Shelley (2016)

Louise and Kasper want to become parents but Louise is unable to have children. She seals a pact with her Romanian maid, Elena, to bear Louise's child, but things don't turn out as they planned.

Director:

Ali Abbasi

Writers:

Maren Louise Käehne, Ali Abbasi

Stars:

Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Cosmina Stratan, Peter Christoffersen

1 win & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Ellen Dorrit Petersen	...	Louise
Cosmina Stratan	...	Elena
Peter Christoffersen	...	Kasper
Björn Andrésen	...	Leo
Marianne Mortensen	...	Isabella
Kenneth M. Christensen	...	Simon
Patricia Schumann	...	Nanna
Marlon Kindberg Bach	...	Sigurd

Storyline

Louise and Kasper, a Danish couple, live in an isolated villa in the middle of the forest away from modern life, technology and even electricity. Louise's biggest dream is to become a mother but she is unable to have children. She finally decides, out of desperation, to seal a pact with her Romanian maid, Elena. Elena accepts to bear Louise's child as a surrogate mother in exchange for a large amount of money. The life growing inside of her is taking shape too fast, affecting the lives of everyone like an evil force. Paranoia and horror set in around the inevitable birth...

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Plot Keywords:

surrogate mother | wife kills husband | living in forest | wood chopping | knitting needle | 

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Taglines:

Inside, an evil grows.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Denmark Sweden

Language:

Danish English Norwegian Swedish Romanian

Release Date:

29 July 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Шели

Filming Locations:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Company Credits

Production Co:

Profile Pictures, Backup Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At 37:22 there's a brief frame that flashes on screen. If you pause the film at exactly the right time you'll see the head of chicken figurine.

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Quotes

Louise:

• Well, there's more to this world than what you see. Why are you so skeptical?

Elena:

• I'm not skeptical.

Louise:

• Yes, you are.

Elena:

• I just don't believe it.

Louise:

• Go and watch some TV and make your brain melt!

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Soundtracks

100 Meter Mind Mash
Composed by Josephine Philip & Ina Lindgreen & Anders Trenkemoller
Lyrics by Josephine Philip
Produced by Anders Trenkemoller
Performed by Josephine Philip (Vocals), Ina Lindgreen (Guitar), Manoj Ramdas (Guitar) and Anders Trenkemoller (all other instruments)
Album: Darkness Falls

User Reviews

Slow and Tedious

Talk about slow paced! This movie just went on and on and on with no real progression. It was an hour and a half movie that could have easily been squeezed into 30 minutes with the needless scenes and repetitiveness taken out. The premise was good but due to a lack of a good script, editing and direction the film just meandered on with no real climax, pay off or closure. As it abruptly ended you thought "Is that it?". You could have forgiven the director if there was a great finale after the incredibly slow build up but it just whimpered out after 90 minutes of hoping that something great was going to happen. Greatly disappointing. You could see the director has seen the Omen from the numerous plagiarized snippets he randomly inserted (all the cheap ones that don't involve CGI)but it was just a very,very poor imitation to a movie that did this infinitely better. This was no horror and barely a thriller.Unfortunately the director thought broody scenes of landscapes made up for actual content.Sorry but this movie was a complete dud.