Take Shelter (2011)

Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

Director:

Jeff Nichols

Writer:

Jeff Nichols

Stars:

Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham

42 wins & 37 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Shannon	...	Curtis
Jessica Chastain	...	Samantha
Tova Stewart	...	Hannah
Shea Whigham	...	Dewart
Katy Mixon	...	Nat
Natasha Randall	...	Cammie
Ron Kennard	...	Russell
Scott Knisley	...	Lewis
Robert Longstreet	...	Jim
Heather Caldwell	...	Special Ed Teacher
Sheila Hullihen	...	Woman in Road
John Kloock	...	Man in Road
Marianna Alacchi	...	Bargain Hunter
Jacque Jovic	...	News Anchor
Bob Maines	...	Walter Jacobs

Storyline

Curtis, a father and husband, is starting to experience bad dreams and hallucinations. Assuming mental illness, he seeks medical help and counseling. However, fearing the worst, he starts building an elaborate and expensive storm shelter in their backyard. This storm shelter threatens to tear apart his family, threatens his sanity and his standing in the community, but he builds it to save his family's life.

---

Plot Keywords:

schizophrenia | mental illness | ambiguous ending | storm shelter | mysterious event | 

---

Taglines:

Far away from the cruel world. [Scandinavian DVD.]

---

Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 November 2011 (Croatia)

Also Known As:

Atormentado

Filming Locations:

Oberlin, Ohio, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$52,041, 2 October 2011, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,729,969, 18 March 2012

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,099,314, 7 August 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hydraulx, REI Capital, Grove Hill Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the DVD commentary, Michael Shannon points out that the pills that Curtis takes are actually mint-flavored Tic Tacs.

---

Goofs

Curtis and Shannon live in LaGrange, Ohio. However, Curtis's truck has Erie County tags on its license plates. LaGrange is in Lorain County, one county to the east.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Curtis: [to daughter] No, no, no. Don't feed the dog, darling.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Kristen Stewart/Michael Shannon/Cage the Elephant (2016)

---

Soundtracks

Shelter
Written & Performed by Ben Nichols
Copyright 2010 Empty Roard Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

Intelligent, nicely shot film with great lead from Shannon

Take Shelter is an intelligent, thought provoking, nicely shot film featuring an excellent performance by Michael Shannon (an Oscar nomination, surely?), who was also great in director Nichols' previous/first film, Shotgun Stories. The film explores the line between fear and paranoia, or objectivity and subjectivity, as it's protagonist - a blue-collar family man of few words - wrestles with apocalyptic dreams and visions of a strange, possibly supernatural storm, responding to them as best he can as both literal warnings AND possible signs of mental illness. The film has a brooding, at times Hitchcockian atmosphere and a very timely feel to it (think financial and environmental disasters). Set in a rural community, we have plenty of lovely wide shots of the land- and sky-scape (also a strong element of Shotgun Stories) with some added CGI on the latter for the dream/visions. Shannon's performance constitutes at least 50% of this films worth but the rest of the cast are good too. It's a slow mover and, at around two hours and fifteen minutes, perhaps a bit too long. My wife and I did have a few criticisms after watching it (at the Sydney Film Festival), but I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from seeing this film, which will no doubt be a hot topic and bring Nichols deserved recognition when it goes on general release (September 30 2011 in US)