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 h, the dead.
They're just so vindictive and oh so predictable, aren't they? Of course it's
probably not the fault of the angry spirits that they seem to always show up in
exactly the same manner (long dark, disheveled hair, anyone?) or the fact that
they all seem to be young woman in their late teens to 20s. After all, once you
die and has to fight through hell to get back to the world of the living, trips
to the local stylist is not exactly in the cards. That said, there is nothing
remotely original about the new Thai horror film "Shutter", the
umpteenth variation on the Long Dark Hair Ghost Story movie, which comes to us
complete with generic, "You better find out what's got her so pissed before
she gets you!" storyline.
"Shutter" opens in breezy fashion, and by the
fifth minute young lovers Tun (Ananda Everingham) and Jane (Natthaweeranuch
Thongmee (Can I buy a consonant, Pat?)) are in their car heading back
from dinner with some friends, only to (literally) run into something on the
dark road. The lovers spot the body of a woman laying in the road behind them,
but before Jane, the driver, can get out of the car to check, Tun has convinced
her to drive off. Days later, it's revealed that the only accident on that
particular road on that particular night was that someone had run their car into
a billboard -- Jane and Tun's car. But what of the dead -- or hurt -- young
woman?
The most unintentionally humorous thing about
"Shutter" is how easily everyone grasps the concept that there's a
very angry female ghost stalking them via Tun's photographs. A photographer by
trade, Tun always carries his trusty camera with him, snapping pictures whenever
he gets the chance, and it's through this vessel that the ghost seems to be
making her presence most known. In the aftermath of the accident that may or may
not have been real, Tun starts seeing odd over exposures in his photos. Without
missing a beat, Jane immediately surmises that a spirit is haunting them, using
the photos as a means to pick her victims.
With Jane's shockingly accurate (but inexplicably
insightful) hypothesis in hand, the duo runs to a tabloid reporter for answers.
Required by Movie Law to provide exposition, the reporter informs us that
spirits have always appeared in photographs throughout history. He's so helpful,
in fact, that he even keeps a photo album of these photos. Real photos,
apparently, because at the end of the movie the producers hedge their bets and
"thanks" the respective owners, whose photographs they had used,
according to the text, without permission.
Long story short, the ghost turns out to be Natre (Acita
Sikamana), Tun's ex-lover, who had gone missing while in college with Tun. The
rest of the film involves Jane and Tun doing that predictable thing all haunted
characters do in these Long Dark Hair Ghost Story movies, namely tracing the
ghost's past. They end up at her family home, of course, where they inevitably
meets (can you guess?) the woman's mother, who fills in the gaps.
It's really not "Shutter's" fault that its
plotting is strictly by the numbers. With so many similar Asian horror films
coming out in recent years, and all, it seems, raking in big bucks from naïve
cinemagoers, what is the impetus to change? Taking the current sad, sad state of
the international horror industry into consideration, what co-writers/directors
Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom have offered the world is no better
or worst than your average "Ring"
copy.
Although highly derivative from the word go,
"Shutter" is nevertheless a rather entertaining experience, not to
mention technically competent. The use of sound, while a tad irritating in that
they cheat (you can startle anyone, during any movie, by suddenly turning up the
volume 500% when they least expect it), is nevertheless efficiently done enough
to be effective. And the ghost, while looking very generic as can be, offers the
audience one minor detour from conventions -- she likes to stalk her victims
while upside down. Other than that, she's no different from the 500 other Asian
ghosts with long black hair.
Unfortunately there
are also some rookie mistakes in "Shutter". The narrative, in
particular, is so predictable and by the numbers that you can't help but wish
the three credited writers could have injected just a little bit more
originality into the film. The script also stumbles when it comes to delivering
the goods. There's only really two deaths in the entire film, which while not
bad in and of itself (horror movies like these seldom require a large bodycount
to work), there are three deaths that take place not only offscreen, but
completely beyond the scope of the narrative. As such, we don't even know the
ghost has killed someone until a character mentions it offhandedly to our leads,
stunning them and, perhaps more importantly, us. Apparently the directors missed
film class on the day the professor explained, "Show, don't tell."
A plus for the film is the character of Tun. So often these
Asian Ghost stories leave it to the young pretty girls to be haunted at every
turn. As played by Everingham, there's a very convincing ambiguity to Tun that
is strangely engaging. As the de facto hero, you expect him to be sympathetic;
then again, you have to remind yourself that he convinced his girlfriend to
leave the scene of a hit and run and then pretended like nothing happened
afterwards. As the other lead, Jane mostly drifts in and out of the film,
appearing whenever the script needs someone to prod the narrative onto the next
plot point. Which is probably for the best, as Thongmee is either shockingly
untalented as an actress or so talented that she is utterly convincing as a
character with no personality, not to mention a singular facial expression that
is a cross between perpetually scared and perpetually confused. I'm going with
the latter.
"Shutter" is not the best or the worst Asian
horror film involving an angry female ghost with long dark hair out there right
now. Its Thai origins don't impact the story very much, and its stab at
relevancy (the long exposition regarding the history of supposed spirits in
photographs) is little more than a mild distraction from the film's mostly
derivative nature. Even so, there are some nice scares, and the film actually
features a hero that isn't squeaky clean. Which, if nothing else, could very
well be a first for the genre.
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