Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Over the course of the past year or so, I’ve been pretty vocal when it comes to just how tired I am of Asian horror films. It’s not xenophobia, but instead an ever-present feeling of “been there, done that” when I sit down to watch one of these films. Invariably, they all have some convoluted giallo-esque tale about someone who died (usually a young woman with long straight hair) from being wronged by someone else. Unable to rest in peace, these angry girl ghosts always come back (with their long dark hair framing their pasty ghost faces) and haunt those who did them wrong (or in some cases, those who might set things right) and we eventually arrive at a big twist conclusion (after numerous scenes where this undead specter appears out of nowhere and creates countless “cat through the window” moments to make everyone jump) that almost always provides a mundane explanation for why these supernatural events are happening. As far as genre templates go, the Asian horror film is the new slasher: it adheres rigidly to a formula, the films have become almost interchangeable, and the pissed off girl ghosts with hair in their face are as ubiquitous as the masked killers of countless stalk-and-kill flicks. It’s just too bad that the Asian horror films are so goreless and devoid of sleaze—that’s what kept me watching slashers long after everyone else had grown tired of them.

Despite these feelings, I keep watching Asian horror films anyway. Some days I think it’s solely because I’m a glutton for punishment and that the sadist side of my personality is slowly being usurped by a more masochistic streak. I suppose that’s one to discuss with my psychiatrist—if I ever get one. Other days, it’s because I know that despite the formula and the feeling that I’ve seen everything this subgenre has to offer (most of it multiple times…) there’s still a movie or two out there that will knock me on my ass with its awesomeness. To miss out on these films would be a dereliction of duty on my part—so I slog through the crap for your benefit. Once in a great while, my diligence is rewarded with a film that follows the formulas to a T yet still somehow manages to transcend its genre and become something greater than the films that inspired it. One example of this is Shutter.

Shutter (which…wait for it…is getting a US remake) takes all the tropes and motifs of the standard Asian horror film (an angry dead girl, a mystery element, loads of jump scares, etc.) and manages to mix them into a concoction that’s at once very familiar yet strangely compelling anyway. The end result is one of the creepiest girl ghost films in the entire canon and arguably the best Asian horror film to come along since A Tale of Two Sisters.

Tun (Ananda Everingham) and his girlfriend Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee) hit a young woman while driving home late one night. Rather than stop and aid her, they drive off. Soon, Tun (a photographer by trade) starts seeing ghostly images in all of his photos. Frightened by the images and the weird dreams he and Jane are having, they begin to investigate not only who they might have hit with their car (which is an enigma in and of itself since no one ever reported finding the girl’s body) but the phenomenon of ghost photography. The pieces of the puzzle eventually fall into place when Tun learns who the ghost is and why she refuses to rest in peace. I’ll not spoil that here, but I will say that it’s a really good resolution that leads to a fantastic final shot of the film. Where most of these Asian horror films struggle to tie their supernatural element to a real world event (look no further than Ringu for proof of that) and fall apart in the second half, Shutter is narratively strong throughout—and maybe even stronger in the latter part of the film where details of what happened to cause all this provide a horror even greater than the ghost photos and a creepy dead chick who keeps turning up at the most inopportune times.

Directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom have been quoted as saying that they built the film’s story around the idea of ghost photography. If that’s the case, it was a fairly brilliant decision. Ghost photography, for the uninitiated, is a phenomenon wherein ghostly images are found in regular photographs after they’ve been developed. When Tun and Jane go to a magazine to learn more about the phenomenon, the editor shows them numerous real photos. Whether these things are legitimate or clever photoshopping remains to be seen, but there’s no denying that the images are freaky and give the film an air of menace that’s missing from most of the other films of this type.

If nothing else, Shutter proves that there may still be a few good movies left in the overdone pissed-off girl ghost subgenre. It’s a well conceived, beautifully shot, creepy beyond words horror film that should please any serious fan of the genre. See this version now—before Hollywood ruins it with the remake (which features none other than Joshua Jackson…so you know it’s gonna be bad).

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening