SHUTTER

Director: Masayuki Ochiai

Stars: Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor, Megumi Okina, David Denman, John Hensley, James Kyson Lee

Year: 2008

Rating: PG-13

This remake of a 2004 horror film from Thailand - complete with the re-setting of the film's story to Tokyo (probably thanks to the executive producers here, who also produced the Americanized versions of The Grudge and The Ring) - centers around a young pair of American newlyweds (Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor) who relocate to Tokyo for his new job, and immediately are thrown into some very weird stuff when a car accident turns into what appears to be some creepy, ghostly revenge.

Photographer Ben Shaw (Jackson) has been hired by a new company in Tokyo that's run by one of his best friends, Bruno (David Denman). His assignment starts immediately, barely giving Ben and his fiancee (Rachael Taylor, doing her Naomi Watts/Ring thing, here) time to get married before they leave America for Japan. After a quick honeymoon with the beautiful Japanese countryside and Mount Fuji as their backdrop, Rachael and Ben are driving to Tokyo on a deserted road, at night - Rachael behind the wheel) - when suddenly a ghostly figure of a woman appears in front of their car. Rachael slams on the brakes, but it's too late; she runs straight over the woman, obviously killing her, then loses control of the car as it veers into a ditch, knocking the newlyweds unconscious.

When they come to, Rachael immediately jumps out to search for the young woman she hit - but of course, there is no body anywhere. Not even a mark on the road that she hit anything, and later even a police search produces not even so much as a scrap of cloth or drop of blood, let alone a body. Ben, who was only half-awake and never saw the figure in the road, is quick to dismiss it as having never happened - but Rachael knows better, and soon she's haunted with visions of the woman figure showing up everywhere. And suddenly, photos that she takes on her digital - or that Ben takes professionally - start to show ghostly wisps of white in their frames; even the occasional presence of someone who, when the photo was taken, wasn't even there. As Ben and Rachael start to get more and more unnerved at the appearances of what appears to be the victim of their road accident, Rachael seeks to investigate the phenomenon of "spirit photography" - and the deaths begin.

Even with a surprise twist at the end that did indeed catch me off-guard, I can't help but call this movie a disappointment. The story is a great one, and the creepy/moody atmosphere of the film - a requirement for Asian horror, which doesn't rely on bloodshed and a high body count to effect its chills - is very well presented by director Ochiai and cinematographer Katsumi Yanagishima. Megumi Okina's performance, as the ghostly victim, is rock-solid.

And yet, the chills never take off beyond the occasional shudder. It's almost as if the film would have been better if made with difference actors in the leading roles - certainly with a better script, as this one carries some of the lamest dialogue and character movtivations ever seen in a film. Joshua Jackson is wooden and not too believable in his performance, and while Rachael Taylor is better ... there's still not something quite right here. As said before, it's like she's doing her version of Naomi Watts in The Ring.

The film's not horrible, it's just not ... great. The revelations at the end are a surprise, but don't make up for the semi-boring journey getting there. While I haven't seen the original, I most definitely now want to; meantime, this one maybe should have been called Shudder instead - because that's about as scary as it gets; it's only worth the occasional shudder, as opposed to being downright scary. ** - Reel Mediocre