Movie Review: “Shutter”

“Shutter” brings audiences yet another black-haired, pale-faced, wraithlike ghost girl comes crawling back to terrorize the living. The first English-language feature for Japanese horror specialist Masayuki Ochiai (”Infection”) is a blandly cast and crafted remake of the same-titled 2004 Thai picture that itself emulated J-horror norms, which seemed a lot fresher back then. Low on real scares, atmosphere and character (both human and directorial), this mediocre film looks to do commensurately pedestrian business.

Boring perfect couple Ben (”Dawson’s Creek’s” Joshua Jackson) and Jane (Rachael Taylor, “Transformers”) go directly from their Stateside wedding to Tokyo, where he has a lucrative fashion-photography gig. A nighttime drive in the countryside derails when a young woman suddenly materializes in the middle of the road and is seemingly run over before the couple’s swerving car crashes. When they regain consciousness, there’s no blood or body to be found. Ben, who didn’t see the woman, thinks Jane imagined her — and later ungraciously suggests she’s made up this crisis because he doesn’t pay enough attention to her.

Soon both are experiencing odd phenomena, however, with his professional photos and her tourist snaps marred by mysterious, foggy specters. Those “spirit photos,” plus some poltergeisty activity, lead Jane to discover the identity of the woman apparently haunting them is one Megumi (Megumi Okina, from the original Japanese “Ju-on: The Grudge”) — and that Ben was involved with her during his prior Tokyo stint two years earlier. (Scandal!)

Ben tells his wife Megumi turned into a needy-girlfriend-cum-stalker he couldn’t shake until his buddies Bruno (”The Office’s” David Denman) and Adam (John Hensley, “Nip/Tuck”) prevailed upon her to leave him alone. Of course, that turns out to be less than the whole truth. The ghost makes sure those two buddies get some haunting of their own before she wreaks maximum havoc on Ben and Jane.

By turning the story into one about Americans abroad, first-timer Luke Dawson’s OK screenplay should have allowed Ochiai to comfortably reach new audiences while working primarily on home ground. (Prologue and epilogue are set in the U.S.) But the film’s portrayal of Japan is glib and oddly Westernized, with a couple of significant Japanese characters that seem Japanese-American, without any explanation. Performers make too lightweight impressions, though they’re not so much miscast as flatly handled.

Worse, the original’s surprises don’t play very surprisingly at all here. Scares are mostly a rote matter of silence followed by loud sounds, sudden hands on shoulders, or a few PG-13 gross-but-not-gory “eww!” moments. In a better film — like the original, which conveyed real emotional gravity — the fadeout image would provide a lingering chill. Here, it’s just a mild goosing after formulaic genre slog.

Packaging is pro but routine, with regular Takeshi Kitano d.p. Katsumi Yanagijima’s flavorless lensing a particular disappointment. Nathan Barr’s discreet score is perhaps the most effectively creepy element.

Trailer

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rating: PG-13

Actors/Actresses: Rachel Taylor, Joshua Jackson, David Denman, James Kyson Lee, Maya Hazen

Our Verdict:

Don’t waste your time or money.