History Film / ShutterIsland

* BedlamHouse: The dangerous inmates of Block C are held in cages in a dark and damp Civil War-era military fort.

* BlastOut: During the flashback to the Nazi camp, one German guard tries to flee and gets shot by US soldier which triggers a chain reaction and causing a massacre with couple dozen of Germans dead.

* BungledSuicide: The commandant of Dachau concentration camp in Daniels' flashback tried to shoot himself, but failed and took an hour to die. Daniels moved the gun away to prolong his suffering by preventing a second attempt.

* ByTheBookCop: Subverted. Teddy Daniels is on Shutter Island not only for a missing person's case, but to find Andrew Laeddis, the man responsible for the death of Daniels's wife.

* CatchYourDeathOfCold: When Teddy meets Dr. Cawley at the lighthouse, the latter tells him to dry off lest he will catch a cold. Justified by the fact that the movie is set in 1954 when the science of catching a cold wasn't as advanced as today.

** The description of a lobotomy, which [[spoiler:is very strongly implied to be the lead character's fate]]. A real lobotomy doesn't actually damage the eye''ball'', as this is gently pushed sideways to clear a path to the orbital fissures at the rear of the eye-socket. Still extremely creepy.

** Symbolisms of FireWaterJuxtaposition are used as signs to distinguish [[spoiler:Teddy's delusions. One of the realities he so desperately wants to avoid is that his wife ''drowned'' their three children. Water is the opposite of fire in the same way that reality is the opposite of delusion. Each scene where fire shows up, "Teddy" is actively having delusions. When water shows up, he is more actively being forced to confront reality.]]

*** [[spoiler:How Andrew (then believing himself to be Teddy) utilized matches to see in Ward C, having told Sheehan (as Chuck) that Laeddis was a fire bug. Granted, he ''had'' to use something to see in the nearly-pitch-black ward, but it's heavily inferrable based on how much attention the movie pays to Andrew lighting each match.]]

* HeadacheOfDoom: Teddy Daniels suffers a mild headache not long after arriving at Ashecliff, apparently caused by dehydration from sea-sickness. However, the second day on the island ends with Daniels suffering a migraine so powerful that it causes him to collapse, and he has to be helped into bed. According to [[spoiler:"Rachael Solando"]], this has actually been caused by the hospital staff drugging him in the hopes of faking a descent into madness and imprisoning him as a patient. [[spoiler:The truth is much stranger: Daniels is actually Andrew Laeddis, a delusional patient at the hospital, and his headaches are withdrawal symptoms - the result of him being taken off antipsychotic medication.]]

** The crooked angles in the lighthouse are a homage to ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', a German film told from the perspective of an asylum patient.

* {{Lobotomy}}: During the course of US Marshall Teddy Daniels's investigation into the titular mental institution, the procedure is mentioned as one method used to "cure" violent inmates that have proven otherwise unable to be helped. After a few {{Plot Twist}}s and meetings with [[spoiler:Andrew Laeddis]] and [[spoiler:Rachel]] it is held as a threat against Daniels in his attempts to escape the island. Finally, after TheReveal, [[spoiler:The whole plot is revealed as an elaborate set-up to give Daniels, who is actually Laeddis committed to the asylum after killing his wife because she murdered their children in her own insanity, one last chance to cure himself. He experiences MyGodWhatHaveIDone and chooses to maintain the fantasy, knowing that it will mean death or worse, and undergo the procedure.]]

* TheOphelia: Dolores appears in Teddy's imaginations like this. Michelle Williams claims she took inspiration from ''Film/TheHaunting1963'' - where Eleanor is also an example of this.

* YouAreWhatYouHate: Teddy Daniels doesn't sympathize for the patients because in most cases, they've committed murder. [[spoiler:In reality, he killed his wife and confesses he is a monster who would rather die a good man in the final scene.]]

* DeathOfAChild: Along with the dead children at Dachau, Rachel Solando killed her three children by drowning them [[spoiler:and by extension, so did Dolores]].

* TheFundamentalist: Dr. Naehring [[DeliberateValuesDissonance sees the patients as fundamentally dangerous, and prefers lobotomies to actual treatment.]] [[MotiveRant He justifies himself by saying that you must kill a ''monster'' when you see it.]]
* HerrDoktor: Played with. Dr. Naehring is undeniably German (although [[FakeNationality played by a legendary Swede]]), but his accent is much lighter than required by the trope. Teddy Daniels (a WWII veteran who participated in the liberation of Dachau) starts to believe that Dr. Naehring is a fugitive Nazi continuing his horrible experiments in the U.S. [[spoiler:This theory turns out to be just another part of Andrew's delusion.]]

