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So much average

Don't Believe the Hype

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Photographer Ben Shaw (Joshua Jackson) marries Jane (Rachael Taylor) in NYC. They go to Tokyo for him to return to his job. She's a fish out of water. While driving on a deserted road, she runs into a woman. Both Ben and Jane pass out in the crash. Upon waking, nobody could find the woman. However they start to be haunted by her. A spirit shows up in their photographs and they are hounded by her.It's a horror based on a Thai original that is inspired by Japanese horrors. With photography going digital, this one is on the verge of being obsolete. It's a rather bland horror and not a scary one. There is no new visual ideas in this. I do like the Japanese locations which is made into a cold foreign place. There is something obvious about the final twist although the particulars have some bite. Overall, the movie isn't interesting for too long and never gets that compelling anyways.

A tale of misery and betrayal witnessed in manifolds; A woman agonized by some men returns for revenge and claims the lives that took hers. The film offers several instances that are riveting and startling enough to make you shudder at times, especially teens I guess as most of the people in my theater hall were young adults and cringing. Definitely not those who are more than familiar with predictable Horror sequences and adult audiences who squint their eyes at the thump of abrupt background din, which seems to have become mandatory in chilling scenes these days. But the way the film is presented makes you yawn sporadically a couple of times, or maybe it was just my short 6 hour night nap. None of the deaths are meticulous enough to demand positive reviews, except the climax with Joshua Jackson, in which he doesn't die but becomes deranged. Overall a good performance by Rachel Taylor, but still not sufficient to provide the film an edge-of-the-seat fright tag. Could have been made better. Could have been skipped. 5 out of 10. Right there in the middle.

American photographer and his sweet wife (Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor) find a new home in Tokyo thanks to a friend of theirs (David Denman) who sets them up in a building to both live and work, but they encounter a lingering, pestering spirit. This Onryō could very well have a reason for showing up (and ruining) Jackson's photographic sessions with models in/outdoors, as well as, constantly turning up to haunt them. It seems Jackson and Denman (and also their mutual friend, played by John Hensley) eventually recognize exactly who this spirit is and why she is hanging around to remind them of past sins. Formulaic, dull plotting (the sheen had then worn off the allure of American remakes of Asian horror so popular in the late 90s/early 2000s by 2008), and a severe lack of imagination leave this remake dying on the screen without much to grab us. An image of why Jackson feels such a weight on his shoulders seems to be one of the few scenes (I also dug the scene where Taylor visits the magazine popular for showing (and creating, especially) spirit photography, and is shown a room with authentic photographs of specters on film) that leave an impression at all, but even it has been better executed before. You can just revisit (or watch for the first time) the Thai Shutter film and experience better creeps than what are available in this uninspired remake. One of the shining examples of how remaking past films over a period of time can numb the senses of horror fans, eventually draining our desire to even watch their Asian counterparts. The finale, where Jackson goes to great lengths to remove what is haunting him, is the death knell in this rather worthless remake. Taylor tries her best to encourage our sympathies for her difficult situation (not of her making; she's a victim of circumstance, unaware of what her husband done), but her character is basically reactionary, while Jackson bores with a performance and character that aren't able to rise above the material. Encountering a dead body with flies out her mouth may be the lone scary scene in the whole film.

As much as I wanted to enjoy 'Shutter' and as intriguing as the premise was, this film just fails to deliver on so many levels. The writing is lackluster, and has clearly been written with haste and was obviously doctored by three or more people. The acting isn't terrible, Joshua Jackson has always been convincing, even in a sh**ty role, and John Hensley of 'Fifty Pills' fame is a nice added touch. Rachael Taylor is a beautiful new face to me, but she isn't really anything to brag about, and I feel like she was probably only given the role because of her similarities to Naomi Watts.No real scares to be had here at all, although I suppose if you were watching it alone late at night & if you scare particularly easily, the film does give off a creepy vibe in the scene with James Kyson Lee at the spirit photography office. Although, I must admit, I would much rather skip this film and just watch the episode of 'Celebrity Ghost Stories' with James Kyson Lee in it, because that is actually scary and is actually real.SHUTTER -----5/10.