Shutter

Or should I say st….st…stutter. Yet another attempt at Hollywood to try and make an Asian horror movie remake. They did an alright job with The Ring but after that they have missed with every attempt. This was no different.

Writing: Luke Dawson wrote the screenplay on this one. He is really green and it shows. The story line was shallow and the characters still managed to drown in it. Maybe if they weren’t two dimensional too it may have worked out better, but it didn’t.

For the writing in Shutter I give: 5/25

Why so low? Well because of the potential in the story. It wasn’t a horrible premiss the writer just didn’t give enough detail to what was behind everything. It’s not like you ever feel lost, it’s just like being lead through a really easy maze.

Acting: Joshua Jackson is one of the “stars” (can we call him that?) in this one. I really can’t blame him too much for his weak performance because the writer didn’t really give him much to work with, but I will say it a million times: “If you can’t act scared, don’t star in a horror movie!!!” Jackson never really seems scared. His co-star Rachel Taylor does a better job of being scared, but never too the point where you are scared for her. There are a handful of others but none that deliver even a C+ performance.

So for the acting in Shutter: 8/25

Why that high? Yeah I asked myself the same thing. Even the ghost chick wasn’t a good actor. I think I have to go with an 8 because at least the actors looked confused the entire time. May not have been acting though.

Directing: Well here director Masayuki Ochiai had his hands full trying to make a bad script into a decent movie. I think he failed personally. Though he did manage to capture some pretty good shots and weave some sort of mystery throughout the film. I think he could have done more to make us hate who we were supposed to and at least maybe like someone.

for directing in shutter I give: 12 / 25

Why so much? Well the movie looked decent. The ghost aspect of it came across okay.

Overall feel: When a ghost story just uses one cliché after another to try and scare an audience you start to see that pattern and it gets boring. You know when a ghost is going to pop up. Kind of spoils the fun. Sorry.

For overall feel I have to give Shutter: 10/25

That’s a lot! Well they almost had a decent horror feel. They fell short because of a bad script and bad acting.

Overall score: 35/100

Would I recommend seeing this? No, not really. If you want to drop $1 on it when it hits the Redbox machine then do that, but don’t waste your money otherwise.

What to watch instead? Go rent What Lies Beneath. Not a great movie, but similar enough but with better story, acting and directing.