When a young American goes missing in Poland while backpacking around Europe, ambitious journalist Carmen (Sampson) links his disappearance to a number of similar events that have occurred over the years in and around the remote rural village of Alvaina. With the US and Polish authorities showing little interest in the case, Carmen decides to investigate the story herself, hoping for a scoop that will forward her career as a writer.

She convinces her photographer boyfriend, Marcus (Ashmore), and her young intern at the newspaper, Sara (Heffern), to join her in trying to uncover the truth and the trio travels to Alvaina to make some initial enquiries. On arrival at the village they immediately attract the unwelcome attention of the hostile locals who order them to leave the area. Fearing for their safety Marcus is ready to give up and go home, but Carmen and Sara become intrigued by and drawn to a mysterious fog hanging over the nearby woods. On entering the mist, they come across what appears to be an ancient statue – a discovery that leads them on the path to a revelation far more terrifying than anything they could possibly imagine.

Directed by Jon Knautz and starring Aaron Ashmore (Smallville; Veronica Mars), Cindy Sampson (Supernatural; Reaper) and Meghan Heffern (Chloe), The Shrine has been hailed as "true-blue horror all the way... uncompromising and aggressively nasty" by FearNet.com and was praised for its "great story arc, solid writing and acting, and a last act that'll blow you away by AnythingHorror.com. Horrecultfilms.co.uk even claimed it was "quite possibly one of the besthorror films of the year." We shall see.

The Shrine (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (for £12.99) and Blu-ray (for a yet to be confirmed price – why is this so tricky?) by Arrow Films on 27th February 2012.

Extra features are, well, nothing by the look of it, but you can check out the trailer below: