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Shut In
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Farren Blackburn
Written by	Christina Hodson
Produced by	Ariel Zeitoun Claude Leger Christine Haebler
Starring	Naomi Watts Oliver Platt Charlie Heaton Jacob Tremblay David Cubitt Clémentine Poidatz
Cinematography	Yves Bélanger
Edited by	Baxter Maryline Monthieux
Music by	Nathaniel Méchaly
Distributed by	EuropaCorp
Release dates	11 November 2016 (2016-11-11) (United States) 30 November 2016 (2016-11-30) (France)
Running time	91 minutes
Countries	France Canada
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$8.5 million

Shut In (classified under the name Oppression in France) is a 2016 French-Canadian psychological thriller drama film directed by Farren Blackburn, written by Christina Hodson, and starring Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton, Jacob Tremblay, David Cubitt, and Clémentine Poidatz.

The film was released in the United States on 15 November 2016 and in France on 30 November 2016 by EuropaCorp. It received negative reviews from critics, and has grossed $14 million worldwide.

Plot

Steven is a troubled kid being sent to boarding school. While his father, Richard Portman, is driving him there, they get into a bad argument, and the car swerves into oncoming traffic.

Six months later, Richard is dead and Steven is in a vegetative state. His stepmother, Mary, takes care of his every need. Mary is a clinical psychologist who works from home with children and adolescents. She is upset to learn that one of her patients, a deaf child named Tom, is to be transferred to a school in Boston. Later, Mary discusses Steven with her therapist, Dr. Wilson. While she feels guilty, she has decided to put Steven in a home to be cared for because he is no longer there and is just a body.

She finds Tom asleep in her car. She brings him inside and makes a call, but Tom vanishes. The police conduct a fruitless search. Over the following nights, Mary wakes up to sounds in the house, and even wakes up to see Tom in the darkness one night. She discusses these events with Dr. Wilson, who attributes it to parasomnia. Dr. Wilson wants to prescribe her some medication, and orders some blood work.

Doug Hart, the father of one of her patients, asks her out, but Mary declines, implying that it would be unprofessional.

Mary reconsiders and has dinner with Doug. Later, Steven is missing from his bed. She finds a small door to a crawlspace, and is grabbed from inside by two small hands. The next morning, she wakes up on the floor. Steven is back in his bed, but has scratches on his face.

She gets two offers to leave her house before an impending snow storm, one from her assistant Lucy, and another from Doug, but declines both. Dr. Wilson contacts her via Skype with her blood work results. He admonishes her because her stepson’s medication is showing up in her blood. Mary denies taking any medication and walks away without ending the call. Dr. Wilson sees Steven’s empty wheelchair, then sees Steven walk across the living room. The lights go out in the house and computer connection drops.

Mary is in the basement when the lights go out. She sees Tom, and just then, Steven attacks her. She wakes up bound, gagged, and naked in the bathtub, with Steven bathing her. He tells Mary how he woke up in the hospital after the accident with her there. He didn’t move or speak so that he could relish her attention. He believes that for six months they were happy together, but then Tom arrived.

It turns out that Tom has been living in the crawlspace, rather than transfer to Boston. When Tom saw Steven moving around, Steven blocked him in the crawlspace, hoping he would starve to death. Steven was keeping her disorientated by slipping her his medicine, allowing him to walk around at night, but also confusing her whenver she saw Tom. When Steven goes to deal with Tom, Mary unties herself. Dr. Wilson is rushing to Mary’s house, but wrecks his car on the way. Mary finds Steven and Tom in the basement, and learns that Steven killed his father on purpose. She and Tom escape the basement and hide in a closet.

Dr. Wilson arrives and Steven stabs him. Mary tries to leave and discovers Doug’s dead body blocking the door. Dr. Wilson, with his dying breath, advises Mary to play along with Steven's delusion. Steven has nailed all of the exits shut, so Mary breaks a skylight and Tom climbs out. She then plays along with Steven's delusions until she is able to escape. She and Tom run to the lake, where submerges Tom in the freezing water. Mary grabs the hammer Steven threw down and strikes him on the head, finally killing him.

