What is Take Shelter's IQ Score?

Take Shelter has an IQ Score of 163/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Masterclass tier. The score breaks down to 42/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 39/50 Educational Value, and 41/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Take Shelter educational?

Take Shelter is strong on Educational Value, 39/50 on TVI's rubric, which rates the density and integration of substantive information within the work.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Take Shelter IQ Score 163/200

Take Shelter has an IQ Score of 163/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-09-21·Methodology

dramapsychological

163/ 200

Masterclass

Exceptional cognitive and educational substance, delivered with craft that sustains close attention

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

Verification status: Queued. · Request priority review of this title · Notify me when verified

Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

Saves to your browser. See your Personal IQ on My TVI →

Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,607 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

Jeff Nichols's 2011 film anchored by Michael Shannon as a working-class Ohio father suffering apocalyptic visions, Jessica Chastain anchors as his wife. The structural commitment to letting mental-illness-vs-actual-apocalypse cognitive material remain genuinely ambiguous until the final shot is canonical early-2010s indie prestige work.

One of the medium's most-formally-disciplined paranoia films.

People & Production Jeff Nichols · Hydraulx · United States 15 connections