In Shut In, a new thriller directed by Farren Blackburn (Hammer of the Gods, Doctor Who), a secluded, windowed child psychologist struggles to accept and care for her son after a tragic accident that turned him into a vegetable and killed her husband. After a new patient vanishes under her watch, she is confronted with a series of supernatural encounters that make her question her grasp on reality.
The trailer introduces an all-star cast: Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt, Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), and Jacob Tremblay, whose performance in Room had me sobbing (snot and all). The trailer does a great job of presenting Watts’ character as isolated: we get many shots of the snow-clogged rural landscape in which this movie takes place. In its construction, this trailer bears similarities to other psychological thrillers that center around protagonists with fragile psyches (curiously, many of them are therapists by trade): Hide and Seek, Dream House, and Secret Window. By the end of the trailer, the viewer isn’t sure whether they’ll be watching a movie that deals with ghosts, or the deterioration of the main character’s delusion that protects from a horrible secret. If you’re into that kind of story, Shut In looks to be your cup of tea.
