Shelter

This is about as good as it gets, as tense as it gets, and as eerie as it gets!
Starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the lead roles, Shelter is a chilling supernatural thriller in the vein of Identity and Fallen – but different and really quite unique.

Dr. Cara Jessup (J. Moore) is a forensic psychiatrist who has built her career on defying the notions of multiple personality disorders. The fact that her husband was horrifically murdered and that her views as an expert witness against multiple personality disorders have resulted in the death sentence of numerous criminals won’t stop her from strongly believing in God. The same can’t be said for her young daughter Sam, a strict non-believer. However, since her husband’s death, Cara is devoted more than ever to her daughter.

One day, her father Dr. Harding introduces her to his latest patient Adam (J. Rhys Meyers), another multiple personality sufferer. The more she probes him, the darker are the secrets she discovers about him - the darkest one being that all his multiple personality characters are murder victims. One of them had been murdered when Adam was only a six-year old boy. When Cara decides to confront Adam with Mrs. Bernburg (Frances Conroy), the victim’s mother, both are in for a shock: Adam knows of an item that Mrs. Bernburg always carried in her pocket, something that only she and her dead son could have known about.
As Cara digs deeper into Adam's past (and past should be taken very literally here), she begins to question her beliefs in science as well as in God. While her faith is tested to the limit, it is now a race against time to solve the sinister mystery surrounding her father’s patient, or the life of her family could be at stake.

The story starts on a relatively slow pace, with the tension and the shocks gradually building up. But where it succeeds the most is that it allows its characters to fully unfold on screen. It might be the fact that the film was directed by a Swedish duo that the colours somehow remind of Scandinavian series like Wallander, but it perfectly works here – adding an additional touch of sombreness to an already gloomy atmosphere. The only let-down is the ending or rather, the final frame – a reference (deliberately or not) to one of greatest horror films of all time, but one that Shelter could have done without.

With the screenplay written by Michael Cooney (Identity) and produced by Mike Macari (the US remake of The Ring), Shelter is one of the best thrill-rides in a long time. The DVD contains various Extras like ‘Interviews’ and ‘Trailers’ and comes with the usual Dolby stereo options.