It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, with Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow and Michelle Williams in supporting roles.

The film is also noted for its soundtrack, which prominently used classical music, such as that of Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Penderecki, György Ligeti, John Cage, Ingram Marshall, and Max Richter.

Believing he saw Chuck's body on the rocks below, Teddy climbs down but finds only a cave where a woman claiming to be the real Solando in hiding.

Cawley explains that Andrew's delusion is a result of his guilt, that his migraines and hallucinations are withdrawal symptoms, and that he had created the alternate persona of Edward Daniels,[a] also a Marshal, who acted violently and espoused conspiracy theories about the facility.

[8] Shutter Island was mainly filmed in Massachusetts, with Taunton being the location for the World War II flashback scenes.

The crew wanted to film at the old Worcester State Hospital, but demolition of surrounding buildings made it impossible.

The stone lodge, next to Leach Pond, at Borderland State Park in Easton, Massachusetts, was used for the cabin scene.

[12] The scenes where Teddy and Chuck are caught in the hurricane were filmed at the Wilson Mountain Reservation in Dedham, Massachusetts.

Instead, Scorsese's longtime collaborator Robbie Robertson created an ensemble of previously recorded material to use in the film.

According to a statement on Paramount's website: "The collection of modern classical music [on the soundtrack album] was hand-selected by Robertson, who is proud of its scope and sound.

[16] Scorsese stated in an interview that the main reference to Teddy Daniels was Dana Andrews's character in Laura, and that he was also influenced by several very low-budget 1940s zombie movies made by Val Lewton.

[17] The main frame of the plot resembles that of William Peter Blatty's The Ninth Configuration,[18][19][20] as well as The Cabinet of Dr.

[20][21][22] La Croix noted that Shutter Island was a "complex and puzzling" work that borrowed from genres as diverse as detective, fantasy, and the psychological thriller.

[23] There have been differing opinions over the ending of the film, in which Laeddis asks Dr. Sheehan, "which would be worse – to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?

Professor James Gilligan of New York University was Scorsese's psychiatric adviser, and he said that Laeddis's last words mean: "I feel too guilty to go on living.

[26] Reports attribute the pushback to Paramount not having "the financing in 2009 to spend the $50 to $60 million necessary to market a big awards pic like this", to DiCaprio's unavailability to promote the film internationally, and to Paramount's hope that the economy might rebound enough by February 2010 that a film geared toward adult audiences would be more viable financially.

The site's critical consensus reads, "It may not rank with Scorsese's best work, but Shutter Island's gleefully unapologetic genre thrills represent the director at his most unrestrained.

"[30] On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

"[33] Writing for The Wall Street Journal, John Anderson highly praised the film, suggesting it "requires multiple viewings to be fully realized as a work of art.

"[34] Awarding the film three and a half stars out of four, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "the movie is about: atmosphere, ominous portents, the erosion of Teddy's confidence and even his identity.

"[36] Dana Stevens of Slate described the film "an aesthetically and at times intellectually exciting puzzle, but it's never emotionally involving".

[43] It is Scorsese's fifth movie to debut at the box office at #1 following Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, and The Departed.

[47] In August 2014, Paramount Television and HBO were reported to be brainstorming a TV series called Ashecliffe, which would serve as an origin story for the film.