Reviews are starting to roll in for The Daily Wire’s first original film, “Shut In,” and the conservative media company has to be thrilled with what it’s hearing.
Popular podcaster and broadcasting veteran Megyn Kelly said on her eponymous show that she really enjoyed the film as a “good thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.” She particularly highlighted the quality of the performances, calling the acting “amazing” and “crazy good.”
Kelly finished her review by saying, “This is why everybody out there has got to support The Daily Wire in this effort … because there needs to be somebody who will make more conservative-leaning films and hire more conservative-leaning actors, which right now is a death knell to your career.” She added, “We always talk about creating new lanes, and this is one.”
But while Kelly is known for her openness to conservative entertainment, she’s hardly the only media figure lauding the film. The more left-leaning San Jose Mercury News also praised “Shut In” as a “lean, efficient and often vicious horror/revenge flick that’ll suck you in no matter your political stripe.”
Critic Randy Myers went on to call the film a “polished exercise in confined terror,” and specifically cited the high quality of the screenplay.
Like The San Jose Mercury News, sports outlet Outkick points out that while the movie champions classic Western civilization values like self-reliance and religious faith, it’s not political and, unlike the current Hollywood trend, doesn’t push any overt agendas.
“The film is more traditional than political,” reviewer Bobby Burack says. “The film’s simple format is a product of spending more time entertaining than preaching.”
At the same time, conservative Rotten Tomatoes critic Christian Toto points out that the film boasts themes that right-leaning audiences rarely see on screens big or small these days. “’Shut In’ isn’t a Pure Flix presentation, but an element of faith is both unmistakable and shrewdly deployed,” he writes, later adding, “It’s a genre film, all right, but it never stops building up its flawed heroine, right through the last, satisfying image.”
Toto’s fellow Rotten Tomatoes critic, Matt Pejkovic of Matt’s Movie Reviews agrees, saying, “Caruso has crafted an intense thriller in Shut In. The stakes – high, palpable, ever present – are made more intimate by the performance of Vincent Gallo, who with his jittery wild-card persona and Charles Manson inspired look, makes for an intimidating figure.”
Pejkovic concluded by similarly pointing to subtext that so often goes unexplored in modern mainstream Hollywood. “The high quality of craft is matched by a depth found in its themes of sacrifice, temptation, and rebirth,” he says. “Caruso expertly weaves in subtle religious symbolism and allegory to further create a spine-chiller in which genre conventions blend with dramatic stakes to make for a strong, solid thriller.”
The Daily Wire’s first original film, Shut In, will be premiering on Thursday, February 10th at 9pm ET on YouTube. Following the premiere, Shut In will be available exclusively to Daily Wire members. Click here to watch, and be sure to hit that “Set reminder” button so you don’t miss the premiere!
Source: Dailywire
