(Note: When traveling in Japan, look out for ghosts in your pictures…)
CAST: Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor, Megumi Okina, Jon Hensley, David Denman, Maya Hazen, James Kyson-Lee, Eri Otoguro.
DIRECTOR: Masayuki Ochiai.
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and strong arguments for sticking to video - straight ahead…
In the late 90’s, when I was living in Germany, I came across some rolls of film in the side pocket of a travel bag. I dropped them off at the local photo lab, and came back to pick up the prints the following day. The pictures turned out to be shots of lovely Lake Towada, a lake in Northern Japan that was one of my favorite Road Trip destinations when I lived in the Land of the Rising Sun. Somehow, I had overlooked the rolls of film during my move from Asia to Europe.
I should’ve been ecstatic, since I firmly believe you can’t have enough pictures of Lake Towada. Why then was I ready to strangle the next living thing that crossed my path? Well, to be blunt about it, the pictures were shit. Many of them had a bar of blurry light obscuring the scenery. Which was a shame, since even with the distortions, you could tell they were potentially some of the best shots of Lake Towada I’d ever taken. Too bad about the blurry bars of light.
Turns out the folks at the photo lab had screwed up the processing and ruined the negatives with partial overexposure, or some such shit. I was annoyed for a little bit, then just let it go, realizing it gave me an excuse to go back to Japan on another trip. I did go back a year later - and ended up getting even better shots. Needless to say, I brought the new rolls of film to a different photo lab when I returned to Germany. Sure enough, I got the photos back in pristine condition, minus those annoying blurry bars of light.
It’s a good thing our next review, SHUTTER, wasn’t released in the late 90’s, otherwise I might have thought there was a more sinister explanation to the blemishes on the first set of pictures. That’s because SHUTTER is about the phenomenon of “Spirit Photography” - or the appearance of ghosts in pictures taken by ordinary folks. These “spirits” are allegedly represented by… blurry bars of light.
Are you freaked? I am. Just a little.
Anyhow, the heroes of our tale are Ben and Jane (Joshua Jackson and Rachael Taylor), Brooklyn newlyweds who barely have time to doff their matrimonial gear and have a hot quickie before they have to board a plane for Japan. See, Ben is a photographer and he’s got a gig with some old pals in Tokyo who run a modeling business - or something. The plan is to turn the trip into a working honeymoon. Personally, I like to keep business and pleasure separate - but I ain’t the lead of this movie. They’ll soon wish they shared my motto, though.
Sure enough, while taking a few days off before the job starts, Ben and Jane get into an accident in the mountains just outside Tokyo. While driving on a dark road, Jane thinks she hit a girl standing in the middle of the road. But when the authorities show up, no one can find a body. Leading the cops to think our dear newlyweds are also potheads. They basically just shake their heads and mutter, “Baka Amerikajin…” which roughly translates to “Fucking Americans.” Oh, and they also give Ben and Jane an “I.T.F.F.R.?” Look. Just to foster warm U.S.-Japan relations.
Trying to shrug off that bizarro incident, Ben subsequently pours himself into his work of photographing sexy models. If you can call that work. Meanwhile, Jane wanders around Tokyo with her digital camera and pretty much gets treated like the clueless gaijin that she is. She even gets thrown out of a Pachinko parlor for taking pictures. Which is pretty much what happened to me the last time I was in Vegas. I mean, how the fuck was I supposed to know you’re not supposed to take pictures of casino interiors. I was admiring the architecture, security jackasses, not plotting a heist. Who the fuck do you think we are? Ocean’s Six? Morons.
But I digress… Anyhow, when Jane takes a look at the pictures from her Tokyo sojourns, she basically discovers the same shite that plagued my Lake Towada pictures. That is, those pesky blurry bars of light are making their presence known again. Ben’s hot Eurasian assistant, Seiko Nakamura (Maya Hazen), immediately deduces these blurs to be “spirit photos.” And, yes, this merits an “I.T.F.F.R?” Look from Jane. Undeterred, Seiko offers to hook up Jane with her ex-boyfriend who runs a Spirit Photography magazine, which are apparently extremely popular in Japan. If that’s not a sign that maybe the Japanese aren’t so advanced and smart after all, I don’t know what is.
At an rate, all the information about spirit photos that Jane scrounges from Seiko’s ex-boy toy (James Kyson-Lee) comes in handy. Especially since she’s been haunted by recurring nightmares of that Japanese chick she hit up in the mountains. Oh, and since then the blurry bars of light have been ruining Ben’s photos, as well, endangering his gig with the fashion company - or something. Right at this point, Jane turns into Nancy Drew and digs into the Mystery of the Missing Hit-And-Run Chick.
What will Jane find? Who was the girl she hit? Why did she vanish like that? What connection do the ghostly pictures have with Jane and Ben? Or is the connection actually to Ben’s sleazy friends, Bruno and Adam (Jon Hensley and David Denham)? What happens when Jane discovers that an ex-girlfriend (Megumi Okina) of Ben’s may be involved in the mystery? Will Jane find some answers she doesn’t want to? What about Ben? Does he hold the key to the mystery? Why don’t they just throw all their cameras away and be done with it?
Whatever. All I know is I got my awesome shots of Lake Towada - sans ghostly blurs - and I’m as happy as a Sumo Wrestler in a oversized thong factory.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: In the wake of the smash successes of THE RING and THE GRUDGE, American remakes to Japanese originals that were successful in their own right, a whole slew of Japanese Horror (or J-Horror) remakes hit U.S. screens: PULSE, ONE MISSED CALL, THE UNINVITED, THE RING TWO, THE GRUDGET 2, THE ECHO, and MIRRORS. By the time SHUTTER was released in 2008, the J-Horror Remake sub-genre was no longer fresh.
Which is a shame, since SHUTTER could’ve been a jolting remake to the very scary Thai original from 2004. Unfortunately, because of its late entry and all the other J-Horror remakes that came before it, SHUTTER feels stale and recycled. Add to this problem the fact that it’s very reminiscent of the Harrison Ford-Michelle Pfeiffer thriller WHAT LIES BENEATH, and you can see how the Surprise Factor is considerably diminished. In short, SHUTTER just feels too familiar - so much so that you can see all of its story beats coming from a mile away, even if you haven’t seen the original.
This is regrettable, because the film boasts some strong technical aspects. The film has a nice glossy sheen to it, and the Tokyo setting is all the more vibrant because of it. Director Masayuki Ochiae gives the film a thick sense of atmosphere that is almost palpable. The score by Nathan Barr, as well as the single “Good To Me” by Lisbeth Scott, are well incorporated into the story. All these strong points give the film a sensual, sinister feel that keeps it from sinking below the average mark.
The cast is mostly okay, but they aren’t really given much to play in terms of character. Joshua Jackson, Maya Hazen, Jon Hensley, and David Denham are all solid, but nothing more. The ones who fares the best are Rachael Taylor as Jane, the new bride whose honeymoon turns into a nightmare, and Megumi Okina as the mysterious Megumi, the girl around whom the mystery pivots. Both these lovely ladies work hard to invest their roles with a degree of emotional depth that pays off at the climax.
It’s due to Taylor and Okina’s performances, as well as the film’s strong technical aspects, that keep it on the average mark. Things might have been different if SHUTTER had been released at the beginning of the J-Horror Remake craze. But its release at the tail end of the wave just underscores how familiar and tired the sub-genre has become. Still, it’s far from the worst of its kind.
In closing, please check out the Lisbeth Scott’s lovely “Good To Me” which is sort of Jane’s theme song in the movie. The song is part of SHUTTER’s original soundtrack, which also contains Nathan Barr’s haunting score…
