Brave soul that he is, AP Kryza has again ventured into a movie that wasn’t screened for critics until 15 hours before it was released to the public. He was not afraid:
Shutter
When it comes to modern horror, fans are malnourished, fed a steady string of rip-offs, retreads and senseless remakes, with no end in sight (Freddy, Jason—even Rosemary’s Baby—are next in line to get redone). But the Japanese horror aesthetic, now a genre whose films are remade roughly once a year, has been praised by critics and fans as the next big thing in fear. Indeed, its creepy atmospheric gloom, jump-scares and twitchy apparitions have become iconic with films like Ringu and Ju-On registering big with their original versions and their inferior blockbuster remakes The Ring and The Grudge.
But those who heap praise on Tokyo terror don’t seem to realize that the country churns out hundreds of movies (like the old Hollywood system), and the majority of them are just as shoddy as their American counterparts. Ringu had a creepy villainess with long, black hair in her face walking slowly toward the camera. It had a haunted tape. It was a hit, so ever since, the knock-offs—on both sides of the Pacific—have followed suit. Haunted phones. Haunted apartments. Haunted trains. And now, with Shutter, we have haunted photos. Ooooooooo!
Shutter—based on a Thai movie with J-horror aesthetics—officially marks the end of appeal for Americanized J-horror. It’s an uninspired piece of trash that proves that just because it’s Japanese doesn’t mean it’s scary. A hotshot young photographer and his wife (Joshua “Pacey” Jackson and Rachael Taylor) move to Tokyo, where a ghostly figure appears in their photos and walks slowly toward the camera with her long, black hair in her face. That’s about it. The acting is horrendous, the story is half-baked at best, and director Masayuki Ochiai doesn’t seem to understand that it’s almost impossible to frighten an audience if you precede every scare with five seconds of scary noises and string music. Shutter’s American version plays like a Japanese remake of Leprechaun. But hey, for us Yanks starving for quality horror, it’s at least assuring to know that the so-called new wave masters of horror can Ed-Wood it like the worst of us. AP KRYZA.
Shutter is rated PG-13. It opened Friday at Century Eastport 16, Cinema 99 Stadium 11, Cinemas Bridgeport Village Stadium 18 & IMAX, City Center Stadium 12, Cornelius 9 Cinemas, Division Street Stadium 13, Evergreen Parkway Stadium 13, Hilltop 9 Cinema, Lloyd Center Stadium 10 Cinema, Movies On TV Stadium 16, Oak Grove 8 Cinemas, Pioneer Place Stadium 6, Sandy Cinemas, Sherwood Stadium 10, Tigard 11 Cinemas, Vancouver Plaza 10 Cinema, Wilsonville Stadium 9 Cinema.
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