem solved).

What I learnt from The Shrine: all Polish 10-year-olds can confidently converse in English.

A fun alternative to the Horror norm

[terrible2 · 7/10 · 8 November 2011]

I wasn't expecting much when I sat down to watch "The Shrine". The premise looked all too familiar in a sea of excruciatingly bad horror titles. The opening scenes did little to quash my suspicions, however, I decided to stick it out and go for broke. I'm actually really glad I did.

There is very little contrived material here. The film sets up it's story and moves forward convincingly. While some of the dialog tends to border on silliness, a rather strong cast is able to deliver it in a believable fashion, which, along with the top notch cinematography, sets "The Shrine" apart from it's contemporaries. Yes, the Polish accents were brutal, as were the ceremonial robes, however the suspenseful scene direction more then makes up for it. It's one of those films, where as, you don't really care all that much about the characters, but you really dig what the film is doing with them. It's easy entertainment, and sometimes that's all it takes.

No, this is not a film that is destined for cult status or a franchise tag, but it is an enjoyable little horror film that reminds us of why we love this genre… Because it's fun.

Solid, fun horror flick for fans of the genre

[kafkandy · 18 July 2011]

I'll get this right out of the way - this movie didn't grab me at first. The first act has some problems with dialogue delivery and generally unlikeable characters.. but I gave the film time, and it really started to win me over. Some out-of-place CG fog notwithstanding, this is a very fun effort from the JACK BROOKS MONSTER SLAYER team (though I like Jack Brooks more). Partway through I started to care about everyone more, and by the end the film totally won me over. The last act is a ton of gory fun, feeling like a hybrid of The Exorcist, Rec 2 and The Evil Dead. Great practical make-up work. See this, I fully recommend.

Painfully Bad!

[lusciousmuffins · 1/10 · 10 June 2016]

So many things were wrong with this movie it's hard to know where to begin.

First, the plot itself makes less than no sense. Basically this reporter chick decides she needs to cover the disappearance of an American backpacker in Poland because "no one else cares". OK, so that's stupid thing number one because, FYI, if you ever disappear in Poland, I can promise you the State Department and the Polish government are going to look for you. But no, Carmen the fearless investigative journalist, is convinced that the missing guy is one of a long line of tourist who have mysteriously disappeared in some obscure Polish village.

So Carmen, super genius that she is, decides she's going to go check it out, even though her boss told her to drop it and assigned her to do a story about honeybees dying off in Oregon. Well,there's another super dumb plot point since the death of bee colonies actually is a real story, just not in the eyes of Carmen apparently.

Next you're supposed to believe that Carmen, not only convinces an intern to accompany her to Poland and lie to their boss about it, but also tricks her photographer boyfriend into coming along without giving him a heads up about what she's doing. Of course, no one from Carmen's company figures out that she and the world's stupidest intern are hopping on planes to Poland, not Oregon. Yeah right, that's super believable...

Naturally, about five minutes after they get to this obscure village things start going south. The boyfriend figures out he's been tricked by Carmen, whose master plan was to write such an amazing story about some random missing backpacker that her boss will forgive her for lying to him, bailing on her real assignment, and misusing company resources.

And how does Carmen plan to bust this whole mystery wide open? Why by ignoring all the adults in the village in favor of pressing the first pre-teen girl she sees for info about what happened to the backpacker because that makes soo much sense! Lucky for Carmen, even though they are in some super rural village in Poland all the kid's magically speak enough English to communicate with her.

Alright, so when everything starts to fall apart there's this whole thing with a perma-fog, a creepy statue in the fog that bleeds and curses people who look at it, as well as a bunch of religious dudes wandering around the village in full regalia looking menacing as they order everyone around. In addition to all that there's a shed in the middle of the forest that's actually an entrance to an underground mausoleum/shrine, a bunch of hackneyed religious symbolism, a whole lot of cheesy rituals, and the obligatory chase scenes in which the three Americans run around trying to escape the angry, seemingly backwards villagers.

