| | | From the Executive Producers of The Grudge and The Ring.
Features: Unrated, DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, English, Spanish, Subtitled, Dubbed
A young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can never escape the past as a ghost continuously haunts them!
"Surprisingly effective supernatural tale in which there's more to fear from the living than the dead." Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide
"...has the look and feel of a proper J-horror film...the acting is more subdued than in Hollywood horror movies." Stephen Cole, The Globe and Mail
Editor's Note
Treading territory similar to JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2003), RINGU (1998), and ONE MISSED CALL (2003), all Asian horror films remade for American audiences, SHUTTER is the first English-language film for director Masayuki Ochiai, whose career has been primarily within the horror genre. The result is another potent ghost story able to conjure up feelings of dread through a single longhaired, poker-faced female apparition.Newlywed New Yorkers Ben (Joshua Jackson, THE SKULLS) and Jane Shaw (Rachael Taylor, TRANSFORMERS) have traveled to Tokyo, where photographer Ben is investigating a potentially lucrative job opportunity. While driving on a dark road at night, the couple runs over a mysterious woman who seems to appear out of nowhere and can't be found after the accident. Over the next few days, Jane goes sightseeing while Ben works, only to see strange apparitions that also appear on the photos she takes. After Ben's photos show the same ghostly forms, he confesses that he knows something about the woman they ran over, but it may be too late to stop her trail of terror. Another Hollywood remake of an Asian horror film, SHUTTER has a tricky lineage: the 2004 original was made in Thailand, while this version is U.S.-financed, but shot mostly in Japan. By setting the film in Japan, director Ochiai retains an element of exoticism for American audiences, which also allows Ben and Jane to be out of their element, à la DON'T LOOK NOW. As the menacing spirit, Megumi, Megumi Okina is adept at conjuring fear with a simple glare in a minimal but effective performance. SHUTTER doesn't stretch the boundaries of horror cinema, but it provides a handful of decent shocks and a couple of crowd-pleasing gross-outs, all within the limits of a non-restrictive PG-13 rating.
| Features | Alternate & Deleted Scenes | | Alternate Ending | | Audio Commentary With Production Executive Alex Sundell, Screenwriter Luke Dawson & Actress Rachael Taylor | | Audio: English DTS HD 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Featurettes: A Ghost In The Lens, A History Of Spirit Photography, A Culural Divide - Shooting In Japan, The Director - Masayuki Ochiai, Create Your Own Phantom Photo, The Hunt For The Haunt - Tools & Tips For Ghost Hunting, & Fox Movie Channel Presents In Character With Joshua Jackson | | Interactive Menus | | Japanese Spirit Photography Videos: Part 1 - The Lost Camera, Part 2 - The Red Thing, & Part 3 - Finally Free | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Theatrical Trailers | | This Is A Blu-Ray DVD Made For Blue-Laser Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Foxvideo |
| Release Date: 9/30/2008 |
| Running Time: 89 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2008 | | Catalog ID: 2252390 | | UPC: 00024543523901 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: Korean, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"There are competently atmospheric chills, a few decent scares and one or two coups: a scene lit entirely by flashbulb blasts is genuinely panicky and suspenseful." 07/01/2008 p.73ReelViews 5 of 10
The original Shutter is a Thai film, not a Japanese or Korean concoction, but there's nothing to differentiate it from all the other movies where spirits have pasty faces and fail to recognize the value of the slogan "rest in peace." Ghost stories are to the 2000s what slasher films were to the 1980s. There are only so many interesting ideas one can apply and, after a while, they all seem the same. What makes it worse with Asian horror is that most of these are re-makes of somewhat better foreign language entries, so they literally are the same...If a viewer wanted to argue that Shutter was the worst of all those to reach the market so far, I would have a hard time countering him...Asian horror remakes are typically not screened for critics, and Shutter is no exception. The studios know what they have: watered-down, lifeless shells of motion pictures devoid of characters, drama, or anything remotely resembling horror. The PG-13 rating, while opening the gates to bored teenagers, will turn hardcore horror aficionados in the other direction. The novelty of these low-gore ghost stories has long since worn off and audiences no longer care. It's time for this critic to realize that the time has come to give up on the subgenre and leave the viewing of these disappointments to those few hearty souls who still care. - James Berardinelli
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