The remake of a same-named 2004 Thai film, enervated horror flick Shutter
tells the story of a young American couple vacationing in
Japan who cope with a vengeful ghost and try to unravel the mystery of
a woman they may or may not have hit with their car. Listless
performances, overly familiar visual iconography and unimaginative
set-ups render the movie worthy of nothing more than a shrug — even from the less demanding under-15 set for which it was chiefly designed.

Following their wedding, Jane (Rachael Taylor) and Ben Shaw (former Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson, investing wholeheartedly in exactly
one emotion for each scene, and otherwise just letting his stubble shade
the characterization) head straight to Japan, their honeymoon doubling as a work
assignment for Ben, a fashion photographer. En route to Tokyo by car at
night, the pair suffer an accident on a snowy back road; Jane insists
they struck a woman. Plagued by both unnerving visions and spectral
distortions in photographs they’ve taken, Jane and Ben deduce the woman
to be Megumi (Megumi Okina, above right), a translator and former needy girlfriend
of Ben’s from a previous work stint in the country. More havoc ensues,
and Jane, already a bit grabby and needy, begins to wonder if Ben is
telling the full truth about the extent of his relationship with Megumi.

For a fleeting moment or two early on, Japanese director Masayuki
Ochiai (Infection) seems committed to at least crafting a movie with a
definitive sense of style, but a small handful of in-frame effects and
interesting compositions quickly give way to pedestrian framing and
desultory jump-scares. That the film’s signature moments of dread and shock come via another
pale-faced, wet, dark-haired girl — a figure of menace already roundly
skewered by the Scary Movie series, among others — is perhaps
unfortunate, but not an insurmountable impediment to tension. The
sociocultural isolation of the setting could be used to the story’s
advantage, to feed especially Jane’s sense of unease and
discombobulation. Instead, though, Luke Dawson’s script offers up lame set-ups (visits to
a psychic investigator and Megumi’s house) and perfunctory dialogue
that requires Jackson’s character shift back and forth in sympathy to
his new wife. As such, even the nominal twist in the film’s final third
feels tacked on, and silly.

Housed in a regular Amray case, Shutter comes presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical presentation, along with Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound audio tracks in English, Spanish and French, and optional subtitles in English and Spanish. Kicking off a decent slate of supplemental material is an audio commentary track with Taylor, screenwriter Dawson and production executive Alex Sundell. Next up are nearly a dozen deleted and/or alternate scenes, including one in which Jane transforms into Megumi, and an alternate ending set at a mental hospital.

An eight-minute featurette about the Japanese’s beliefs about reikons, or souls, includes interviews with all of the principal cast members, as well as producer Roy Lee and a spirit photography expert who explains that the cultural phenomenon is the “religious expression of a quest to explain something that cannot be explained.” A nine-minute featurette addresses the cultural divide, and challenges and benefits of shooting on location in Japan, with Dawson characterizing Tokyo as a bizarro-world version of New York City, and talking with awe about women in uniform vacuuming the subway. Separate interviews with Dawson (five minutes) and director Ochiai (nine minutes) are also included, as well as a pair of short featurettes on spirit photography — one of which features instruction on how to mock up your own doctored ghostly photo, using PhotoShop or a similar photo editing program. Previews for Pathology and a direct-to-video sequel to Joy Ride are also included. D (Movie) B+ (Disc)