Basically, about half-way through this movie you're hoping everyone dies because you just want the whole thing to end. Anywho, to make a long, dumb, boring story somewhat shorter, the villagers are only killing people who get a look at the statue because it turns them into satanic monsters. So, as is so often the case, the evil villagers turn out to be the good guys, protecting the world from damnation one cursed tourist at a time. Though, honestly, even if she hadn't have been possessed by the devil, killing Carmen would have been a service to humanity.

Equally as bad as the absurd and thoroughly unoriginal story line, was the dialog. I'm not sure how they finished filming this without someone screaming "Stop! No one talks like that!". Seriously, this movie had some of the most unnatural sounding dialog I've heard in a long time. For example, there was no way you were forgetting the characters' names because they repeated them in virtually every single line. Yep, nothing says "natural" like being alone with your girlfriend, but still starting each sentence with her name like she would forget who you were talking to if you didn't.

Another major problem were the costume. To say they were cheesy really doesn't begin to do justice to the poor choices whoever dressed the actors made. Half the villagers looked as though they escaped from a Dungeons and Dragons convention, while the other half looked Amish.

I sincerely cannot think of one charitable thing to say about this film. Personally, as a Polish American, I was appalled that they had to drag the country of my ancestors into this disasterpiece. This wasn't even bad enough to be funny, it was just bad all the way around.

A Pretty Smart and Effective Horror Flick

[KALE808 · 7/10 · 31 May 2011]

A couple of American journalists go to a small Eastern European village to investigate the mysterious death of a colleague.

Initially it seems like this might be another "Hostel" torture/gore type flick, but things are not what they appear in the first two-thirds of the movie. The director of Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer helmed this, and he has a good grasp of the genre.

What I liked was the straightforward plot device that is revealed at the conclusion. Pay close attention to what happens around the 32 minute mark because that's the basis for everything that follows.

The movie is fairly low budget, so don't go in looking for fantastic special effects, but they are serviceable. Also, this is not a keep-you-up-at-night type horror movie. It's more so the type that makes you think "What would I have done differently" to avoid what happened to these ppl.

How Did This Get a 5.6 Rating?

[ArdentViewer · 3/10 · 1 March 2015]

Aside from the first 10-15 minutes, there was no plot to speak of, only gore. I was never scared and ceased being startled, or interested, very early on. The fact that the majority of the film has a spoken language other than English - and no translation - only added to my disengagement. Why should I care what is going on if the filmmakers don't bother to tell me? I wonder if they didn't know, either - maybe it was simpler just to have a bunch of dialogue in a foreign language than deal with pesky details like character development and storyline. Wrapping things up in a neat little package in the last 5 minutes doesn't make up for the previous 45 minutes of senselessness.

I don't understand all of the positive ratings. How could anyone think this was a clever, well-done horror movie? I'm at a loss.

In Poland? I don't think so...

[endura-1 · 6/10 · 7 June 2011]

I'll get straight to the point. What is good about this film: an interesting plot - builds up suspension through the story rather than image, and......that is it. It could have made more sense if the director and his crew actually treated us to the real Polish countryside which I suspect they did not. Moreover 'Polish' folks are not Polish, some of them did not learn to speak their parts too well either. I mean seriously, how much more money would they have to spend to make it more authentic? In my opinion it took away the quality this film could otherwise have. Also that bit where the 'main priest' talks a lot while sacrificing the scapegoat (possessed). He makes a contribution to the Christian God according to the prayer he utters (literally Lord's Prayer). Perhaps something more original would add more suspension? On the other hand screen-writer's choice might have been deliberate, for example, to demonise Christian faith a little etc. Overall watchable but some wasted potential.

The Doze-off

[artpf · 1/10 · 19 December 2011]

Horrible movie.

Just another flick with...

An unbelievable plot.

Poor writing.

Poor acting.

Incomprehensible directing.

