Shut In (2017)

        It’s early days but SHUT IN might just win the House of Mortal Cinema 2017 'THE BOY award for Film Most Like One Of Those Old Hammer Psycho Thrillers'. It’s also quite possible that star Naomi Watts will win the 'Sexiest Actress to Perform a Vomiting Into a Toilet Scene While Naked' award, but like I said, it’s only April and there’s plenty of time for others to try for this coveted accolade that I have just made up. Are you listening Scarlett Johansson? After GHOST IN THE SHELL this could be just the thing to get your career back on track. 

         But back to SHUT IN, which is getting a UK DVD and Blu-ray release from Arrow. It’s a French-Canadian co-production in which Naomi plays child psychologist Mary who loses her husband Richard (Peter SAW VI Outerbridge, although he probably prefers not to be called that) in a car accident that paralyses her teenaged stepson Stephen (Charlie Heaton).

         Flash forward the necessary amount of time for Stephen to be back at home and in a wheelchair, spending his days watching the same very fat weatherman on the television for what seems like days on end in his and Mary’s isolated New England home.

         There’s a storm coming that’s going to knock out the power! One of Mary’s patients is a little deaf boy who somehow comes knocking on her door one night, then disappears. Mary starts to hear weird noises. Is she hallucinating? Is there a ghost? Or is there an explanation the likes of which will have fans of Brian Clemens’ THRILLER and old William Castle psycho shockers chuckling with delight? 

         If you’re a fan of the latter then keep watching, because SHUT IN takes a bit of time to get going, but rest assured the climax is satisfyingly barmy. Watts is great, and Oliver Platt (last seen creating those weird bowel monsters in THE MASTER CLEANSE) pops in and out to help progress the plot.
         Arrow’s DVD is bare bones, with no extras. SHUT IN is definitely worth a look if you fancy a suspense thriller to while away a quiet evening. 

SHUT IN is out on PVOD from 24th February 2017 and Blu-ray and DVD from 10th April 2017