Days later, Mary and Tom are seen arriving at the Child and Adoption center.

Cast

• Naomi Watts as Mary Portman
• Oliver Platt as Dr. Wilson
• Charlie Heaton as Steven Portman
• David Cubitt as Doug Hart
• Jacob Tremblay as Tom Patterson
• Clémentine Poidatz as Lucy
• Crystal Balint as Grace
• Alex Braunstein as Aaron Hart
• Peter Outerbridge as Richard Portman

Production

On November 5, 2014, it was announced that EuropaCorp had set Farren Blackburn to direct Shut In, a psychological thriller based on the 2012 Black List script by Christina Hodson. EuropaCorp financed, distributed worldwide and co-produced the film with Lava Bear Films. Naomi Watts was set to play the lead role. On March 18, 2015, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton, David Cubitt, Jacob Tremblay, and Clementine Poidatz were added to the cast of the film.

Filming

Filming began in mid-March 2015 in Canada, as actress Watts was spotted on March 15 during filming in Sutton, Quebec. Filming took place in the Eastern Townships of Quebec before the production moved to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Release

In March 2015, EuropaCorp set the film for a February 19, 2016 release. On December 15, 2015, the release date was pushed back to June 17, 2016. In February 2016, the release date was pushed back again to September 9, 2016. In May 2016, the release date was pushed back again to November 11, 2016.

Box office

Shut In was released alongside Arrival and Almost Christmas, and was expected to gross around $6 million from 2,058 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up grossing $3.7 million, finishing seventh at the box office.

Critical response

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016)

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 8%, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 3.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fatally undermined by a clichéd, confused plot and a total absence of thrills, Shut In wastes its talented cast – and viewers' time." On Metacritic, the film has a score 25 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale. Critics have also been quick to note the film's many similarities with The Shining.

References

1. "Oppression". Unifrance. 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
2. "Shut In (2016)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
3. "Shut In". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
4. "All Pics Rise Thanks To Veterans Day: 'Doctor Strange' Leading; 'Arrival' Blasting Off To $18.5M-$22.5M". Deadline.com.
5. "Shut In (2016)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
6. ^ Vlessing, Etan (5 November 2014). "AFM: Naomi Watts Joins Psychological Thriller 'Shut In'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
7. Hipes, Patrick (18 March 2015). "Oliver Platt Joins Naomi Watts In 'Shut In' For EuropaCorp & Lava Bear". Deadline.com. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
8. ^ "Naomi Watts bundles up against the chill in long sweater, padded jacket and snow boots as she films new movie in Canada". dailymail.co.uk. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
9. McNary, Dave (6 March 2015). "Naomi Watts' 'Shut In,' Sullivan Stapleton's 'The Lake' Set 2016 Release Dates". variety.com. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
10. Hime, Nelly (30 October 2016). "Black List Script 'Shut In' (2016) Gets Trailer and Release Date". nagamedigital.com. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
11. "'Doctor Strange' to hold off 'Arrival' and 'Almost Christmas' at the box office". Los Angeles Times.
12. "'Doctor Strange' Repeats at #1 as 'Arrival', 'Almost Christmas' & 'Shut In' Hit Theaters". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.
13. "Shut In (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
14. "Shut In Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
15. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com – via Twitter.
16. Arnaudin, Edwin. "Movie review: Naomi Watts in 'Shining' rip-off 'Shut In'". The Citizen-Times. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
17. Makepeace, Christine. "All Work and No Play Makes Shut In a Dull Movie". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 7 September 2017.

External links

• Shut In at IMDb

• 2016 films
• 2010s thriller films
• Canadian films
• French films
• Canadian thriller films
• French thriller films
• Films shot in Quebec
• Films shot in Vancouver
• Lava Bear Films films
• Films directed by Farren Blackburn
• Films scored by Nathaniel Méchaly