Horrible special effects (bring out the two dollar rubber masks).

And a lengthy exposition that leads no where.

You will regret putting this DVD in your player.

The first third is boring and dumb.

The second third suggests you are going to find out something behind the craziness...but you don't.

And then there is the last third which I swear is as if you are watching a different movie -- the Exorcist! It's simply bad!

Sincerely creepy movie w/the right amounts of fright & gore

[scarletheels · 7/10 · 7 March 2012]

A hard-nosed journalist, Carmen (Cindy Sampson, Supernatural), her boyfriend, Marcus (Aaron Ashmore, Smallville), and an intern, Sara (Meghan Heffern, Almost Heroes), travel to Alvania to investigate the disappearance of Eric Taylor, the last person of many reported to have vanished after visiting the small Polish village. In the distance is a large patch of dense fog hovering above the forest, the same phenomenon documented in Eric's journal. The three of them make their way to the woods, only to be confronted by a group of men who dissuade the trio to proceed any further.

However, Carmen convinces Marcus and Sara to examine the fog following a confession that her boss thinks she and Sara are back in the states covering a scoop on bees. Her career is ruined if she doesn't return with a killer story. Sara enters the fog first and then Carmen, while Marcus stays just beyond the fog's edge. At different times, both women stumble upon a menacing statue, seemingly serving no purpose other than to scare the bejesus out of anyone who has the misfortune to encounter it.

After fleeing the fog, all three are hunted down by the same men who warned them to leave. Marcus is forced by gunpoint to dig his own grave while Carmen and Sara are brought to a secret sacrificial chamber, stripped of all of their clothing and made to wear the same white gown that they found the deceased Eric dressed in. This is the point of the movie where I almost shut it off, presuming it to be another torture porn flick. That may be your thing but it's not mine.

It turns out that this low-budget horror movie written and directed by Jon Knautz is a well-crafted thriller with better acting than most of its genre, with the exception of Ashmore who appears really damn angry about everything throughout the entire film. The build is slow but those who have the tenacity to stick it through will be rewarded. This is sincerely a creepy movie with the right amounts of fright and gore.

Speaking of gore, there are a couple of scenes in particular that may give you the dry heaves if you're not a horror veteran but if you can handle a film like the The Ruins, you can survive The Shrine. I'd endorse this flick to mainstream audiences who want to watch a horror movie now and then to experience some cheap scares without sex/nudity/torture.

Garbage and an insult to all of Poland

[krycek19 · 1/10 · 13 May 2016]

Polish people are not living in medieval times. Contrary to what stupid bigot Americans, that has never been outside America, much less in Europe might think, polish people are just as modern as the rest of us. Al though not as stupid as Americans who believe something like this actually takes place in real life.

The lead is an incredibly stupid woman who gets what she deserves at the end of the movie.

Do not watch this, unless you're a stupid retarded American. To us Europeans and people with a normal intelligence it's sheer torture to sit through this crap.

Do not believe the crap either, where people are comparing this to Hostel. Hostel is a lot better and has a good story, good acting, real suspense and horror. Everything this load of crap lacks!!!

original horror for 2010

[fragleswamp · 8/10 · 25 July 2010]

More intelligent than many horror films. Yes it is a horror film, but it is not all gore and guts. Note that it does not fall into the other end of the spectrum as just a thriller either (there is some blood). It is an original, well done production that strikes me as unlike most of the horror of 2010.

The strong points would be better acting than many films of the genre, characters that are smarter than most horror movie characters (they still do some stupid things, but they don't know they are in a horror movie), and some nice creepy effects.

If you watch it then be aware that when people are not speaking English and there are no subtitles this is intentional. There is nothing wrong with the version you are watching. Hang in there. Context will tell you what you need to know.

Better than the reviews

[culmo80 · 7/10 · 20 July 2012]

I didn't expect much from this movie, but came away pleasantly surprised.

