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.

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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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

The drilling rig, used by Curtis and Dewart, displays the name of an actual drilling company, "McKay and Gould" of Darlington, PA; just outside East Palestine, OH, approximately 60 miles SE of two of the three filming sites of Lorain and Grafton, OH.

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Goofs

When Curtis has his seizure, the time on the nightstand clock changes from 2:23 to 2:30, and then back to 2:28 (which then changes to 2:29 on camera).

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Quotes

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

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: This Means War (2012)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Essential Viewing for our Times

I hear it so much now. Our national discourse is rich with portent. "It's going to get worse before it gets better", "Something horrible is coming, you'll see", "Soon there will be riots". I'm told these things at conventions and while talking to my neighbors and at breakfast with my mother's old friends. Now Jeff Nichols takes an exhausted phrase in storytelling, ("There's a storm coming") and crafts out of it the movie of the moment. A dark, symbolic mapping of the last five years of the middle-class American experience that's bursting at the mental and financial seams. I have yet to see a finer artistic expression of the current existential crises we face. Michael Shannon is the Noah of our hour, plagued with calamitous visions and barely bearing up under the weight of constant anxiety. In fact, the whole endeavor is buried in quiet distress and prescience. And when the movie finally finds the heart to redeem it's long suffering protagonist, it is through the worst of all possible outcomes. Essential viewing for our times.