To this day SHELTER ISLAND has a score of 3,8 but only 844 ratings so it will never make the infamous Bottom 100. So why did I watch it since it will never make the list? Well, after seeing UNDER THE HULA MOON and ONE TOUGH COP (the other two movies Stephen Baldwin and Chris Penn did together, and this is the last one before Penn's sudden death in 2006) and liking them I thought that their third outing couldn't be that bad. In fact when I saw it last September I kinda liked it tho I had to do some brainwork as well.
Louise Delamere (Ally Sheedy) is a professional golfer and motivational speaker that seems to have a perfect life: fame, money and a girlfriend named Alexandria (Patsy Kensit). One night tho there is a storm near their home and a stranger named Lenny (Baldwin) knocks at the door for refuging after his boat destroyed during the storm and he managed to go on land. Louise and Alexandria treat Lenny very well, and he gradually seduces and falls in love for the both of them. Especially, he becomes obsessed with Louise to the point of asking her some golf lessons and then knocks her unconscious and puts her in a body bag for dumping her near a lake and for spending more time with Alexandria.
When Louise manages to free from the bag she returns home only to find Lenny and Alexandria smitten with each other: Louise shoots Lenny minutes before dim-witted Sheriff DeLuca (Penn) arrives and notices the chaos. Alexandria shoots the Sheriff and after she makes a confession to Louise she shoots her as well. And now, the viewer collects the pieces: Alexandria became Louise's partner for having the money, and she took advantage of the arrival of Lenny for being seduced by him and complete the scheme and leave for a better life outside the US (we don't see it but it's implied).
The acting by all (Sheedy, Kensit, Baldwin and Penn in one of his final roles) was decent, nothing to rave about. However, I can see why most of the users hate it because they expected to see a very tense thriller but they didn't. Instead it's one of those thrillers for which you have to stay careful to all the passages because if you don't pay that much attention you won't get a thing. Personally it took me some time and had to re-watch the ending for finally collecting the pieces.
Overall, a thriller which I mostly recommend to the cerebral kind of viewers because all the others might end up confused if they don't have the patience of following all the pieces carefully. And for the guys there are some sexy moments when the two female leads are naked doing exercises and then go in the sauna that are very tittilating, so it's another reason for which I'd recommend it.
Louise Delamere (Ally Sheedy) is a professional golfer and motivational speaker that seems to have a perfect life: fame, money and a girlfriend named Alexandria (Patsy Kensit). One night tho there is a storm near their home and a stranger named Lenny (Baldwin) knocks at the door for refuging after his boat destroyed during the storm and he managed to go on land. Louise and Alexandria treat Lenny very well, and he gradually seduces and falls in love for the both of them. Especially, he becomes obsessed with Louise to the point of asking her some golf lessons and then knocks her unconscious and puts her in a body bag for dumping her near a lake and for spending more time with Alexandria.
When Louise manages to free from the bag she returns home only to find Lenny and Alexandria smitten with each other: Louise shoots Lenny minutes before dim-witted Sheriff DeLuca (Penn) arrives and notices the chaos. Alexandria shoots the Sheriff and after she makes a confession to Louise she shoots her as well. And now, the viewer collects the pieces: Alexandria became Louise's partner for having the money, and she took advantage of the arrival of Lenny for being seduced by him and complete the scheme and leave for a better life outside the US (we don't see it but it's implied).
The acting by all (Sheedy, Kensit, Baldwin and Penn in one of his final roles) was decent, nothing to rave about. However, I can see why most of the users hate it because they expected to see a very tense thriller but they didn't. Instead it's one of those thrillers for which you have to stay careful to all the passages because if you don't pay that much attention you won't get a thing. Personally it took me some time and had to re-watch the ending for finally collecting the pieces.
Overall, a thriller which I mostly recommend to the cerebral kind of viewers because all the others might end up confused if they don't have the patience of following all the pieces carefully. And for the guys there are some sexy moments when the two female leads are naked doing exercises and then go in the sauna that are very tittilating, so it's another reason for which I'd recommend it.