In ShellElisabeth Moss stars as Samantha Lake, a thirtysomething actress whose career is already on the decline due to Hollywood’s tendency to prioritize beauty and youth over talent. When Samantha seeks help through wellness guru Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson) and her company, also called Shell, her life is transformed overnight. Naturally, this is all too good to be true.
There are many elements that work in ShellFrom its slick production design to the cast, which also includes Kaia Gerber, Elizabeth Berkley, Arian Moyadim and Amy Landecker, Max Minghella, in his second feature as director, gives Los Angeles a distinctly retro-futuristic feel that adds another layer of silliness to the proceedings. Still, Shell takes too long to unravel its central mystery and once it gets to the body horror He makes fun of it at the beginning of the film, the film begins to hold back.
Shell is more of a comedy than a horror movie
But it is not able to mix the two completely
It's hard not to think of the other 2024 body horror movie about aging women when watching this Shellespecially when you consider that both were screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Shell premieres. But while The substance It's a no-holds-barred bloodfest, Shell He seems hesitant to lean into his uglier sensibilities. This comes after an opening sequence featuring Berkley in a brutal scene that sets up the terror to come.
From there, however, Shell It's more comedy than horror, quirky and almost over-the-top in its depiction of the wellness industry and Hollywood. However, by adopting this tone, Shell It fails to live up to the promise of its beginning for most of its duration and when it gets to the point where it needs to be, the change doesn't quite work.
The source of this anti-aging mystery in
Shell
It's even funnier, and it manifests in a climactic monster moment that finally achieves the tone the film has been aiming for.
What works? ShellThe satire on the actress's beauty and well-being is an element of the film that feels all too real. Everywhere you look, people are looking for the trick to prevent or even stop aging (tech mogul Bryan Johnson, who injects his 17-year-old son's blood into his body and reportedly spends $2 million a year to look young, immediately comes to mind).
The source of this anti-aging mystery in Shell It's even more fun, and it manifests itself in a climactic monster moment that finally achieves the tone the film has been aiming for. But just as it begins to get things right, Minghella's confident direction turns chaotic, almost as if the camera is afraid to look directly into the eyes of the evil that Shell has created.
If it weren't for ShellHowever, I fear that none of this would work with Moss' casting. We see Moss being funny in a way that many of her recent roles, most notable The Handmaid's Taleshe hasn't been allowed to be. Hudson is absolutely diabolical as Zoe Shannon, devouring every scene she's in, oscillating between girls' girl and corporate monster with terrifying ease.
It's a great showcase for the duo, bolstered by fun performances and supporting appearances, including Ziwe as a media executive and Este Haim as Samantha's hapless friend/assistant. Unfortunately, while all of these disparate elements work, it never coalesces into something coherent. It's funny: there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments satirizing the vanity of Hollywood and the film industry.
There are also a couple of really nasty body horror moments, but this is where… Shell He seems afraid to stick around for too long. It feels like he's holding back a big reveal, but that never happens, even when a monster stalks a warehouse at the end of the film, looking for anything it can grab in its claws. Shell It's fun and easy on the eyes, but it lacks the depth or darkness it needs.
Shell It premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film has a runtime of 100 minutes and is rated for violent content, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.