Ever since the success of “The Ring” and “The Grudge”, we’ve been getting a lot of remakes of Asian horror films. But while “Ring” and “Grudge” were excellent films, many of the ones that followed them haven’t been quite up to snuff, even with Asian directors behind them. “Shutter”, based on the Thai film of the same name, falls into this category. It is a decent film and has some scary moments, but it’s not as good as it looks.
The film starts off with newlyweds Ben (Joshua Jackson) and Jane Shaw (Rachel Taylor) heading off to Japan for both their honeymoon and Ben’s new photography job. On the way to their cabin, they have an accident, running over a girl with their car, only to find no trace of her anywhere. Following the incident, strange, shadow-like images begin to appear in the photos they take, some of them appearing like the girl from the accident. Doing her own investigation, Jane learns that these are spirit photos and that the girl they ran over may be haunting them. As they begin seeing the girl both in cameras and in various reflections and suffer nasty attacks, Jane and Ben try to figure out who the girl is and what she wants with them, in particular Ben’s own connection to her.
I’ll admit that “Shutter” is a pretty decent film. It has a good set-up with an interesting idea behind it. Spirit photography has been around since the camera itself was invented, and the idea of how real it could be, even in today’s digital age, is intriguing. And it does have some tense and suspenseful moments that keep you on the edge of your seat. The best one, I think, is the scene where Ben, alone in his photo studio after the lights go out, is stalked by the girl, who can be seen as camera flashes go off. The fact that the scene takes place almost completely in the dark, with only Ben’s dialogue to guide us as he stumbles about, is scary enough. Watching the camera flashes go off adds to the effect, as you never know where Ben will end up or where the ghost will appear. It’s truly an original scene, one quite suitable to horror.
But despite that scene and the decent set-up, the movie isn’t all that great. Much of it is rather predictable; you can easily figure out what’s going on as you watch it, even if you didn’t watch the trailers. For example, when Ben and Jane go to a spiritualist to figure out what’s going with their photos, Ben refuses to translate to Jane what the man is saying, just dragging her out and saying he’s a fraud. If that’s not a clue that he’s knows something’s going on, I don’t know what is. You even manage to figure out that his two buddies, Bruno and Adam, are involved, though the question is what and how so there is that need to find out. It’s easy to compare this movie to “What Lies Beneath”, a much better horror film involving a haunted couple where the husband is more deeply involved than he’s saying.
You do learn a lot about spirit photos in the film, with the possibility that they could be real. Especially, as magazine owner Ritsuo (James Kyson Lee of “Heroes” fame) points out, that they can’t be faked if taken with a Polaroid camera (no negative or digital image to mess with). That line helps both the credibility of the phenomenon and his expertise, since we do see one of his employees using a computer to insert a ghost image onto a photo for the magazine.
The DVD sports some interesting bonus features, I’ll give it that much. We get the usual commentary track, some deleted/alternate scenes and some trailers. We also get some the standard behind-the-scenes stuff, like interviews with director Masayuki Ochiai and screenwriter Luke Dawson, a “tour” of the movie and what it’s about (“A Ghost in the Lens”), and a short piece about shooting a film in Japan (“A Cultural Divide”). There are also some interesting features on spirit photography; “A History of Spirit Photography” pretty says it all, right there, a short documentary about the phenomenon. “Create Your Own Phantom Photo” tells you how to do just that with your computer and some good editing software, and “The Hunt for the Haunt: Tools and Tips for Ghost Hunting” is a textual piece that offers advice on how to be a ghost hunter, where to go and what to do. The nice thing about all the bonus material is that each one is nice and short, the longest ones not even ten minutes long, and you do learn something interesting.
As stated, “Shutter” is alright, but there are much better horror films out there. If you want Asian remakes, stick with “The Ring” and “The Grudge” and maybe go with the original version of this film.
Released by: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Joshua Jackson (Ben Shaw), Jane Shaw (Rachel Taylor), Megumi Okina (Megumi Takana)
Directed by: Masayuki Ochiai
Rating: Unrated DVD
Score: 5 out of 10
