Shutter

I'll Be Around for a While

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Shutter is a rather clever, inventive horror effort from Thailand, an absolutely safe, even primal recommendation to all who have a steep appreciation factor towards fiction terror that delivers quality scares and persistent, well researched subtlety, something which is a rare commodity to find in recent outputs. Shutter also introduces integral emotional content which is concealed nicely for you, just to be poured down on your throat when you truly would prefer to not drink anything.

As of 2008, Hollywood teamed up with Japanese creators to offer a remake of the 2004 Thai originator, and results, in my opinion, are totally acceptable. It is not easy to find a decent Hollywood remake of Asian horror, yet, Shutter is such. Though the remake is deeply underrated, we will care little more about this fact than merely pointing it out - which is pretty much the most we can do, anyway - and concentrate on the Thai original from now on. Come, OH!, Dearest Visitor, let us see if the Polaroid witnesses the same vibes we think it should.

Shutter starts off via quite orthodox and easily approachable horror-modules. A young couple - woman and man - cause an accident in which a girl is badly injured, to say the least, yet it seems more likely that she decides to bid farewell to the physical form as result of the impact. The focal plot element though is that the young couple do decide to NOT make themselves sure if the girl is indeed dead or miraculously survived the hit. As stated in the film: the dead sometimes seem to exhibit an exceptional longing and devotion for their loved ones. Or, maybe for those whom caused their fatal demise, as well. Just substitute longing- and devotion with their counterparts on a way more negative field. Indeed, some do seem to fall in love with the conception of vengeance.

Shutter lets you soak into the impression that this is the exact same case here: as in Ringu, the famous Japan horror effort, The Departed indeed decides to molest consensus via the traditional Omen way you have seen unfolding a million-million times before. You know the drill: "Oh My God! Look at this shadow on this picture! And - Oh My God, Oh My God! Look at THIS girl on the picture! Isn't it whom we spilled all over in that accident?"

Yet, what seems to be a rather straightforward and not particularly inventive Ringu simulacrum, finds and reveals brilliant narrative resources to go on with the story with blatant emotional content introduced into the stable base assumptions. The intersection is both very elegant and very abrupt: one of the most pleasant surprises recent Asian horror has in store for you. Writer and director, Banjong Pisanthanakun - yes, you got to LUV those Thai names - implemented cunning ways to consort Asian horror methods- and narrative traditions with deep emotional appeals, while the primal reason to fuel this effort quite smoothly and flamboyantly comes to you through the firmly established, elegant correlation between clean, textbook emotional drama and similarly clean, textbook horror. All these together though are absolutely capable to render a motion picture experience that delivers much more than your usual series of traditional boo-scares and black-and-white interpersonal - interdimensional? - relations. Meaning: THIS one is the Evil stuff, THAT one is the Neutral, maybe even Good stuff which you supposed to feel sympathy for. Not this time, though.



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Giving away clues about the emotional content would spoil the enjoyment significantly, thus let me offer but mild pointers about the narrative buildup. As you will see, Shutter's Sinner and Victim had a mutual history, a shared reality that might have had terrible bargains and betrayals to digest. In fact, so terrible of those that you might actually find yourself wondering if True Ignorance is represented by the one who ruthlessly haunts, or by the one who is ruthlessly haunted.

The way Shutter offers horror has a general, as we will see, JUST general tendency of consorting with the methods established by the previously hinted Ringu, or even the Ju-On - The Grudge directions. Slimy woman with long, black hair comes to claim your sitorgan via the most calm way you can conceive, as she would have about 0 doubts that she will eventually claim it, anyway. You can run - you can not hide. Run for as long as your own mind decides to dismiss itself, throwing escape mechanics away instead, concluding that a life in constant fear is not much of a life for it, anyway - this actually seems to be a nice idea that maybe worth emphasizing by future Slimy Woman with Black Hair efforts, nevertheless this is the coarse way the Ringu/Ju-On/Shutter chicks do give the good old soul breakdown to you.



As fortunately though as Pisanthanakun had solid emotional assumptions to state, he knows how to scare-, even better: surprise the viewer tremendously, thus the effective horror sequences definitely do deliver in a totally acceptable fashion which is generally free of the boo-scare direction. Main reason: your director is absolutely aware of how to put your awareness and corresponding fear registers to sleep, thus scare will come from perspectives you felt somewhat safe about - though those are the directions that fear should NOT come from. It is very "nice" to see how effective fear can be when it comes both from the direction you suspected it to come from, AND from the one which seemed relatively safe to take. The car "chase" is pretty nice, in my opinion.

Not much remained to elaborate upon, as Shutter is an easily approachable statement that earns its appealing pedigree by combining textbook-, nevertheless supersolid emotional drama with relatively flamboyant horror methods established by its cited inspirators. At the end of the day, though: Shutter undoubtedly registers as a quite serious and grouchy Asian horror, partly because of its cunning utilization of elements from different genres, and because Pisanthanakun's 2004 effort also is supported by such a staggering final conclusion that one could hardly argue if the movie could exhibit a more brilliant and more shocking way to wrap its statements up, naturally earning the movie the maximum the Onion can offer, and, naturally taking a rather appealing position in the Halls of All Horror Excellence.



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