Sh*tter

Introduction

Originality in Hollywood, now there's an oxymoron for you. Take horror for example. A few years ago, all you would see would be identikit slasher pics. Your teenage girl in panties and t-shirt running screaming from a psycho that picked off her school friends one by one, the only difference in the films would be the idiosyncrasies of the villain, and the location of the slaughter. The genre was quite frankly dying on its arse, especially when it had been subverted in the Scream movies, the knowing wink of a horror film that did the same to Horror as the Leone movies did to the Western. It all looked doomed, but then the paddles of defibrillation loomed over the gasping victim in the form of J-Horror. Along came Asian cinema, with its own take on the genre, far more creepy and moody, with ghostly girls in white dresses just standing there while the spooky music played, and all of a sudden fans were in love with horror once more. Of course your average movie goer would prefer not to read a film, so all of a sudden, Asian horror movies were being optioned left, right and centre, and were remade in English with pretty young Hollywood things in the cast. Ringu became the Ring, Ju-on became the Grudge, and to add that extra touch of authenticity, Hollywood began importing the original directors to handle the remakes.


And so we come to Shutter. Only it's not a Japanese horror, it's a Thai film from 2004. The principle is still sound though, and after adapting the screenplay for the Western market, they got Japanese director Masayuki Ochiai to take the reins. The action was relocated to Tokyo, and it would still have that Asian Horror subtle creepy vibe to it.

Ben and Jane Shaw are newlyweds, off to Japan on their honeymoon before Ben starts work as a photographer in Tokyo. Driving together one winter's night to their cabin near Mount Fuji, the mists roll in and Jane glances away from the road for a second, long enough to hit a girl who just happens to have wandered onto the tarmac in the middle of nowhere. When they go back to look, there's no sign that the girl was ever there. But it looks as if the girl's spectral presence has latched onto them, as thereafter she starts appearing in the photos that the couple take, at the cabin, and back in Tokyo when Ben starts work. Ben is sceptical at first, but when the girl starts appearing in the photos he takes for his job, it becomes clear that there is something odd going on. As Jane gets drawn into the world of spirit photography, she realises that there is a darker meaning to the ghostly girl's presence.

Picture

An initially impressive looking 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer quickly begins to unravel under some scrutiny. It's a recent film of course, and consequently free of print damage, and the look of the film is good enough to convey the mood and spookiness of the subject matter. I like the way it starts off warm and inviting, and as the film progresses becomes gradually cooler and bleak. But this is one of those DVDs where they go overboard with the sharpness and edge-enhancement, and it's practically replete with moiré and aliasing artefacts. We're not talking Over The Top (the Stallone movie released by MGM) levels of shimmer, but it is always prevalent and noticeable.

Sound

The DD 5.1 English track gives a nice enough bit of creepiness suitable for the movie, both in terms of the music and the ambience. You also get a DD 5.1 Audio Descriptive track for the vision-impaired. Subtitles are provided in HOH English and Scandinavian. Also plot driving Japanese dialogue in the film gets subtitled, but non-essential dialogue does not, to add to the Lost In Translation feel.

Extras

You wouldn't violate a halibut would you? You wouldn't grease a kumquat, or grate cheese over a Manx cat? Yup, one of those anti-piracy ejaculates, smeared over the disc.

It's amazing how the enthusiasm for a disc's extra features declines with the interest in the film.

You have a commentary from Production Executive Alex Sundell, Screenwriter Luke Dawson, and Actress Rachael Taylor. From what I sampled, it's an informative and well-presented making of. It's also subtitled in all the same languages as the film. There are seven featurettes on the disc, your usual EPK backslapping stuff, with a total run time of 50 minutes. The most useless is How To Create Your Own Phantom Photo, which may as well be called, Buy Photoshop! There are also 11 deleted and alternate scenes on the disc, none of which I watched.

Conclusion

I'm going to be rich, and probably famous too. I've discovered that I am a supreme prognosticator and uncannily accurate as well. Ask me anything and I'll predict it down to the nanosecond, in perfect accuracy. I discovered my talent last night when I watched Shutter for the first time, never having seen it before. I knew what would happen in the film before it happened, at times minutes before, in some instances a whole hour prior to the event. What's more, I was spouting lines of dialogue before the actors. Now you could say that this is a sign of a tired, clichéd, pathetic film, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, merely a rehash of what has come before, a tenth generation photocopy of an original document, faded and worthless. But I prefer to think that, just like in Heroes, I've belatedly bloomed as some sort of super-genetic freak, destined to save the world (incidentally, Ando is in this film).


Shutter is one to avoid. Seriously, I'm wasting my time on this review, and I take no pleasure in thinking back on the experience. It's a tired, predictable nonsense of a film, so far past its sell by date that the mould on it is scarier than the film itself. The minute that you get spoofed, your genre is dead, and the moment that Scary Movie did the Sayoko gag, is the moment that these identikit Asian Horrors gave up the ghost (pun intended). Sayoko is called Megumi in Shutter, which means a sallow actress popping up once every few minutes to give the main characters a brown trouser moment, while I yawn, try and keep my eyes open, and vaguely consider changing the channel to Party Girls for something a little more intellectually stimulating.


The thing about this sort of spookiness is that it has to be accomplished with subtext, subliminally, through implication and vague misdirection. You're supposed to be made uncomfortable and on edge, without knowing why, so when the scares start showing up, you're looking for someone to grab onto for emotional support and then years of counselling. Shutter hits you over the head with a mallet and yells "THIS IS SPOOKY!" The thing that immediately struck me was the overdone creepy music. So often in the film, the camera would focus on an innocuous object, an ominous rumble would emanate from the surround speakers, and a burst of creepiness from the orchestra would ensue, which would all have nothing to do with the plot. It's just a reminder that you should be "FEELING CREEPED OUT!" And then there is the short cut to alienation for the main character. The main character in these films is usually an outsider, a maverick who swims against the current, but that's usually accomplished through characterisation, and I dunno, acting. Not for our intrepid Jane. We get a Lost In Translation vibe for her, the newlywed transported to Tokyo, unable to speak the language, while new hubby is fluent, is spending all the time with his drinking buddies, or at work shooting gorgeous models who all seem to know him biblically. Message: Hubby not to be trusted, he's probably cheating on you already; you'll have to deal with the ghostly visitations all by yourself.


You know what, it's been ages since I've seen a film as pointless as Shutter. I'm not a fan of horror at the best of times, but come October and Halloween, I do get the urge to be scared along with the rest of the population. So if I'm going to watch a horror, now's the time. But I think remaking Asian movies over for Western audiences always results in inferior product. I also get the feeling that it's a genre that has run out of steam now, and all we are getting are variations on a theme of increasing mediocrity. So Shutter is twice redundant. It's a waste of celluloid. You know that a horror movie has failed if it makes you laugh out loud. I found it hilarious, which when you come to think about it really isn't that funny. Start saving up if you need a coaster.