SHUTTER

Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom
Stars: Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana, Unnop Chanpaibool
Year: 2004
Rating: N/R
(in Thai w/English subtitles)

The first effort by a pair of Thai-born directors is a solid and spooky film that - of course - is infinitely better than its American remake (the review for which, on this blog, you can read here). Shutter follows the story of a young couple, not too long out of college, named Tun (Ananda Everingham) and Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee) - whose lives are changed forever on a single evening when, after going out drinking with some of Tun's buddies, Jane (who is behind the wheel) accidentally hits a young woman on a deserted road with the car.

It's Jane who wants to leap to the woman's aid, but Tun (fearing they'll be caught drinking and driving, as well) cajoles her into driving off instead. Distraught and guilt-ridden, Jane can't believe this side of her boyfriend's personality, but leaves the scene. And before long things get even worse, as both Tun and Jane start seeing ghostly images in their daily lives - Tun in particular, in his profession as a photographer, finds that many of his photos come back with either huge white, cloudy streaks on them ... or, in some cases, the partial image of a young woman who eerily resembles the woman he and Jane struck down.

A pretty simple premise, as it grows more and more obvious that the dead woman is stalking Jane, and especially Tun, and the film nicely builds up the under-your-skin creepiness as the young couple, individually, have a few too-close encounters with what seems the spirit of the woman they killed (even though Jane, after many phone calls, could find no record of such an accident victim that day after they hit her). As Jane looks into finding out what's going on and Tun gets more and more freaked out with each encounter, some shocking and long-buried secrets bubble nastily to the surface ... and people start to die.

Shutter is a nice homage to some of the better Asian horror films out there - complete with a menacing Asian ghost girl with long black hair and huge, staring eyes. The acting is very well done, in particular by the leads, and the most tension-filled or "horrific" moments of the film come from the way it plays with your brain over filling the screen with blood and gore. Certain scenes (including the ending) of this film were copied directly for the American version - but here they (as well as the entire film) work much better to create the spooky look and feel of the film. Shutter won't win any major awards, but if you're up for a night of creepy fun and a decent ghost (as well as revenge) story, you could do worse than this. *** - Reel Cool