* ItsAllMyFault: * GuiltComplex: Teddy is full of guilt for his actions in Dachau and the death of his wife even though it was not his fault. [[spoiler:It's because 'Teddy' is a mask for Andrew feeling a LaserGuidedKarma for ignoring Dolores's obvious insanity which led to her killing her children and Andrew giving Dolores a MercyKill.]]

* MovingBeyondBereavement: Teddy Daniels is in mourning for his wife, killed by a crazed arsonist by the name of Andrew Laeddis some years ago; he also experiences vivid dreams of his wife that escalate to full-blown hallucinations as the stress of his investigation at Ashecliff piles on. It's actually remarked several times that Teddy has to "let her go," both by real characters and by his visions, but he doesn't listen until the finale reveals why: [[spoiler:Teddy Daniels and Andrew Laeddis are actually the same person, his wife was killed immediately after she drowned Andrew's children in a lake, and he's spent the last two years at Ashecliff in a state of denial; everything in the film has been the doctors trying to break through Andrew's delusions and get him to accept reality]]. By the end of the film, it seems he's finally come to terms with what happened to his wife -- [[spoiler:though Andrew isn't intending to move on, and it's implied that he's faking a relapse to force his doctors to lobotomize him]].

* TheOphelia: Dolores appears in Teddy's imaginations like this. Michelle Williams claims she took inspiration from ''Film/TheHaunting1963'' - where Eleanor is also an example of this.

%%* TentativeLight

* PrefersTheIllusion: While it appears that the doctor's efforts at curing [[spoiler:the main character]] of his massive defensive delusions have ultimately failed, the final line may imply that it didn't fail. Instead, he deliberately maintained the act [[spoiler:in order to be lobotomized, and forget everything ''anyway'']].

* PapaWolf: [[spoiler:Laeddis kills his wife after she goes AxCrazy and murders their children.]]

* MotiveDecay: Teddy Daniels keeps changing the reasons for his investigation. Initially he arrived at Ashecliffe to investigate Rachel Solando's disappearance but then he tells Chuck that the real reason was another inmate who he holds responsible for the death of his wife. From there he becomes obsessed with a massive conspiracy at Ashecliffe to suppress and cover up the truth and plans to expose the operation to the public. [[spoiler:This later gets explained as a symptom of his insanity, his lack of clarity impairs him to truly know his real self and his actual goals, so he has to constantly change and alter his circumstances]].

* GuiltComplex: Teddy is full of guilt for his actions in Dachau and the death of his wife even though it was not his fault. [[spoiler:It's because 'Teddy' is a mask for Andrew feeling a LaserGuidedKarma for ignoring Dolores's obvious insanity which led to her killing her children and Andrew giving Dolores a MercyKill.]]

* ItsAllMyFault: [[spoiler:Andrew blames himself for both murdering Dolores and the death of his children. Had he paid attention to his wife's madness and her pleas for help, his children wouldn't have drowned in the lake.]]

* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: A somewhat meta-example; any viewer should be able to spot the obvious twist a mile away, but the way the film plays out makes one constantly question whether or not that's just what the filmmakers want you to expect.

* AndYouWereThere: It's revealed towards the end that [[spoiler:the 'Rachel Solando' Teddy was looking for (played by Emily Mortimer) is another nurse at the hospital]].

* BlastOut: Subverted. At the end, Teddy shoots and apparently kills [[spoiler:Dr Cawley, but when he turns the gun on Sheehan, the camera cuts back to Cawley, unshot and unharmed]].

* CatapultNightmare: Teddy has a few thanks to his haunting nightmares.

** The ending has the "peaceful" shot of the lighthouse. The previous scene makes clear what will happen to [[spoiler:Laeddis]] there.

* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler:Nearly the entire film is one, on the part of Dr. Cawley, to help Andrew realize the truth. He succeeds, but Andrew chooses to He fails. Or does he?]]

* TerrifyingPetStoreRat: There's a whole swarm of rats on the cliffside, which seem curious but not at all hostile.

* AmnesiacProtagonistCatalyst: The police officer Teddy [[spoiler:''is'' Andrew Laeddis. But this is a downplayed case since everyone else was aware of it and was just playing along to try and cure him.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:Cawley is able to break 'Teddy' by asking if the little girl who haunts him, Andrew's daughter Rachel, is not real.]]

* HerrDoktor: Played with. Dr. Naehring is undeniably German (although [[FakeNationality played by a legendary Swede]]), but his accent is much lighter than required by the trope. Teddy starts to believe that Dr. Naehring is a fugitive Nazi continuing his horrible experiments in the U.S., [[spoiler:which turns out to be just another part of Andrew's delusion.]]