Shutter (I) (2008)

A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved.

Director:

Masayuki Ochiai

Writer:

Giles Luke Dawson (screenplay)

Stars:

Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor, Megumi Okina

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joshua Jackson	...	Ben
Rachael Taylor	...	Jane
Megumi Okina	...	Megumi
David Denman	...	Bruno
John Hensley	...	Adam
Maya Hazen	...	Seiko
James Kyson	...	Ritsuo (as James Kyson Lee)
Yoshiko Miyazaki	...	Akiko
Kei Yamamoto	...	Murase
Daisy Betts	...	Natasha
Adrienne Pickering	...	Megan
Pascal Morineau	...	Wedding Photographer
Masaki Ota	...	Police Officer
Heideru Tatsuo	...	Police Officer
Eri Otoguro	...	Yoko

Storyline

A newlywed couple Ben and Jane move to Japan for a promising job opportunity - a fashion shoot in Tokyo. During their trip on a dark forest road they experience a tragic car accident, leading to the death of a young local girl. Upon regaining consciousness, they find no trace of her body. A bit distraught the couple arrives in Tokyo to begin their new life. Meanwhile Ben begins noticing strange white blurs in many of his fashion shoot photographs. Jane believes that the blurs are actually spirit photography of the dead girl who they hit on the road, and that she may be seeking vengeance.

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Plot Keywords:

japan | photographer | photograph | car accident | newlywed | 

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Taglines:

Revenge Never Dies!

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [France] 20th Century Fox [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

21 March 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Okidač

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£72,574 (UK) (16 May 2008)

Gross:

$25,926,543 (USA) (20 June 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Vertigo Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 90 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Not screened for critics.

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Goofs

It is raining when Ben and Jane drive down the road. When they hit the ghost, the scene fades to black. When the scene fades back in, it's snowing heavily, and a thick sheet of snow covers the ground. They start talking as they get out of the car, and the snow stops.

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Quotes

Benjamin Shaw: I'm not your fucking father!

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Connections

Referenced in Stan Helsing (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Just the Tip"
Written by Ali Dee (as Ali Theodore), Alana Da Fonseca (as Alana de Fonseca),
Zach Danziger and Joey Katsaros (as Joseph Katsaros)
Performed by Becca Styles
Courtesy of DeeTown Entertainment

User Reviews

Another unrelentingly boring ghost-in-the-machine remake

Take it as it is. A derivative, leaden, mind-numbingly simplified remake of a superior original. That's not to say that it's genuinely decent on its own merits if you've not already seen 2004's seminal Thai-horror "Shutter" that reignited that country's interest in producing slow burning, luxuriously made horror films. Interestingly, and perhaps even fittingly, the Hollywood machine that devours and regurgitates the recent slate of J-Horror films has turned its sights on "Shutter", which arguably finds its core roots in Japan's horror conventions in its vengeful, waifish ghost girl tormenting the living by manifesting through various electronic mediums. So what Masayuki Ochiai's adaptation essentially becomes is a carbon copy of copy.

American photographer Ben Shaw (Joshua Jackson) and his blonde schoolteacher bride Jane (Rachael Taylor) go straight from nuptials to a working honeymoon in Japan, natch, because America just isn't as scary to Americans as Asia is. Before heading off to Ben's lucrative assignment in Tokyo, the newly minted couple heads to a remote countryside inn when a brief accident derails Jane's constitution and compels her to seek out answers led by a phantasmal presence in photographs and a newly discovered knowledge of spirit photography.

Unremarkably, Luke Dawson's screenplay omits and appends details to its basic premise. The original uses the stark disassociation of city living to intensify the eeriness of isolation, and the idea that we never really see what we think we know. Dawson's script transplants the couple to a different country, ramping up the cultural alienation and exoticism of another culture. It's not dissimilar to what we've already seen in "The Grudge" remakes.

Even as Ochiai's direction is comparatively surefooted and patient with the camera choosing to hang on to a scene instead of ludicrously harping on jump-cuts and eyeball-rattling shots that bounce off the wall, the film feels unambitiously stale. "Shutter" goes through the motions of dourly checking off look-behind-you set pieces and reflections on windows. The plotting and performances are so apparent; you'd find yourself a couple of steps ahead of the film's central faux-mystery. While the bizarre symbiotic relationship audiences have with particularly mediocre remakes of Asian horror films should still live on after this, what remains most terrifying is how textbook simple and undemanding the film-making has become for films of its ilk.