Screamstress Review of "Shutter"

Screamstress Review of “Shutter”

The film Shutter stars Joshua Jackson, Rachel Taylor, Megumi Okina and David Denman, and centers on a photographer and his new wife who live in Japan, and their experiences in relation to ghost photography.

Shutter is a classic tale of ghostly revenge via the use of spirit photography.

Jackson does a great job as photographer (Benjamin Shaw) who enjoys a bit of what seems to be celebrity status, and his new bride, Taylor, (Jane Shaw) does an exceptional job as new wife/sleuth in this film. The film starts out with a wedding reception, and a short time later, the sight of a young woman standing in the road surprises the couple, and they veer off of the road to avoid a collision.

Later we see that Benjamin, who has just been awarded a top job in photography, has a couple of friends that separately, seem harmless, but together, you can tell they resemble a bit of a wolf pack. Interestingly, when they were all at a gathering, the two friend’s glances toward the other young women in the room made me uncomfortable. Kudos to the director and the actors for that bit of underlying “sinisterness”.

Taylor’s character Jane spends a bit of her time exploring the city of Tokyo as Benjamin digs into his new photography gig. Throughout the film’s beginnings, she has a nagging feeling about the girl in the road, and has a few experiences that make her start to question things. She is driven by instinct to find out why she’s seeing the ghost, as life starts to become a bit more terrifying.

Jackson does a great job of portraying a seemingly clueless husband as he tries to explain away Taylor’s fears and questions about what she is seeing. Soon though, he too realizes that a secret kept is back to haunt him, but by then, it may be too late.

The film in my opinion is a take on ghostly revenge, but has the added effect of an ending that is not unlike some Japanese fiction, in which a sadness is generally the norm. I do recommend it for those who can appreciate that genre.

Scenery
Beautiful scenes of the city in Tokyo were my favorite. I especially loved when Jane passes the harajuku girls on the street, and when she goes into what seems to be a slot machine alley with her camera.

Special Effects
Overall, the effects were accurate to the story and plot. One of the effects, particularly the one of Benjamin being temporarily blinded by his own camera equipment during a photo shoot was unique, although not spectacular. In another scene with Taylor, the ghostly effect of a shadow person was used very nicely.

Acting
Overall, the acting was above-average from the characters. The secondary characters did an excellent job, particularly the man who could sense things from spirit photography (Mirase). I would have loved to have known how to interpret the Japanese language just for that scene.

Except for a few phrases he used during the shoots throughout the movie, I didn’t care for Jackson’s speaking of the language…as it seemed a bit too westernized perhaps, to the point that it didn’t sound like the language. Perhaps that was the intent. Shutter is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Image: Amazon.com