United States (CNS) - 138 minutes

In theaters February 19, 2010

Rating: R, Thriller

Shudders are on the agenda. Shivers too. And squirms. Maybe even a shock or two. And all delivered with mind-bending finesse.

That's what's in store for you when you land on Shutter Island, a superbly realized psychological suspense thriller from Martin Scorsese. It's a labyrinthian chiller that blends horror and tension with reality-versus-illusion mind games that absolutely envelop us.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Boston U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels, assigned, along with partner Mark Ruffalo, to look into the 1954 disappearance of a murderess who has escaped from Asheville Psychiatric, a high-security correctional facility for the criminally insane that's been at least partially financed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. She's presumed to be hiding somewhere on the remote location of the coast of Massachusetts that was once a Civil War-era fortress and lends the film its title.

Teddy is a World War II veteran who was present at the liberation of Dachau, where he witnessed atrocities that continue to haunt him, although not as much as his wife's tragic death during an arsonist-set fire.

His investigation -- during a major hurricane that batters the island while a major migraine batters him and triggers all sorts of unpleasant dreams and memories -- uncovers what seems to be a Cold War-era government conspiracy.

But is it possible that Teddy's mind is playing tricks on him, and that things here are far from what they seem because of his own agenda? Is he hallucinating because of the medication they have so generously provided him with? Is this perhaps a nightmare that he just cannot wake from?

The screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis, which is based on the 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River; Gone, Baby, Gone), starts out as a standard-issue police procedural. But then it segues into something else, something best left unexplained.

In this fourth collaboration between the world-class director and DiCaprio (Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed), who is doing for Act Two in Scorsese's career what Robert DeNiro did for Act One, Scorsese (Taxi Diver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas) takes a conventional thriller, just as he did in Cape Fear, and sees how far he can push the generic envelope while applying his idiosyncratic spin.

His consummate craftsmanship is on vivid display. All he does is grab us by the lapels from the get-go, keep several balls in the air from first scene to last, and layer his mesmerizing film so completely that we're on guard and on edge throughout. It's thrilling to be in the hands of a master, and that's just what Scorsese is.

The result is an occasionally overwrought but consistently engrossing tale of paranoic horror, with Scorsese controlling the tone, juggling the riddle-riddled narrative, and tightening the screws with characteristic command, using the mental hospital as a powerful character in its own right, just as director Stanley Kubrick did with the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, his dip in the horror pool.

Some viewers may find Shutter Island's ultimate twist problematic (as some readers of the book undoubtedly did), so the director wisely makes the revelation cathartic rather than earth-shaking. In other words, if you know what's coming, fine.

And that's because it's the ride through the spiral of lies, not the final destination, that's the point here. Scorsese's sense-of-doom focus remains on character and atmosphere. And what precedes the Big Reveal/Gotcha is nonetheless thoroughly absorbing, eerily menacing, and intensely spooky.

What has not seemed to fit along the way does so, ingeniously, once the film's over. And you may find yourself both needing and wanting to see it again.

The exceptional supporting cast, which includes Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, Ted Levine, and John Carroll Lynch, is smoothly efficient in helping to make this not just a populated star turn for DiCaprio -- who is extraordinary and has never been better as he fully realizes his potential in a truly demanding, Oscar-caliber role as the tortured protagonist -- but a strong and cohesive ensemble drama as well.

And even at well over two hours, this masterwork is not a minute too long and doesn't have a wasted frame.

Remember all those rumors about the release being delayed because the movie was problematic? Forget it. This one gets next year's Oscar race off to an early start.

Scorsese's Shutter Island is a hauntingly nightmarish and deliciously convoluted thriller.  Play the guessing game if you like, and pat yourself on the back if you beat the buzzer. But that's only a minor element in what is a glorious, spine-tingling funhouse ride. icelebz