In 2007, under the vigilant supervision of the author of imperishable masterpieces - The Labyrinth of Faun, The Guardians of Dreams and the Hobbit trilogy Guillermo del Toro - the Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona made his debut in a big movie with a project positioned as a dramatic horror. The film "Shelter" received mixed reviews, while its rating according to IMDb is quite high - 7.50.
Scary tales
Despite the fact that the eminent Mexican director had a hand in creating the tape, the picture did not become a derivative of his creations. You can call the project mystical, but hardly fantasy. What fairy tales can we talk about when in the center of the story the main character, who has almost lost her mind in the search for a child, spreads the beds for the dead children, sets the table for them, and then plays with them. Of course, during the advertising campaign of the tape, the emphasis was on the presence of the name del Toro in the credits, but if we look at the plot calls, the associative series leads to the movie “Others” - the work of Alejandro Amenabar, where Nicole Kidman starred.
Compared
As cinema experts say in the reviews, in the film "Shelter", Juan Antonio Bayon, like the creator of "Others," practically abandons canonical receptions for the genre of horror. The stock of props, which is appropriate for a horror film, is also very scarce: leather masks for children, skulls in bags ... The audience is more afraid of masterfully built mise-en-scenes, light compositions, and sometimes the texture of the 19th century house, where perfumes are given complete expanse.
Also, the horror film “Shelter” is not regarded by the reviews as a standard story about the souls of dead children who have not found rest, because the tragedy of a mother who lost her child occupies a significant place in the story. The Bayonet project successfully balances between horror and drama, harmoniously combining mysticism with the tragedy of life’s conflict.
Plot
At the center of the story’s narrative is the main character Laura (Belen Rueda), who grew up in an old shelter and decided to return to it after 30 years with her husband and adopted child. Baby Simon is infected with AIDS. Unable to put up with desolation in a place that became her home at a certain time, the woman decides to restore it and take care of several disabled orphans. But the implementation of the plan is postponed due to the strange behavior of Simon, who began to invent non-existent friends and participate in scary games with them. And after the baby disappears altogether. The unfortunate mother is trying in every possible way to find her son. In the process, she reveals a terrible fate that befell the house, and the invisible buddies of the child turn out to be very real and very unfriendly.
Drama or horror?
The scenic component of the first 60 minutes of timing, the reviews for the film "Shelter" (2007) are regarded as a good balance between an exemplary horror and an impressive drama about a desperate woman who is forced to confront her past. He is successfully decorated with the personality of the main character Laura.
Actress Belen Rueda creates a convincing portrait of her mother truly filigree. Her character meaningfully searches for the missing son. Belen did an excellent job with her role. Supporting actors are also very organic, but not particularly stand out. Although reviews of the film “Shelter” are highlighted by Montserrat Carulla (Benigna), whose heroine in itself looks quite frightening. The audience was also pleased with the appearance of Geraldine Chaplin in the image of a medium.
All the anxiety of the situation could lead to an appropriate moral tragedy, but in the future the emotional coloring of the narrative is muffled, and the history of the female craving for motherhood loses logic, coherence, and after that it makes no sense.
Cons not a hindrance remake
According to reviews of the film "Shelter", the work of Juan Antonio Bayonne has one serious minus - the narrative in places frankly sags, almost losing its mystical background, turning into an ordinary drama. But then he quickly corrects himself and gets on the usual rails. It seems that the director periodically carries away with the living, forgetting about the dead, and vice versa. But despite these flaws, the film was liked by American filmmakers, the rights to create a remake have already been bought by Hollywood. Rumor has it that Guillermo del Toro will also act as a producer in it.
Technical Features
In addition to the director, another debutant worked on the creation of the tape - cameraman Oscar Faura, who, before starting work, reviewed all conceivable and unimaginable horror films. Thanks to his creative research, the project demonstrates the amazing integrity of the picture and the impressive color grading.
Sound is a bit different. The story of otherworldly horror and maternal love is practically devoid of oppressive silence. Reviews of the film "Shelter" characterize the musical accompaniment as an incredibly rich symphonic soundtrack. Composer Fernando Velazquez created compositions similar to a mixture of Danny Elfman’s music with the works of Newton Howard. The sound engineer also decided to keep up with him, so in the film every minute you can hear all the canonical components of horror sound - creaks of doors and floorboards, growing ambient noise. Sometimes they are completely redundant.
In general, "Shelter" is more of a successful mystical film than a horror that expands genre boundaries, so it can be interesting not only to fans of mysticism. Modestly and tastefully. You can’t say, for example, about the project of Ace Jordan.
Victims of the secrets of the past
If the reaction of the public to Shelter was mixed, then the reviews about the film Quiet Shelter (2016) are mostly negative. Ace Jordan's creation rating on IMDb is unenviable: 3.90. The story unfolds around a group of employees of one of the media companies who decided to spend the weekend in an isolated forest thicket. Naturally, one of the participants in the trip disappears without a trace, while others find out that before the building was used as a clinic for the mentally ill. Since the institution was closed due to allegations of cruelty and unlawful actions of medical personnel, it keeps a lot of gloomy secrets. From which the main characters will now suffer.
The picture turned out to be rather absurd, very predictable and not amenable to any analysis. The author’s claims for a fresh reading of the classic story did not materialize due to the banality and stereotyped scenario structure. The project lacks a coherent story in which the director would be able to translate his visionary ideas with spectator involvement in the developing course of events.