Cinema review
Directed by Parkpoom Wongpoom & Banjong Pisanthanakun
Starring Ananda Everingham, Nattaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana
Release date 29 June 2007

While driving back from a party Tun, a young photographer, and his girlfriend Jane, hit a teenage girl. Rather than turn back, they drive on, only for Tun to discover that his subsequent photographs bear the marks of ghostly images. It’s not long before the ghost begins to step out of the picture...

Fans of Asian horror films could be forgiven for thinking they’ve seen this all before and, in a sense, they have. Shutter features the familiar pale faced, long-haired female ghost and revenge based plot that have become genre staples since Ringu. But what the film lacks in originality, it makes up for in its delivery.

An achievement of Shutter is the way in which the narrative develops and deepens. After the initial accident it seems we’re in line for a variation of I Know What You Did Last Summer. But as Tun and Jane delve further into the identity of the mystery girl, an intriguing back-history divulges a series of expertly paced revelations. This keeps the audience guessing right up to the spine chilling conclusion. It also allows for an enveloping sense of dread to tighten around the couple as Jane slowly unearths the girl’s past and Tun becomes increasingly oppressed by the guilt of his own unsavory acts.

Most surprisingly, the back-story provokes sympathy for the ghost haunting them, and an understanding of her reasons for revenge. It isn’t often that a horror film allows the audience the chance to empathise with the source of horror.

Where Shutter really delivers is in its constant onslaught of shocks. Generic though many of them may be, the vast majority hit their mark. Rarely has a phantom so relentlessly pursued its victims. The shocks often come in twos and threes and the film has the rhythm of a rollercoaster; no sooner has one set-up been completed than the tension begins to build for the next. Wongpoom and Pisanthanakun maintain an skillfully creepy atmosphere throughout, making particularly effective use of Tun’s dark room and presenting a truly terrifying female ghost. Her face and ear-piercing scream may haunt you for a great many nights to come. Joe Green

VERDICT: 7/10
While hardly original, Shutter is a fast paced, unrelenting shocker that should satisfy fans of the genre.