
Shutter (2004)
Written by dorrk | 24 October 2014 |
Shutter (2004): Reviewed
Following the popularity of the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, Asian horror entered a very rich and productive era with some new very distinctive tropes at the ready. Thailand's first major contribution to this movement, the blockbuster Shutter (2004), is a surprisingly generic ghost thriller that does little more than regurgitate Ringu's look and feel without adding anything new or special of its own.
Shutter begins with a hit-and-run, after which strange artifacts begin appearing in pictures taken by Tun, a photographer, and his girlfriend Jane, the driver. What follows is pretty typical of Asian ghost movies from the period: a spectral girl with stringy hair in her face and bodily contortions, eerie visages appearing outside windows and in sinks, and convoluted twists and back-stories that presume to make sense of the supernatural occurrences.
Shutter is not badly made, it simply lacks personality. It is gloomy and dour to the point of near-parody and its characters spend most of their screen time staring blankly into space. Shutter's red herrings are cynical screenwriting misdirections that make little sense in retrospect, and, while the final reveal is interesting, the loathsomeness of some characters has by then detached the viewer completely.
The most horrific aspect of Shutter is how Jane is unable to kick Tun to the curb even though the movie begins with a display of low character on his part, and each reveal thereafter exposes him as a bigger and bigger douche-bag. Most of the men in Shutter are inexplicably despicable, but Jane is such a gutless moral cipher that the women don't come off much better.
Trailer for Shutter (2004)
Tags
Related Articles
Latest Articles
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: 03. Me and Orson Welles (2009)
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: 02. Red Road (2006)
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: 01. The Warrior (2001)
-
Popgap Diary: 2022 Movies, in Review
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: The 28 best films of all time you've probably never seen
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022 is all Oct-Over now, Baby Blue
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022
-
Silver Screen Streak List #21: 06. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
-
Silver Screen Streak List #21: 05. Now, Voyager (1942)
POPGAP Projects
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: The 28 best films of all time you've probably never seen
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022 is all Oct-Over now, Baby Blue
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022
-
Silver Screen Streak List #21: Dramas of the 1940s
-
Popgap Diary: 2021 in Review
-
Silver Screen Streak List #20: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2021 is in the cold, cold ground
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2021
-
Silver Screen Streak List #19: Top Crime Dramas of the 1970s
Popular Articles
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2019
-
Octoblur 2017: Annual Horror-ish Movie Nightmare-a-thon
-
Introducing the Silver Screen Streak movie challenge
-
PopGap #08 Re-cap: Comedies Since 1970
-
Octoblur 2017: R.I.P.!
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2020
-
Octoblur 2015 - It's Over!
-
PopGap #19: Movie Books Special Report
-
Popgap Diary: 2019 in Review