Shelley (2016)

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

But while you cared about Mia Farrow, you will be hoping the demon spawn of this clunker is born prematurely and eats the Valium-popping cast. It's that foreign, art house and joyless. I think there are maybe four lines of dialogue in the whole movie that are meaningful to the "plot". The rest of the drama is a series of thoroughly long, quiet and pretentious dramatic pauses of the typical and tiresome Scandinavian cinematic variety.Think about it this way: the most "likable" character is the bratty little kid who punches the annoying pregnant girl in the stomach.

Look - I cannot imagine what it takes for a group of dedicated professionals to film a horror movie like Shelley. The countless time spent to get the shots right. The lights. Makeup. Actors. For all of the effort taken to make a movie look gorgeous and haunting - one might consider a script that takes less risks to alienate the audience with artistic decisions and instead uses a story with more clarity and a stronger reversal of expectation.This movie is really well made - the story begins with a Romanian girl who goes to live with her boss and his wife in the woods - but they have no electricity. This seems strange - and soon it gets even more strange when our young heroine agrees to be a surrogate mother for the couple. She becomes pregnant and soon there are signs of darkness - eerie dreams and a visit from a black hound. Then her body begins to decay as the life inside of her grows. This gets worse and more painful to experience for her and for the audience as well. Then - the film gets very strange and pretty scary but I honestly admit I had a hard time following the story. I believe the Romanian girl dies giving birth? Or - she goes missing? Or - she stays in the house but is out of sight? The couple begin to raise the child but soon they too have dark experiences and seem to be going down the same path as the surrogate mother. There is a final moment that sheds some profound insight into intimacy and childbirth that is pretty chilling - but it is also very confusing and full of symbolism that may have passed me by.Our conclusion is a final shot - and I am not sure what I saw - but I think the young Romanian girl who served as the surrogate mother looms in the background and observes the current mom as she holds the baby - and the baby seems to enjoy the fact it's birth is death itself. I think it's an evil demon - or Satan - or something - but honestly I dunno. I have watched a lot of horror movies and I have seen this type of end before - ambiguous and puzzling, perhaps to a fault. Yet I admit that as a man I might need to understand the pain of giving birth and the psychological horror of what could go wrong that all pregnant woman - may experience. This movie is 100% worth it if you love horror and want to watch a well made film. It is intelligent and controversial and artistic - and some of the creative choices are confusing. I look forward to another film by this filmmaker.

A very interesting horror film which mostly leans on building an atmosphere of dread. It makes it successfully thanks to Ali Abassi's neat direction, the exciting photography (very good work with the lighting) and the well organized editing (pay attention to the rotation of the scenes which are taking place inside the house and the shots of the environment outside of it). The story of Shelley isn't very original but is told through a very elliptical narration. This will begrudge many viewers with limited patience since most of the answers the movie puts are not answered clearly. A daring way to narrate which i appreciated. 7/10

Oh God where can I start, awful European horror just like the many others they keep churning out. Reading the other reviews I honestly expected something decent however I was completely disappointed, just over one hour and a half of my life I will NEVER get back.The only thing I can say about this film is that it was creepy. Everything else was boooooooooooring, too many things left unexplained, when the credits pop up you cannot help it but feel completely unsatisfied.Left to watcher's interpretation my backside, all I can say is that the damn eggs were past the expiration date, bad eggs or everyone in the movie drank the wrong coolie.Please avoid.