Wilson deeply cares for Mary, and will be prescribing her an anti-depressant that will surely be ineffective in the face of a malevolent menace of a teenager. It doesn’t matter that Mary has to confront the moral reckoning of potentially murdering Stephen to save herself and Tom. That Pratt and Watts couldn’t film these sequences - and trust me, there are multiple Skype sessions - in person speaks to the film’s general unwillingness to go the extra mile, to enliven. That’s because watching two actors pretend to be in different rooms (or states or countries) while they attempt to have a meaningful conversation never works. In Skype’s short history, it has never been used effectively in film. The kicker? These sessions are had over Skype! The only explanation is that Wilson is one of those pro-bono psychologists. The condescending doctor insisting to his ailing patient that s/he is, in fact, not ailing. Wilson insists she’s merely having some exaggerated night terrors, or insomnia. Tom, I guess, finds salvation.Īlso Read: Naomi Watts, Jessica Lange to Star in Drama 'The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll'Ĭoncurrent to all of this, Blackburn intersperses one-on-one conversations between Mary and her own psychologist (and, apparently, only friend), Dr. In an act of self-preservation, Mary must fight her own son as he slowly descends into a demonic creature. So what happens? A ghost appears - it/they always do - to haunt both Tom and Stephen. The presentation is dull, the plot is plodding, and the characters are sketches of people we’ve seen in better films. Tom inexplicably shows up to Mary’s home one night, leading to a series of scenes that don’t add up to anything approximating intrigue. Time is one thing that’s not on Mary’s side, though. “I can help him,” she insists to a child agency eager to ship the juvenile delinquent to a more contained space. It’s an unhealthy dynamic, and one that leads to her subtle attachment to Tom (Jacob Tremblay, “Room”), a deaf, bellicose boy who breaks the arms of other children at school. Conversely, the children act as a surrogate, satisfying her maternal, nurturing instincts.Īlso Read: Naomi Watts Joins Brie Larson in 'The Glass Castle' In her medical expertise, she’s providing psychological and emotional aid to these troubled kids. It’s clear from the onset that the doctor-patient dynamic works both ways. She forges substantive relationships with her young patients, most of whom are children. In the absence of active children or a spouse, Mary seeks out human connection in her work. Now-widowed Mary (Naomi Watts) has the unenviable task of raising her bed-ridden, catatonic son, Stephen (Charlie Heaton, “Stranger Things”), while still having a career in child psychology. It opens with a horrific car crash, resulting in the death of a father and, in a way, a son. Penned by freshman screenwriter Christina Hodson, the story bears a painfully familiar resemblance to horror fare of the past. But here we are.Īlso Read: Netflix Casts Naomi Watts as Lead in Psychological Thriller 'Gypsy' Today it doesn’t feel appropriate to be negative, to criticize artwork that does almost nothing interesting narratively or aesthetically. To exacerbate matters, “Shut In” - despite its impressive cast - is, well, not good. Films, television, a new Tribe Called Quest album: all of it seems to pale in comparison to the specter of Donald Trump’s presidency.
To focus energy on anything resembling pop culture is exceedingly difficult right now. It’s neither the film’s nor Blackburn’s fault that this week has been historically painful.
I couldn’t jettison that thought while watching “Shut In” Friday morning at my local theater, where less than a half-dozen people sat in a dark room to watch the latest from director Farren Blackburn (“Hammer of the Gods”). Horror movies are not so fun when daily life is scarier.
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