The Shrine

This is a movie that Netflix keeps bugging me about, trying to get me to watch it, saying I'll like it, so I finally gave it a shot today.  There's nothing horrifically wrong with it, really, it's just highly derivative and there's not really one idea in it that I haven't seen somewhere else before.  It's about a small village in Poland where people keep disappearing, never to be seen or heard from again.  A reporter wants to check it out but her boss says no, so she sets off on her own with an assistant and her boyfriend who is also a photographer.  Once they get to the village, the villagers are unfriendly and try to get them to leave, but of course they don't listen, they have to head deep into the woods toward this mysterious cloud of mist and investigate what it's hiding.  What they witness inside triggers the villagers to spring into action, and a bizarre ritualistic killing soon leaves them running for their lives.

This movie has echoes of "The Ruins" in it (which is funny, because actor Doug Ashmore is in that movie, and his twin brother Aaron Ashmore is in this movie) and "Unrest" and "The Sacrifice" and about a hundred other movies.  The acting is great in this movie, and everyone gives a good performance, even people in smaller roles, it's just that it's hard to get excited about a movie that I feel like I've seen a hundred times already.  This one is more recommended for people who haven't seen many horror movies (and probably for people who aren't watching 100 horror movies this month alone) because they'll probably get more enjoyment out of it than I did.