Shelter in Place

I was lured into watching the 2021 horror movie "Shelter in Place" given the movie's cover/poster and the fact that it was a new horror movie that I hadn't already seen.

Now, I can't claim that the movie's synopsis did much to sway me, and with it being yet another movie taking place amidst a global pandemic, I must admit that my interest in the movie sort of waned a bit. But on the odd chance that writers and directors Chris Beyrooty and Connor Martin might actually dish out something worthwhile here with "Shelter in Place", I sat down to watch it.

And I managed to endure 63 minutes of pure boredom, and then I just tossed the towel in the ring, giving up on the movie out of sheer boredom and tedious watching. Wow, this movie was slow paced and it was not even the slightest bit scary. Well, unless you consider a movie with just essentially five people on the cast list as being scary, then by all means...

Now, I am sure that the actors and actresses on the cast list, all five of them were doing good jobs, but they virtually had nothing to work with in terms of an interesting storyline, well-detailed characters or riveting dialogue. So they were just fighting an already lost uphill battle.

No, "Shelter in Place" was a swing and a miss, and it completely fell short of providing me with any worthwhile entertainment, so this is not a movie that I would recommend you rush out to get your hands on.

My rating of "Shelter in Place" lands on a generous two out of ten stars. Sadly, then the movies cover/poster was actually the best part about the entire ordeal.

Unless you're extremely bored and haven't yet had enough pandemic themed streaming content, this is an utter waste of time. No redeeming qualities whatsoever.

1.5/10 rounded up to 2 stars.

I watched the first 27 minutes waiting for something interesting to happen. Then I gave up and went back to watching '80s horror movies. Horror film makers in the current age need to remember to grab the audience's attention fairly quickly. Gimme something interesting within the first 15 minutes or it's time to move on to something else.

To be fair, the acting is ok and the sound effects and general spooky atmosphere work quite well in addition to it fitting in with the current pandemic but that is all that fills this cinematic sandwich.

The idea is there but there is no core to it; it is just a pity it is so slow and nothing much happens until the final denouement so it could all have been condensed into a short twilight zone episode instead of drawn out into a movie and the end, well it says it all as though they ran out of cash. The credits and titles look like they were produced on a ZX Spectrum which from the beginning did not bode well either!

Its not great but its not that bad - A 4 means slightly less than average.

This movie is a slow burn and I mostly like the first 2/3's of it. It's a newlywed couple stuck sheltering in an empty hotel where they're the only guests and there are only two people on staff. After a few weeks of this, they're going a little crazy.

I dig all of that.

But then the ending happens...and it really just makes zero sense. It tries to be wild unexpected and it tries to make you question what is real and what isn't. What ends up happening is this odd ending that comes completely out of left field and makes zero sense.

Skip this movie, it's not worth your time.