The Shrine

The Shrine is a 2010 Canadian supernatural horror film produced by Brookstreet Pictures. The film was directed by Jon Knautz and stars Aaron Ashmore, Cindy Sampson, Meghan Heffern, and Trevor Matthews. The screenplay was written by Jon Knautz, Brendan Moore, and Trevor Matthews. Ryan Shore received a 2012 Grammy Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for his score. Plot The film starts with a man tied to a table. Another man then kills him with a sledgehammer to the face. Journalist Carmen and her photographer boyfriend Marcus are having relationship problems since Carmen tends to ignore him in favor of her job. Carmen asks her boss, Dale, to allow her to investigate the disappearances of tourists in the (fictional) Polish village of Alvainia, including Eric Taylor (who was killed at the beginning of the film). Dale is not interested in the case, and does not give her permission to go. Undeterred, Carmen and her intern Sara visit Eric's mother, Laura, who allows her to borrow Eric's journal. Carmen has a dream of Eric, who tells her to leave him alone. Wanting to mend her relationship with Marcus, Carmen urges him to come with her and Sara to Alvainia. Upon arrival, they find the village people to be secretive and unwelcoming. They question a girl, Lidia, about Eric but she is hesitant to answer. They discover that no one in the village is allowed to leave and spot a strange area of fog that seems to be concentrated only in one portion of the forest, mentioned in Eric's notes. When they attempt to investigate it, they are threatened by the villagers and told to leave. Though Marcus wants to leave, Carmen admits that Dale knows nothing about the trip and her career will be over if she returns with no story. Thus, they head back into the forest.