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SummaryPrivileged, nouveau-eco-hippies Louise (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Kasper (Peter Christoffersen) live off the grid in a remote home in the woods. Unable to conceive, the couple arranges for their immigrant maid, Elena (Cosmina Stratan), to act as a surrogate mother in exchange for payment. But as Elena becomes mysteriously sicker with each passin...

Shelley

Metascore
Generally Favorable
62
User score
Generally Unfavorable
3.9
My Score

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Metascore
Generally Favorable
62
60% Positive
3 Reviews
40% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
Jul 27, 2016
83
The Playlist
Containing not one single jump scare, but building a disquieting atmosphere of dread that leads us to make some brilliantly gruesome inferences, it’s a classy take on the often trashy pregnancy horror category, with a subtle social critique underlying its neo-gothic texture.
Jul 28, 2016
75
The Film Stage
Atmosphere and mood are the film’s strong suit, both growing thickly heavy as time elapses and strange occurrences commence.
Jul 28, 2016
70
Los Angeles Times
After a strong start, Shelley becomes frustratingly vague in the middle, before rebounding with a finale that makes the implicit menace more explicit.
Jul 28, 2016
50
The New York Times
Maybe expecting a horror film to have a point is expecting too much. In any case, the two actresses give committed performances on the way to a veiled ending.
Jul 21, 2016
50
Village Voice
Director Ali Abbasi excels at atmosphere, understanding that any beautiful landscape can be made terrifying with the right sound design and that a cut to a silent interior can be as jarring as any jump scare. His script, unfortunately, is not as interesting.
User score
Generally Unfavorable
3.9
13% Positive
1 Rating
38% Mixed
3 Ratings
50% Negative
4 Ratings
  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
Jan 9, 2017
0
Persia
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.
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Production Company:
  • Profile Pictures
  • New Danish Screen
  • Film i Skåne
  • Solid Entertainment
  • B Media Global
  • Backup Media
Release Date:Jul 29, 2016
Duration:1 h 32 m
Tagline:Inside, an evil grows.

Awards

Danish Film Awards (Robert)
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Transilvania International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
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