THE SHRINE is a Canadian horror film set in Poland. To begin with the plot is nothing special, involving the usual trio of American tourists abroad who find themselves in trouble when they stumble upon a grove containing an ancient shrine that has something evil about it. The second half of the film gets a little more interesting by skewing the usual angles and builds to an impressively high octane climax.The problem with this film is the lack of budget. There isn't much money to go around so the director substitutes noise with quality. This is one of the noisiest horror films I can remember watching and particularly at the climax it gets very headache-inducing. Plus the usual EXORCIST clichés are played out again which is a bit wearying. On the plus side, there's some very graphic gore in this film and it's nasty stuff indeed, wince-inducing in places. Shawn Ashmore's twin brother Aaron stars.

Most of today's horror films are tepid at best. Originality is hard to come by. Picked this one out on Netflix, hoping for the best. Got way more than expected. The Shrine is highly recommended.A determined journalist, her boyfriend and a young intern travel to Europe in search of a story involving tourist's who, over a period of years, disappear under similar circumstances. A journal written by the latest missing tourist leads the trio to a small Polish village that harbors a fog enshrouded secret. The village inhabitants will go to deadly means to keep the secret hidden from outsiders. What follows as the trio unknowingly fall prey to their journalistic instincts will have you on the edge of your seat.This is one smart, well paced and intriguing piece of horror. The characters are full dimensional. The plot unfolds at a crisp and believable pace. Rarely does this one resort to jump scares. The horror comes from a sense of ever building dread. Lighting is key to unnerving the senses. The violence and bloodshed on display never panders to the gore hounds. After viewing this one, I took a few moments and pondered what I would have done differently had I found myself in similar circumstances. So few of today's horror films generate that type of reaction. When I plan a European vacation, I will avoid Polish villages out in the woods at all cost's.

Good direction by Jon Knautz (Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer). Awesome cinematography by James Griffith (Masked saint, Air emergency). The imagery of the forest in the fog is especially haunting and the environment of Poland is simply chilling in itself. Fine editing by Matthew Brulotte (Jack Brooks, Chillerama, girl house). I liked the film and found it to be very creepy and suspenseful. The star cast includes Aaron Ashmore (Regression, The Thaw). Cindy Sampson (The Factory, Swamp Devil). Meghan Heffern (Home Sweet Home, Chloe, The Fog). Trevor Matthews (Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, Girl House). The movie is very different from ur regular possession movies. Its brutal, creepy, suspenseful plot with an awesome twist. The forest n the whole village itself looked eerie n isolated. More movies like these shud be made. Its a must watch for horror fans. There is a very creepy scene in the forest.

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.