Shell (2024)

Shell (2024)

Max Minghella also directed Teen Spirit (2018) starring Elle Fanning. The story of a young woman who wants to become a singer. Teen Spirit got a helping hand from the producer of La La Land (2016).

As an actor, Max was in Spiral – From the Book of Saw (2021), which was to be the ninth in the saga, but also a sort of ugly duckling, because he was so different from the others. And let’s not forget that Chris Rock was in the lead role!!!!

Minghella also shared the screen with quite a cast (Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple, David Morse and Heather Graham) in Horns (2013). And he had already worked with Elisabeth Moss, as they both starred in the series The Handmaid’s Tale. A series that was less and less successful from the second season onwards. That didn’t stop them from doing at least 5! Ah… when you believe in what you do!…

I didn’t really like Elisabeth Moss until now. The fact that she was in films I didn’t love like Us (2019) or The Invisible Man (2020) didn’t help too much. I found her inexpressive, whereas here she’s breathtakingly natural. I found her downright excellent, yes, and it makes me happy to change my mind about her.

I have to say that I was originally convinced that I was going to hate this film. I thought I was going to get into body horror, The Substance (2024) style.

What’s more, I’m not a fan of Kate Hudson either. I usually love Kate, whether it’s actress Winslet or Beckinsale, or singer Bush or Nash. Not a fan of supermodel Moss, though. But I’m going to add Cate Blanchett, even if it’s not spelt the same way, to the list of my favourite actresses.

Getting back to Hudson, she clearly made me smile in Bride Wars (2009) with Anne Hathaway or in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003). She also reunited with Matthew McConaughey (A Time to Kill) a few years later in Fool’s Gold (2008). The Killer inside me (2010) is a very disturbing film, with a scene of unprecedented brutality and violence. I really liked Nine (2009), thoroughly enjoyed The Skeleton Key (2005) and, if not, I think Almost Famous (2000), Good People (2014) and Rock The Kasbah (2015) might be good films, but I haven’t seen them yet.

Kate Hudson plays a very snobbish, hateful, appearance-based character in this film. She does it well, but nothing extraordinary.

As for Elizabeth Berkley, she’s in the introductory scene. It’s always a pleasure to see these actresses from the Saved by the Bell series! Berkley has come a long way since then, including TV films such as Student Seduction (2003) and films such as Showgirls (1995), Moving Malcolm (2003) and her stint with Woody Allen in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001).

The all-female cast also includes Kaia Gerber, sometimes known by her full name Kaia Jordan Gerber, an American model and actress.

Kaia Jordan Gerber is the daughter of Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber. Her father was born in New York into a modest family of Russian Jewish origin and is also a former model, but is best known for his business career. As for his mother (need we introduce her again?), she has German, English, French and Danish origins and was a very famous supermodel in the 1990s.

For those interested, Kaia has appeared in three other films: Babylon (2022), Bottoms (2023) and Saturday Night (by Jason Reitman!), as well as a TV film, Sister Cities, a story of four sisters united by secrecy. On television, she appeared in two episodes of the first season of American Horror Stories. She has a recurring role in season 10 of American Horror Story: Double Feature. In 2024 she appeared in Palm Royale and in 2025 in Overcompensating. She also appeared in two music videos: ‘Burnout’ by John Eatherly and ‘Crying in the Mirror’ by Rainsford. In 2021, she played in Brando Crawford’s The Great Gatsby Live Read!

So much for her! I’ve talked about her a lot, because I’ve never done it before. Yet we don’t see that much of her in this feature film.

If ever, Shell has nothing to do with the oil company. Nor was Beethoven (1992) about the famous German composer, the last great exponent of Viennese classicism and precursor of Romanticism.

No, the story is this: Samantha, a struggling actress, is offered a free trial at Shell, a pioneering health and beauty company that promises to keep its customers looking young forever.

It’s amazing, I’ve seen one of those annoying phrases that says ‘If you like this film, you might like…’ and the list includes Chronicle (2012), Cloverfield (2008), Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982)! I think that’s a completely random list. They must have just looked at the first horror films they came across in another article and thought ‘That’s it, we’re going to rate those same films!’

I hate Cloverfield, I’m not overly fond of Chronicle, Alien remains unbeatable in its genre, even if The Thing is said to be following pretty closely behind it. That’s not necessarily my opinion, but it’s clear that The Thing is an important film. But none of these films have any direct link or resemblance with Shell.

I really liked this film. It made me appreciate Elisabeth Moss. I wasn’t sure if it was a comedy, because there are some frankly hilarious scenes.

The very first scene is quite bloody, but bearable. Of course, this is not a film for the faint of heart, nor for those allergic to horror. It has its disturbing, disgusting and shocking scenes, but the gore only appears in the last quarter of an hour, but doesn’t spoil everything.

The film isn’t scary, it’s not tension-inducing. It does have its fair share of jump scares, though, which I still regard as futile fear-mongering, because it’s so easy to scare people with jump scares!

Shell didn’t remind me too much of Stephen King’s stories or David Cronenberg’s films, even though, indirectly, there’s always a bit of influence, I think.