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Starring
Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor
Directed by
Masayuki Ochiai
Final Grade:
DRated PG-13 for terror, disturbing images, sexual content and language
a review by Heith Carnahan
The Rundown
Joshua Jackson (best known for his role as Pacey in the WB's "Dawson's Creek") stars in yet another Japanese horror remake gone wrong. Pacey lands a gem of an assignment as the photographer for a lucrative photo shoot in Tokyo and is scheduled to arrive there almost immediately after he weds his new bride Jane (Rachael Taylor). On the way to their two-day honeymoon, a girl wanders out into the middle of the road -- in the middle of the night -- and is, of course, hit by the couple in their rental car.
When the newlyweds come to, they scramble out of the car to assess the situation and can't find the girl (or any sign of her) anywhere. A few days later, they discover that the ghostly image of the girl they hit appears in many of their wedding and honeymoon photos. As the angry spirit grows more restless, it's up to good old Pace and the new missus to figure out who she was and just what her problem is.
Shudder, maybe
And what a snoozer this one turned out to be; I'm having a hard time figuring out where to begin. What appeared to be a halfway interesting-looking thriller (despite its debilitating PG-13 rating) has turned out to be another horror remake of Japanese origin that should have stayed home.
We haven't seen Joshua Jackson for a while, and he picked a heck of a movie for his reappearance. Take your pick of the many problems Shutter presents: first, it's boring, and I say that with a semi-boring sandwich in my lap; as the film trudged on, I found that my real entertainment came from my sandwich, and the movie served as a distraction while I let my food settle. Second, the script could've been written by any elementary school kid, no more complicated and compelling than the dialogue was. Third, most of the scenes didn't even approach scary; I have no idea what some of the teenagers in the audience were screeching at. In fact, I'd go so far as to call Shutter the Anti-Fright -- you could see the "scary" coming a mile away, and half the time, it turned out to be Jane tapping Pacey on the shoulder and startling him. I just don't know how this stuff passes for horror.
There were one or two interesting elements to look at along the way (which is why the film didn't earn a D- or worse); one scene cleverly used flash photography as the room's only source of illumination. Where they came up with that bit of imagination is beyond me, because it never showed itself again.
The Bottom Line
Shutter is not scary. It's not entertaining. Most of the time, it's not even interesting to look at. I certainly don't consider it horror, and I hope you won't consider seeing it.
-- Heith Carnahan, heith @ movie-popcorn.com