Sheltered

The story and the coincidences may have been a bit too contrived but the actors pulled every bit of good out of the script. Everybody knows within the first 15 minutes how it was going to roll, but the acting kept you engaged. Gerald Downey's ability to turn from pleasant young man to psycho murderer was quite well done as was his portrayal of OCD. Mandel Hudec always angry still pulled it off at the end. Worth watching at least once as a guilty pleasure. The women (Stacia Crawford, Tricia Small, Allison Dunbar, Heather Loschiavo) played some great characters also, more mature but just as horny as your typical teenage thriller.

RELEASED IN 2010 (with a 2006 Copyright) and directed by Josh Stoddard, "Sheltered" is a micro-budget slasher about a group of 20-somethings who seek shelter at a stranger's house during a hurricane, but there's something 'off' about the host and, even more, his brother. Will they survive the night?

If you want to see a multi-million dollar horror film, stay clear. If you wanna see a well-made independent flick made on nickels & dimes check out "Sheltered." The acting and script are surprisingly adept. Gerald Downey & Manoel Hudec standout as the courteous host and his little brother, Joey and Billy, while Stacia Crawford is effective as the main protagonist, Jen. Heather Loschiavo is on hand as an oversexed junkie, Christie.

One of the other actresses, Tricia Small (Denise), wrote and performed several of the cuts on the soundtrack, along with Dee Rock. One of them is a moving acoustic piece, "Salvation Day," that plays at the 47:12 mark and it's spectacular, even worth the price of admission. The editing during this sequence is artistic and all-around superb. The end credits song, "I Wanna Go Home," is also worth noting.

You'll notice the TV movie quality of the photography right off the bat but, other than that, the filmmaking is quite professional with imaginative flourishes. Stoddard effectively creates an ambiance of eeriness somehow mixed with beauty and even reverence, which can be observed in the climactic scene of one of the characters standing in the rain with their hands held out to the sky, as if they desperately need cleansed and perhaps re-awoken. It smacks of real life.

I appreciate well-done spare change budget indie flicks like this because you'll never get what they can offer from mainstream cinema. They provide a unique experience.

THE FILM RUNS 83 minutes and was shot in Glendale, Southern California.

GRADE: B

Difficult to rate this one. It has all the elements of a good horror movie, but the flow wasn't good for some reason. Also, a lot wasn't explained. I don't like slashers, but the mix with the supernatural was good. I wish more were brought out with the lead girl's role as far as her ability to see things, which seemed to connect the diabolical and charming bartender. If it didn't show promise, it would get a 4 from me. If it were refined, I can see it going much higher than a 5. Please keep in mind that I know almost nothing about making movies or being a critic, I'm just one person who's opinionated.

1st watched 8/28/2011 –(Dir-Josh Stoddard): Bad horror movie that does almost everything wrong from the beginning to the end. It starts out with the typical rowdy young group of kids out to have a good time despite driving right into the face of a hurricane on a vacation(where they just will not be denied their fun, of course). They stop at a bar to have a few drinks, their car stops working, and the bartender graciously gives them a place to stay and party until the storm ceases. Of course, this bartender, has other things in mind for them as the filmmaker lets us know about right off the bat by showing us his first kill at his feet behind the bar(there goes the mystery…so why watch the rest??). I did continue watching the rest – and the rest consisted of the group drinking, some random sex, and then the group being killed off one-by-one. That was pretty-much the movie, except they did let us know why he wants to kill in the first place, and one female character strangely sees all the background thru various apparitions(and we're never told why). There's plenty of blood and gore, if you like that kind of thing, but there is no brains behind the story. It's a typical slasher-type movie that's been retread many times over and un-fortunately the best part of the movie was the original music performed by one of the stars. Music though, doesn't make a movie – but instead should complement it – but sadly there was no movie here to be complemented.

The acting, story and directing are all bad. The plot is easy enough to follow but many of the characters actions make no sense. This move is bad on every level and a complete waste of time.