Shutter (2004)

Rating: NR

Run Time: 97 minutes

Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom

Starring: Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana

Similar content and themes arise again and again in Asian horror films, or, at least the ones I’ve seen, in a similar fashion to, but probably not as shitty as, how identical themes are mined again and again in the old 80s North American slasher flicks.  There is almost always a vengeful ghost hanging around, and more often than not that ghost is a female with a pasty white face, dripping black, wet hair like she just got out of a supernatural ectoplasmic shower, wearing a white gown.  The ghost usually seems to have an agenda of sorts, although sometimes the recipients of her paranormal stalking didn't do a damned thing to deserve her malefactory attentions.  Asian filmmakers must be fatalists.

Occasionally, the ghost will instead be a little boy or girl, with dripping wet hair like he or she just got out of a supernatural ectoplasmic shower, and a white diaper (unless it’s a girl).  Sometimes, the kid and the adult ghost will tag-team someone.  Whoever that is usually doesn't last too long.  Next, the protagonists will learn about the tragic story of the specific ghost who plagues them, or, they will discover from some sort of expert (or some sort of quack who thinks he’s an expert) on the supernatural that shit like this surrounds us constantly and we just don't know it; either way, they will be encouraged to try to identify what exactly it is the ghost wants before it's too late (unfortunately it's always too late anyway).  The task of discerning the ghost’s purpose is usually an exercise in absolutely pointless futility, because, as is the case with spectral visitors since time immemorial and regardless of what country they reside in, they’re in it, in one form or another, for one thing: fucking revenge!

Anyway, you apparently cannot appease these restless spirits, but our protagonists will certainly do their best to try.  They will uncover the ghost’s terrible and tragic back story and then find a way to give the ghost peace (an exorcism, a cremation, maybe pay off their back taxes or take them for an ice cream cone).  And after that’s done and we all think everything is just fine again and order and balance have been restored to the world (unless, that is, we've seen enough of these, in which event we know the protagonists are fucked), our poor good guys and gals find out at the end of the movie they've succumbed to the old supernatural dupe twist ending because the ghost is going to get them anyway.  See what I mean about Asian fatalism? 

I've seen a few of these and I could not, if challenged, recall too many of the titles.  These movies are generally pretty good, even considering the striking similarities among most all of them.  They deliver on the creepy vibe and they provide their fair share of jump scares.  Shutter is such a movie.  It also has a satisfying enough story and a very interesting conclusion in the form of its last visual image.

Shutter is the story of the couple, Tun and Jane…and Natre, but we’ll get to that later.  At the film’s beginning the two are having drinks with Tun’s friends.  He is a photographer and I don’t really know what she does.  They are driving home from this little get-together when Jane, distracted, runs into a pedestrian crossing the street, causing her to lose control and slide into the side of the road.  Jane wants to check on the victim, who appears to be female.  Tun will have none of that; he insists she drive away.  Tun is pretty much an absolute prick.

Our next scene is a graduation; Tun is photographing this event.  He and others are taking photos of the entire graduating class grouped on a grandstand when he spots a ghostly white face among the students; the ghost is female (and dammit if it doesn’t look like she’s got wet hair).  First unnerved, he initially shrugs this bizarre sight off.  When he later has these photos developed, however, there is a ghostly haze drifting across many of the shots.  And it’s not the developer’s fault; the ghostly blur is on the negatives, too.

When we next see Tun and Jane together, it is clear that she is plagued with doubt and guilt for not having stopped to assist the girl they hit.  Tun himself seems to have moved on.  Like I said, Tun is a prick.  They investigate the accident site, however, and learn that there was no report of anyone injured or killed during the accident.  Tun himself, however, is experiencing severe back and neck pain and strain, seemingly as a result of the collision.  He visits the doctor.  The nurse who weighs him is startled when the scale registers far more weight than should be the case.  I don’t trust those things at all, though.  Those scales consistently show me to weigh about eighty pounds more than I know I do.  He is also still being visited by the ghost, who is the same as the girl who Jane believes she hit.

What’s worse, soon the ghostly apparitions begin to appear not just to Tun, but to Jane as well.  The two visit a business that specializes in recreating photos with ghostly images in them.  Quite a few are faked, but there are some, including polaroids, that appear to be genuine.  The proprietor tells them that ghosts often try to communicate with the living because they need help or want something.  Tun is unconvinced, but Jane has become a believer.  She does a little digging of her own and identifies the girl as being Natre, who was a student at the same time Tun attended university.  Not only that, but she finds a photograph that show Tun and Natre as a couple.  Did he, who has been seeing these same images of Natre as Jane, think to tell her?  No.  Tun is a ginormous prick.

The remainder of the movie details the further unraveling of the mysterious circumstances behind Natre’s death, as Tun and Jane try to do what they can to make certain the poor girl’s spirit finds rest.  This effort is less than successful.  Before it is over with, three of Tun’s friends have committed suicide by jumping off buildings.  He is convinced Natre is coming for him next, although it is not at all clear what is really going on.  Still, before the movie is over, Tun will have himself fallen not once but twice off of buildings in the same manner as his friends and, incredibly, the asshole survives both times.  Then, in the final denouement, we get to see just how big a genuine prick Tun really is.  You who crave existential justice in these movies, don't worry, his sorry ass does not escape unscathed.

Shutter is worth a look, suspenseful and creepy as it is.  There are quite a few jump scares and one or two jolt scares, also.  The Asian creators of these films have an eye for not just cheap scares, but for images that are truly unsettling.  Although in the end it would seem that they fall back on these same tricks again and again in other Asian horror movies (ghost movies, that is) and that perhaps a steady diet might tire a person out eventually, I, not a big ghost story/movie fan, haven’t quite gotten to my saturation point yet.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

There is one scene depicting a nature film of the mating ritual of the praying mantis that seems significant in light of later imagery, including another shot later in the movie of a mantis perched on a limb.  What the significance is, I’m not at all sure…unless it parallels the very last image in the film and speaks to who is the victim and who is not.

The Horror Inkwell Rating: 7/10