Gimme Shelter is a independent drama film written and directed by Ronald Krauss, which was filmed in 2011 and released on 2014. It stars Vanessa Hudgens, James Earl Jones, Rosario Dawson, Ann Dowd, and Brendan Fraser.
It tells the story of a pregnant teen named Agnes "Apple" Bailey (Hudgens) who longs to escape her abusive, drug-addicted mother (Dawson) and seek help from her absent, wealthy biological father (Fraser).
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Apple's mother did something that she won't talk about in the past, and tries to murder her when Apple won't leave with her.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Apple narrates how every time she's attempted to escape from her mother has ended in disaster. One time she tries to escape in a taxi from her mother and she succeeded only to not have enough money for the taxi and be told to leave. She tries to steal the taxi to drive further away only to fail and have to walk. She then tries to escape in a car she carjacked only to almost die in a near-fatal car crash. Apple reveals she's only had sex once and she got pregnant because of that.
- Disappeared Dad: Tom was absent in Apple's life before she shows up on his doorstep, and they had never even met until then. It appears to be due to her mother and his family not wanting them in contact (they were both teens at the time). Both manage to forge a relationship despite this. Her baby's father however is never seen, and there's no sign that's going to change.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Apple endures parental abuse and neglect, near-rape, homelessness, and a near-fatal car crash just to find herself a safe home at a shelter for single teen parents for her and her baby.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Apple nearly terminates her pregnancy at her biological father and stepmother's insistence. But as she's waiting in the waiting room, she changes her mind and leaves after seeing a girl leaving in tears and hears another loudly crying.
- Good Shepherd: Apple is counseled by a kindly priest who refers her to a nice Catholic woman who runs a shelter housing unwed teen mothers. He remains supportive of her from that point on.
- Important Haircut: Apple cuts her hair short in the film's opening as a disguise in hopes of escaping her abusive mother.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Apple, due to cutting her hair short, resembles a boy to some who meet her. When mistaken for a burglar and almost arrested by her biological father's security, they respond "Oh! It's a girl!" in surprise and let her go.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Apple gets pregnant from having sex once.
- Screaming Birth: Apple goes through a painful process giving birth to her baby as she's screaming. She's also bursting into tears due to it being an emotional process as well.
- Shout-Out: The scene where the mothers share their file information is similar to a scene in Girl, Interrupted.
- Teen Pregnancy: Apple discovers she's pregnant and has to find a new safe home for herself and her baby. Apple reveals her parents were also teenagers when they had her (her father was 19, her mother was 16).
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: At one point, the pregnant homeless Apple is reduced to digging into dumpsters and eating discarded food out of the garbage.
- What Happened To The Mom?: After she tried to kill Apple with a razor blade, who was pregnant, her mother was last seen restrained by her safe home friends, and was never seen again thereon.
