Rent movie

The Shack

  • 2017
  • PG-13
  • 132min
  • 19%
  • 6.3 / 10

The main character, Mack Phillips, had a difficult childhood where he was abused by his father. He has managed to create a life for himself with his wife and three children until, one day, his daughter is murdered, which tears his family apart. He is summoned by a mysterious stranger to a cabin in the woods. He goes there, hoping to potentially find a clue to where he can find the killer, but he does not find anything and becomes despondent. Suddenly, he is visited by some quasi-supernatural strangers who accompany him from the cabin and help him work through his issues so he can get on with his life.

Read more

Where to watch The Shack online

  • rent starting at $2.99
  • buy starting at $11.99

Trailers and gallery

movie facts

The author of the book that the movie was based on, William Paul Young, did not expect his work to have such wild success. Before writing the novel, Young was living in difficult economic circumstances with his wife and a number of his children. He wrote the book, which is semi-autobiographical, in order to deal with some of his unresolved personal issues. Initially, he intended to only print a handful of copies of the book to give to his family. After getting a positive reception from family and close friends, he tried to shop the book to publishers but was rejected repeatedly. At this point, he decided to self-publish, but could only afford to spend several hundred dollars advertising his work. Despite all this, the book eventually became a number one New York Times bestseller.

Comments

about the movie

The Shack was released in early 2017. It does not have a lot of A-list actors but did manage to make back almost five times its $20 million budget. It was not particularly well-received among general audiences and critics due to some of its religious themes and how they were handled, though conservative critics were more favorable to it. It is based on a 2007 novel of the same name. Much of the film was shot in Canada, and it was relatively popular in that country, as the author of the book it was based on is also Canadian.