This movie went under the radar, mostly because it was a smaller studio with unknown actors...but then again, what was the last good horror movie from a major studio with big actors? I'm finding that these smaller projects are much better horror films than the drivel coming out of Big Hollywood these days.

Anyway, the acting is good, the special effects pretty good, the plot line is exceptional, and the setting is perfect.

Just be aware, the subtitles are not there on purpose (if you are watching the English version). The idea is that the main characters don't know Polish, so the viewer will be just as in-the-dark as the characters. A very clever (though not entirely novel approach) but it works great with this film.

The plot, if you don't know already, involves an ambitious journalist, her intern, and her frustrated boyfriend traveling to Poland to write a story on missing tourists from one area. They find the village and it appears to be a bit different; almost stuck in an earlier time period. The townspeople are very distant, bordering on hostile.

At this point, you might guess that this is some sort of Hostle/Wicker Man knockoff, but be prepared to be surprised.

This movie is worth watching. Don't let the bad reviews turn you away...you'll enjoy this movie!

Spoilers:

Even after the two girls go into the fog, I was still not expecting where the plot went. I still assumed that this was some group of devil- worshippers or something like that. I think the movie has this as a strength; there are so many movies that have that same tired template and it was really a good surprise to see something new. The bad guys are not really the bad guys at all in this one.

I also loved the shrine in the fog...that made the movie for me. It was just perfect. I also love how the entire story around it was not fully explained...just given a vague overview at the very end. You can sort of figure it out: the shrine likely is the embodiment of Satan left on earth after he was expelled from Heaven or something like that.

The ending was also very creepy. I was really not expecting the girl to become the demon or Satan and become a monster that had to be killed.

Painfully Mediocre

[misanthr0pist · 5/10 · 14 October 2020]

An excellent premis for a movie, but the execution was terribly average. The dialogue and acting was sub-par in most cases, but the visual effects and set design balanced that out a little. The movie fell apart in the third act, in which it resembles more of an exorcism movie rather than a horror movie centred around a Polish cult.

A decent one to chuck on with a beer and a couple of bongs. The ritual scenes were particularly fun and interesting to watch.

TLDR: Some scenes were fun, but overall an average movie. 5/10

Great story, Terrible acting

[andreas-hein1993 · 5/10 · 19 August 2013]

The Shrine has a very intriguing story, with some great twists, but the acting in this movie was less than decent. 5/10

The story of The Shrine is not completely new, but it was different from most recent horror movies. The plot can be predictable here and there, but overall it is very refreshing and will keep you exciting for whats coming next.

Unfortunately this movie really proved that bad acting can ruin a good movie experience. I believe that with a few tweaks and a complete recasting this movie could have been amazing, but quite frankly it felt like Aaron Ashmore was the only actor in this movie who managed to deliver a half believable performance. Most of the dialog was stale and generally just felt like they were rehearsing their lines for the first time.

On another note, the pace of this movie was very satisfying throughout most of it. the beginning felt pretty slow, but honestly it would not have been a problem if the main characters had been more likable and properly portrayed. As we head further into the movie, the pace quickly speeds up, and with the unsubtitled polish dialog, it can be easy to miss something. This is not such a bad thing in my opinion, as it is a long story with several twist that requires a thoroughly fast pace to be shown in the time of a single film.

Why should you watch this movie? If you have had enough of the usual paranormal activity-like horror movies that has been released the last couple of years, i promise you this will be a refreshing experience. The story is imaginative, and somewhat unpredictable, you are kept unaware of who the actual hostile entity is until the very end. All in all the story of this movie really impressed me, this story will make you remember this movie far longer than you will remember most recent cheesy horror movies. However a warning is due. If good acting is important to you, this movie might be painful to watch.

Helix' Horrible Reviews

Very Good Horror Film

[jlthornb51 · 7/10 · 9 May 2015]

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.

A waste of time.

[petraxpoison · 2/10 · 25 July 2011]

The Shrine is one of very few horror films that I really regret watching. Keep in mind that this is my first review and I decided to write it just to keep all of you people from making the same mistake I did. Here we go.

I'm from Poland so when I first read the plot summary, I was kind of hoping I'll be able to feel the atmosphere of my home country with a little scary twist to it. And I was highly disappointed. The atmosphere was non-existent and the location on which the movie was set wasn't even anywhere near Poland. All of it was just a lie and a big mistake. Same thing with the actors. When you insist on making a movie about foreigners, the least you can do is make sure that your actors speak the language properly and not screw up the accent. Fail. I speak mandarin better than most of those 'polish people' from the movie speak polish.

Now, before I get to the plot, let me just say that I totally understand that The Exorcist was a classic and an amazing movie, and that it felt so real watching it that you automatically fall in love with stories about demonic possession. But that doesn't mean you can just steal or copy major scenes and ideas from the movie, because - let's face it: it's obvious that it just won't work.

So the whole story seemed to be written by someone who was half asleep and having some wild dreams. We see a Hollywood beauty with a journalist license, who obviously isn't the big thing in her company anymore and barely manages to keep her job. Somehow, out of nowhere, she finds this God-forsaken story about some people going missing in Europe. So she grabs her co-worker and her boyfriend and decides to go on an excellent adventure. It obviously goes wrong. I mean, it's a horror movie, what could one possibly expect?

First of all, for some reason the writers decided to add a bit more depth to the plot by sticking some completely pointless ideas in random places in the storyline, like haunting the poor journalist or adding an innocent little girl that was supposed to lead the three main characters into an ambush. They also apparently felt that the basic, well-known ritual of an exorcism was too boring and overrated, so they changed it and made it weird and barbaric without even giving a single hint about the point of doing it or the difference it was supposed to make. We also have no idea why the people in the village are so afraid and unfriendly to the foreigners, when their place of origin has nothing to do with the actual issue.

Let's get to the acting and characters. None of the characters in the movie has anything about them that's not skin deep. They have no personality, no past, they're just puppets doing what they're told and the rest of their lives just doesn't matter. And the actors aren't even trying to make it seem like there's more to it. In the end of the day we have a group of people running around and doing stuff, and that's it. The worst thing is that the writers fell asleep again before they bothered to explain any of the characters' motivations. So again, we still have no idea about anything at all.

Technical stuff. The special effects are quite bad, especially when it comes to gore, and the fog in the forest looks like it's just a blurry white-ish background for a yearbook picture. The music might as well be Avril Lavigne as it doesn't create any mood at all. The camera work is just typical for a horror movie, with a lot of close-up shots and the habit of making you stare at a character's feet or back as they walk down a path in the forest. Nothing new. And certainly nothing exciting.

Overall feeling? Well, it was kind of funny. And we all know horror movies aren't supposed to be funny.

Good guiding idea, badly executed.

[malthenielsen · 6/10 · 31 January 2019]

So I've seen a few low budget horrors, that looks like some college friends made it with a shoebox budget, so I don't mind it looked cheap. However, some of the sets did indeed look very settish, it looked more like a dungeon in an amusement park than a real dungeon. I liked a lot that the Polish characters spoke untranslated Polish, and I found the caricature of Poland funny.

The basic problem with the movie was that the authors seemingly had concentrated on the last final plot twist - the last scene was very good indeed! - and all that came before it was more or less unimportant random buildup. Almost no creativity had been spend on character motivation along the way - it was established that the Carmen character was selfish and get the story at all costs, so during the movie they just had the characters barge into trouble constantly with her leading - the intern just tagging along like a dog and her boyfriend complaining about it, but following anyway without much ado. You need to work more on the single scenes, small things like explain why they couldn't find their car again - it shouldn't be far away, but they just completely gave up finding it ever again. preferring to steal another one at gunpoint! I didn't get why they lost the car.

