Despite a weak script by Jack Stanley, ‘Shell’ manages to be playful, silly, and also downright creepy as director Max Minghella leans towards a campy tone that saves it from failing as a horror film. The fact that its two stars, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Hudson, understood that the film lacks gravitas, plays it a little over-the-top, synching in with its silly atmosphere and bringing it to camp.
‘Shell’ is set in a not-too-distant future filled with a lot of self-driving cars and a beauty and cosmetic industry that ensures everyone can look good. So, when Samantha Lake (Elisabeth Moss), an actress with a hit TV sitcom, attends auditions surrounded by flawless women who are stick-thin. She has a healthy figure, with curves in all the right places and by all accounts, she is a beautiful girl, as is Moss. But the film positions her as someone who isn’t trying hard enough. It doesn’t help that she has psoriasis that adds to her insecurities. Her agency just signed a contract with a leading cosmetic treatment facility called Shell, run by Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson), who is playing a senior citizen but the treatments at Shell have kept her youthful. Samantha’s agency suggests she takes treatments to further her career.
Samantha goes through with the treatment, which implants crustacean genes into her body. This allows her cellular processes to shed old cells and regrow new ones, keeping her young forever, much like Zoe. But based on the film’s opening, a prologue where a woman (a cameo by Elizabeth Berkley) is suffering from strange growths coming out of her skin. Zoe befriends Samantha and forces the meek and insecure Samantha to come out of her shell, pun intended and fully embrace her femininity and power. But Samantha begins showing signs of the same growth and the film swiftly shifts from a creepy suspense film into body horror.
Stanley’s script is bit on the nose and has a tendency to write in scenes and narrative points that don’t really lead anywhere and slows down the film’s pace. But Minghella allows his two lead actresses to act up a storm, letting them play that leans into the silliness of the narrative and brings it into the realm of camp. Unfortunately, camp also needs to have big ambitions and failing at them and ‘Shell’ isn’t as ambitious as it should be to really settle into that mold. So, while the film fun and enjoyable, it lacks the spark that made a similar movie like ‘The Substance’ truly memorable.
Minghella is pretty good at creating creepy moments and managing the tension, allowing it to build and build so that when the film enters into the genre of a creature feature, complete with a giant monster, we are already prepared. The film goes off the rails and into absurdist territory by the last 20 minutes, with Kate Hudson veering into crazy villain mode that you can’t help but laugh.
Both Moss and Hudson are exceptional actors, and the way by which they lay it on thick makes ‘Shell’ enjoyable to watch. Moss excellently shifts Samantha from the meek and insecure girl into the self-confident, empowered actress post-treatment but the character that was there at the beginning is still there, underneath, and manages to pop up when things go crazy. It’s a wonderful juggling act that elevates the film. Hudson, on the other hand, is completely committed to the craziness of the film’s premise. She sells it by being so dedicated to Zoe’s villain arc.
What I did love about ‘Shell’, though, is how it empowers Samantha without turning her into another thin or flawless like the other women in the film. The film is steadfast in that a woman who isn’t svelte or model stereotype is still desirable and can be a star. While failing to reach the satirical heights of ‘The Substance,’ there’s a quiet charm to ‘Shell’ that manages to present this thesis that feels very progressive, authentic and true.
My Rating:
