Shutter (2008)

Directed by Masayuki Ochiai
Written by Luke Dawson

Rated PG-13 for terror, disturbing images, sexual content and language.

"Shutter" is one in a long line of recent Hollywood remakes of Asian horror films. Though I haven't seen the original "Shutter" (2004, Thailand), I feel like the American remake is a respectable addition to the "Asian horror remake" genre. Asian horror fans will appreciate the frequent homages to the "classic" Asian horror films, most notably "The Ring" and "The Grudge". Beautifully photographed and well-acted, "Shutter" is more than just another horror rehash.

The story starts with the wedding of Benjamin and Jane Shaw (Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor). While Joshua Jackson isn't my top pick for a horror lead, he does well enough as a newlywed photographer with a dark past. Rachael Taylor is pitch-perfect as the "blond Asian horror remake survivor girl", joining the proud ranks of fellow "survivor girls" Sarah Michelle Gellar ("The Grudge") and Naomi Watts ("The Ring"). Taylor is beautiful and vulnerable as a new bride being called away to Japan for her husband's work.

In the car on the way to their Japanese honeymoon, Jane accidentally hits a strange woman who appears suddenly in the road. Jane loses control of the car and it crashes. As she's sitting in the wrecked car, Jane sees the woman she hit sit up and look at her creepily. By the time the police and ambulance have arrived, there's no sign of the strange woman, and no evidence that she was ever there.

Disturbed by the experience, Jane tries to enjoy her honeymoon but is still haunted by the image of the girl on the road. Ben has been suffering back pains since the car wreck, but is otherwise no worse for the wear. He starts his job at a big Japanese company where everyone seems to know and like him. Ben has worked in Japan previously, though Jane is visiting for the first time. Jane is a little uneasy about how friendly Ben is with his female Japanese co-workers, especially his sultry and aptly-named secretary Yoko. Ben also has two crass, womanizing male coworkers named Bruno and Adam that immediately make Jane uncomfortable.

While Ben sets to work on a big Fashion photo shoot, Jane shows herself around the city. Disturbed by some phantom images on her honeymoon photos, Jane has Yoko take her to the publisher of a "spirit photography" magazine. Yoko explains that the Japanese are very interested in supernatural phenomenon. While most "spirit photos" are faked using computer editing effects, some are thought to be the result of actual spirit activity. Yoko's friend tells Jane that Polaroids can't be faked. The simple shutter action and self-developing format make it impossible to insert an image artificially into a Polaroid picture, therefore spirit images on Polaroid film are considered to be authentic. Back at the fashion shoot, Ben is having problems with phantom images too. He thinks he sees a girl on the photo set, but when he looks again she's gone. When the film from the shoot is developed, Ben finds that every photo has been ruined by faded ghostly images. Ben assumes that the camera must have been damaged by the car crash, but Jane suspects something darker is at play.

Jane notices that in the photos from the fashion shoot, all of the phantom images point to a certain corner office in the building Ben works in. Borrowing a Polaroid camera from Yoko, Jane sneaks into the building to look for the dead girl. The office in question turns out to be the "International Office", where Ben, Bruno and Adam work. Jane uses the Polaroid to "scan" the room for the ghostly girl. When she gets a glimpse of the ghost, Jane panics and starts to run out of the office, but a picture falls off of the wall, startling her. It's a group picture of several of the International Office's employees, including the ghostly girl whose name Jane learns is Megumi Tanaka. On the back of the photo is a stamp that reads "Photo Taken by Benjamin Shaw".

Jane is furious to discover that Ben had been lying about knowing Megumi. He reveals that she is actually his ex-girlfriend. They had been dating steadily for a while when Ben was in Japan several years ago, and when he decided to break it off, she became depressed and started stalking him. Ben says that he asked Adam and Bruno to talk to Megumi about it and that he hasn't seen her since. When Adam and Bruno both die mysterious, gruesome deaths, Ben worries that he's next. Newly armed with the identity of their phantom stalker, Jane and Ben rush to Megumi's abandoned apartment to find out what happened to the intense, quiet girl.

I give "Shutter" an 8/10. It's too derivative of other Asian horror films to be a truly great film, but it follows the formula lovingly. A few instances of noticeably computer-generated effects brought the overall visual quality down, but most of the film is beautifully shot and well-edited. I particularly enjoyed the twist at the end, in which the true reason for Megumi's wrath is revealed. The end also features one image that is both original and creepy-as-hell (bonus points if you post a comment that describes the scene I'm talking about). Of course I use the term "original" loosely, as "Shutter" is a remake itself. All-in-all, this fine contribution to the remake genre makes me yearn to watch the original Thai "Shutter" (review to come?).













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