“Shut In” Lacks Scary Thrills

Shut In Lacks Scary Thrills

Payten Boyd, Staff Writer

The new thriller “Shut In,” released on Nov. 11, is a jump-scare film starring Naomi Watts, Charlie Heaton and Jacob Tremblay. The unexpected plot twist makes up for the overall slow pace story.

The movie starts off with a sobbing mother, Mary (Naomi Watts) sending her teenage step-son, Stephen (Charlie Heaton) to an alternative school for the summer. On the drive there Stephen and his father get into a brutal car crash leaving his father dead, and Stephen with a traumatic brain injury.

The story continues six months later with a daily routine of Mary taking care of Stephen: feeding him, bathing him, dressing him, etc. She then continues on with her job as a psychologist, the audience is introduced to Tom (Jacob Tremblay), a young deaf child.

That night Mary hears a strange sound and as in horror movie tradition, she goes to investigate all alone. Several jump-scares later, she discovers the noise was Tom, she brings him into her home with Stephen. When Mary goes into her office to make a phone call she hears a frightening sound so she rushed out and sees that Tom has vanished and is nowhere in sight.

The plot continues on very slowly with few scares. After Tom has gone missing, Mary begins to notice strange occurances at night. This brings her to believe that Tom was killed and his soul is haunting her.

The repetitiveness makes it a bit boring movie that lacks exciting thrills. It’s unique and surprising plot twist makes it a good film, which means you probably won’t be on the edge of your seat until the last 20 minutes.

This film is worth the watch, even with minimal excitement. You may not be on the edge of your seat, but your eyes will surely be glued to the screen.