REVIEW - Shelter

Julianne Moore starts out spouting psycho-babble and ends up running from a generic monster in this thriller/horror offering from the writer of Identity. Shelter starts well, with Moore’s sceptical psychiatrist lured to a new patient exhibiting signs of multiple personality disorder, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. As he shifts from character to character and she begins to explore his background, the film toys openly with our expectations and layers on some creepy chills, enhanced by some excellent staging (like a scene which plays out in both day and night) and a surprisingly good performance from Rhys Meyers in his multiple roles.

Then Shelter, ironically, goes completely nuts – tearing down its twisty thriller facade in favour of cheap J-horror scares and an increasingly ridiculous backstory which loses the audience around the same time that a character converts a video image of black smoke into a sound wave using a home computer. A shame.

In Irish cinemas from the 9/04/10

2.5/5