Shelley (2016)

Louise (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) recently had an operation and needs help around the small farm. Her husband (Peter Christoffersen) hires a house keeper/farm hand Elena (Cosmina Stratan). They have no electricity and Elena adapts to the rustic lifestyle. As the women bond, Louise confides she wants a child, but can't carry one. She has some frozen embryos. Elena accepts the offer and carries the child which after awhile, things change.The DVD cover gives us the baby carriage/ "Rosemary's Baby" theme, but that is never developed in the film. There was some earth/pagan/ natural beliefs, but nothing that manifested itself as horror or supernatural, just people behaving badly. I was bored with the film and conversations and unseen action scenes. They show Cosmina nude while very pregnant. I don't know if this was special effects or the Demi Moore syndrome. I didn't feel I got closure, which appears to be the intent.Guide: F-word. Nudity (Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Cosmina Stratan)

I am giving this a 4 because of the ending. I don't give spoilers, but I just didn't like the ending! I think the overall plot had a great potential, and yes, it has a plot where other people said there wasn't. If I would have realized that the closed caption (subtitles) worked for the foreign languages spoke in this movie existed when you chose that, it probably would have earned 5 stars. Some people say this it's slow moving, and yes, it definitely is, however, I feel it set the picture for the setting. The hired maid/housekeeper seems quite normal, and so do the hiring couple. The description of the movie; however, it not accurate, nor is it a thriller or a horror film. My advise - Be ready for a slow moving movie and turn on the CC!

I trusted to the good reviews above, and it was a big mistake. This movie is not just slow-paced and boring - it just ends with no explanation of what was happening. The only thing you can guess - "probably there is some evil in this baby", but you guessed it from the very beginning and didn't need 1.5 hour for that. What kind of evil? Why? What's going to happen next? Did the husband die and appear in the house as a ghost, or did he just return home? No answers. The whole "plot" can be told in several phrases. A rather old woman never could carry a baby, so she and her husband ask their Rumanian worker Elena to be a surrogate mother. Elena agrees, but as her pregnancy progresses, she gets health problems and feels disgust to the baby, eventually trying to kill the girl in her womb. The doctors save the baby; Elena disappears from the plot. Then the husband begins to feel the similar disgust (for no reason) and tries to move the baby away from the house, but his wife prevents it (maybe killing him or maybe not) and returns home with the baby. Her husband is shown behind her. The end. There is NOTHING else in the whole movie, literally NOTHING.

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