The intern character was terrible, being completely devoid of any motivation or anything. She was there for fodder, because the movie needed another person killed to explain what the ritual was. There was no explanation why she wants to follow a crazy person to Poland. She needed more scenes, to give her a reason to come along. Why not spend 30 seconds explaining she wants to do the Poland thing to get famous instantly because ... uhm, she needs money desperately for her medical bills or something. Just make her more interesting, she's in the movie anyway, so make her interesting. Give her a quirky sense of humour, have her constantly talk about her weight problems, anythinh.

The beginning of the movie was *really* bad. The whole thing about Carmen just flatly disobeying her boss was weird - I was not sure if she was supposed to be stupid or smart? If the moviemakers had made it more obvious that this was potentially a biiig media story, yes OK, I get why she would go to Poland, and we know she is a smart and selfish Lois Lane kind of reporter. But a story about a random dead tourist to me just isn't such a big story, that you want to risk your career for it - I don't really see why it is better than the bee story she scoffed at. (Why she didn't want do to that, seemed no problem to wrap that up before going to Poland?) If the script writers had made the dead guy the son of a president or pop star or something, well that could explain why it was a potential scoop.

I think also they should have included the intern in the buildup, make it partially her idea to bail on the bees and go to Poland, and have her lie blatantly to the photographer. It would make it more like they girls, were the evil ones and he deserved to survive, and it was for a reason they looked at the statue.

Giving it a 6 anyway because it has some memorably scenes, I feel like I am being generous.

Have other options

[laurenreyes · 4/10 · 20 January 2016]

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.

Destination Poland

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 1 November 2011]

The action of Canadian horror flick "The Shrine" takes place in a small Polish village of Kozki,where several young Americans vanished without a trace.The story of various disappearances is the main interest of Carmen,a young fame and money-hungry journalist.She and her assistant Sara and her photographer boyfriend Marcus travel to Poland to solve the mystery.The locals in Kozki are not friendly and there is an esoteric cult which practices blood sacrifices and has leaders shouting litanies in laughably bad Polish.The portrayal of Polish villagers in "The Shrine" is obnoxious and downright silly,but being Polish I had a total blast watching this crappy horror extravaganza.The story owes a lot to Robin Hardy's "The Wicker Man" and mushroom trip like visions of demonic faces are quite creepy.The soundtrack is minimalistic and there is a bit of great gore.7 angry Poles out of 10.

should have gone with the bees.....

[FlashCallahan · 2/10 · 28 August 2011]

After a young American backpacker goes missing in Europe, a group of journalists link his disappearance to a remote village in Poland.

They travel there hoping to get the story, but as they unravel the secrets behind this mysterious village, they are suddenly pursued by hostile locals.

Unable to escape, they soon become the next victims of ritualistic human sacrifice.

Forced into the gruesome reality of true survival horror, the journalists soon discover that this village hides a much darker secret than they could ever imagine....

Another month, another rancid horror movie based on a missing person. Like the Wicker man, the hero/s go in search of a missing person, whose last entry into a journal was when he was in Poland.

The journal gives them advice in a roundabout way, advising them to stay away, so they.....go.

Getting info from a Young girl, who appears to be only who can speak English is never a good idea, so they follow her.

So thats the kind of movie you are dealing with, people going ginto the woods when they shouldn't, and being chased by pagans.

The acting isn't that bad, but the blue screen is one of the worst i have endured.

It's predictable on the verge of offensive, and the extra mark is for one disturbing scene that involves a statue.

Don't believe the positive reviews, chances are you've seen this movie a hundred times before, and a hundred times better.

very pleasantly surprised!!!

