Shutter Masayuki Ochiai

As a competent and inoffensive, yet bland and unenthusiastic, PG-13 Asian horror remake, Shutter is simultaneously passable and forgettable, unlikely to inspire chills or interest in many viewers. It does, however, pass the time effectively, delivering essentially what a film of this ilk advertises, but the lack of anything new, aside from an ambitious Australian lass who wears a cowboy hat while half-naked and riding a sofa, makes it a milquetoast release that is easily criticised and dismissed. Shutter follows newlyweds Benjamin Shaw (Joshua Jackson), a successful young photographer, and Jane (Rachael Taylor) as they take a working honeymoon in Japan. It isn’t long before Jane gets into a vehicular mishap involving a disappearing, pale Japanese girl standing in the middle of the road. Inevitably, this mysterious Japanese girl starts popping up in reflections, photographs and even the bedroom, seemingly haunting the newlyweds, as well as Benjamin’s frat boy buddies Bruno and Adam (David Denman and John Hensley). With little to do in a foreign land where everyone is rude to her, Jane becomes obsessed with the mystery, getting more information than she bargained for. As yet another xenophobic exploration of foreign culture, Shutter delivers a mixed message of fear along with some critique of American entitlement. While the dread of difference is apparent, it comes twofold, which is steps above other recent, more gratuitous horror entries that take place on foreign soil. The unrated DVD comes equipped with all the bells and whistles for the home theatre crowd, featuring no less than seven featurettes, nine deleted scenes, an alternate ending and commentary from screenwriter Luke Dawson and actress Rachael Taylor. The deleted scenes show more of Jane’s personal reflective moments in a foreign land, which actually deepens her relatively two-dimensional presence in the film. Cast and crew interviews reveal how frustrating the job of interpreter is when the director and actors speak different languages, in addition to some flaky actors who think it’s appropriate to say they don’t like horror movies while promoting a horror film. The 5.1 Dolby surround and DTS audio have been impressively transferred to the DVD, making the home theatre surround sound experience that much better, while the video occasionally suffers from pixilation issues. The word "unrated” might be exaggerating the scenario, as the three minutes of additional footage seem only to be a little bit of blood and Pacey dropping the F-bomb. (Fox)

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