The Gallo character is a pedophile whose hand is literally nailed to the wooden floor and burnt in a scene – this is not for faint Republican or Democrat or neutral hearts. The external characters, Jessica’s ex and his druggie pal (who else but Vincent Gallo), are entirely unnecessary, but they appear only to drive home some blue-state lessons. Passages are practically read out by Jessica, a character played by Qualley with such quivering blankness that one might imagine she didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 her fake Southern accent is scarier than most of what we see on screen. A lot of money is found hidden between the pages of…the Bible. Jessica is made to see the light through the darkness she’s trapped in. The writing insists that this is the wrong decision inheritance from kind old Catholic ladies cannot be squandered. The pantry is in her grandmother’s old house, which Jessica is looking to sell because she can’t afford the taxes. Her redemption is reluctant, almost like the script is saying: Kids, don’t be like Jessica, but if you must…

She gets locked in the pantry not once but twice. Her values were suspect, so the film has a nail slammed through her hand at one point. Jessica keeps getting crucified (not just figuratively) for being a pro-choice single mother – that is, having kids out of wedlock – and being a former heroin addict. The plot is loaded with the most random symbolism. But its anti-liberal propaganda is so strong that it robs the film of all its genre shape, force-fits biblical metaphors, and turns it into a gory celebration of Good Christian Morality. For some context, Shut In is the first original film by The Daily Wire, the conservative news website co-founded by alt-right political commentator Ben Shapiro. Danger lurks outside, and all we can do is paint a mental picture of it.īut Shut In is not just any home invasion thriller, is it? Scratch (or nail, in this case) the surface, and you’ll hear a Sunday Church sermon parading as a Hollywood B-movie. In these moments, the film is almost poignant – the camera stays in the pantry, reducing the child to a frightened voice while Jessica rediscovers her frayed maternal instincts. Shut In might have been far more potent if it had stayed like this and trusted the physicality of this pandemic parable. The house is in the middle of nowhere in rural America, so no rescue is forthcoming. She instructs the little girl about caregiving and feeding the baby, passes her food from underneath the door, and soothes her with next to nothing. For much of the film, Jessica has to provide for her little daughter and toddler from inside this closed space. In Shut In, young Jessica (Rainey Qualley) gets locked in the pantry. The director has fared better in this genre Disturbia (2007), starring a young Shia Lebeouf, did more with a slim storyline of a troubled but voyeuristic teen under house arrest.

As a home invasion/survival/isolation thriller alone, D.J.

Shut in