[ronancraven · 10/10 · 2 June 2011]

just watched this film tonight and joined IMDb subsequently due to how impressed i was. got home from work late and turned the lights off and put the horror on. film flew by from start to finish. i watch a lot of horrors and think about eighty percent are rubbish, however this was very engrossing. acting all round was excellent(didn't expect that) and story was kind of believable which is odd for this type of film. very intelligently made film. everything made sense from start to finish. short sweet and to the point film. no messing about. i don't like drawn out two hour plus films. no comedy in the film which i like. if i want to watch a comedy, i pick a comedy. not the best film i seen in my life but for what it is, very impressive. well, I'm kind of to the point myself so hope anyone who watches it enjoys it. doubt anyone could dislike it. and congratulations to anyone involved in the film and hope there's bigger projects in the pipeline.

Some secrets are better left in the woods...

[paul_haakonsen · 7/10 · 17 August 2013]

"The Shrine" was actually a nice surprise of a horror movie. I have been putting off watching it up until now, despite this coming out in 2010. And the joke is on me, it would seem, because I had initially thought this to be just another mediocre horror movie, given the story synopsis. However, "The Shrine" turned out to be quite interesting, compelling and entertaining.

There was this strange late 1980's horror movie feel to it, yet spiced up with today's horror genre elements. And the combination worked out well. Especially because the movie build up some good moments, and had a great twist to it.

The story in "The Shrine" is about three Americans who travel to Poland, looking for a missing American. Here in the Eastern parts of rural Europe, they stumble upon a dark secret and a vile cult deep in the forest. With their curiosities getting the better of them, the Americans soon find themselves on the shrine, about to be sacrificed to a dark deity.

I was especially thrilled about the whole thing with the fog in the forest; it was just spectacular. That really brought a good dimension and aspect to the movie; an element of suspense and wonder. The scenes in the fog were nicely filmed and choreographed, and when the statue was revealed, it was just eye-candy. That statue was as menacing as it was intriguing. Great details here with this.

The acting in the movie was good as well. Mind you, this is a horror movie, so it is not exactly award-winning material. But still, people brought something good with them to the movie and really fleshed out the characters nicely on the screen.

Effectswise, then "The Shrine" was quite good as well. As I mentioned earlier, the fog in the forest was really cool. But also the make-up and special effects for the demonic creatures was quite cool. As was the make-up on the possessed victim.

"The Shrine" is not the type of horror movie that will leave you having to sleep with the lights on, nor is it the type of horror movie that will shock you again and again. It is, however, the type of horror movie that slowly seeps in and festers in the back of your brain.

I am rating "The Shrine" a 7 out of 10 stars because it is one of the better horror movie that I have seen in a while. "The Shrine" is entertaining and thrilling, and it is well worth a watch if you haven't already seen it.

Do some research

[psawye5 · 11 September 2011]

I think the part that got me most is when the main characters asked the little girl if she heard of America, and she responded by saying "Cheesburgers?". I mean, what is this, 1960 cold war Romania? What was with those outfits? They looked more like 1800 style American farm dresses. I think if I were Polish, I would be insulted. If there were actually any people left in Poland still wearing traditional outfits in some small town, at least get some idea of what one looks like. I cannot believe that a film maker who gets funds to produce a movie does not take the time to do one days worth of research that would make a movie more authentic(forgetting the fact that even in the smallest town in Poland, they wear jeans). Besides that, the movie was poorly acted, though it did have some scary moments.

don't watch this movie !!

[agata-szparadowska · 1/10 · 11 February 2012]

how it's possible first of all that it have 5,6 stars !!?? If they r making a movie bout Poland, please do make it in Poland and please do some research before. Ppl in this movie look like they r from 1940's, and Poland doesn't look like that only one thing that OK is in the beginning of movie the when they show the town from there onward everything is wrong even polish Ppl don't speak with polish accent !!! like what the hell !!!! U CAN ACTUALLY GOOGLE POLAND AND FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT THE COUNTRY BEFORE MAKING SUCH A WASTE OF TIME AS THIS MOVIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it just makes me so mad....like how can u do a movie bout a place that actually exists and do it so bad especially nowadays !!! we polish people do not live in middle-ages !!!! we have everything same as anywhere else in the world - and this movie put Poland in such bad light !!