''Shutter'' is a 2008 American

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

film directed by

Masayuki Ochiai is a Japanese film director. His films include '' Kansen'' and '' Saimin''. Biography Masayuki Ochiai was born in 1958. Ochiai grew up in the Western Tokyo suburb of Setagaya, where the studios for Toho, Nikkatsu and Daiei Film were located ...

and distributed by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

. It was written by

Luke Dawson Luke Dawson is an American screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, televisi ...

and is a remake on the 2004 Thai film of the same name. Its story follows newlywed couple Ben and Jane who have just moved to Japan for a promising job opportunity. After a tragic car accident that leads to the death of a young girl, Ben begins noticing strange blurs in many of his fashion shoot photographs, which Jane suspects is the spirit of the dead girl that they killed. The film stars

Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for his starring role as Charlie Conway in ''Mighty Ducks'', as Pacey Witter in The WB teen drama series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the ...

Rachael Taylor Rachael May Taylor (born 11 July 1984) is an Australian actress and model. Her first lead role was in the Australian series ''headLand'' (2005–2006). She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in films including '' Man-Thing'' (200 ...

, and

Megumi Okina is a Japanese actress and singer. Born in Hiroshima and raised in Tokyo, she made her J-Pop debut on 19 August 1995. She starred in the Japanese original of ''The Grudge''. She married Susumu Fujita in January 2004. They divorced on 22 July 20 ...

. It was produced by

Regency Enterprises Regency Enterprises (commonly referred to as Regency onscreen and copyrighting as Regency Entertainment (USA), Inc. in the U.S. and Monarchy Enterprises S.á.r.l. overseas) is an American entertainment company formed by Arnon Milchan. It was fou ...

and was released on March 21, 2008. It grossed $10.4 million in its opening weekend and $48.6 million worldwide, against an $8 million budget, making the film a box office success despite having only a 9% approval rating based on 65 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

Plot

Ben Shaw and his new wife Jane leave

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

for

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.4 ...

, where Ben has a job as a

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

. While traveling, Jane hits a girl in the middle of the wilderness. Later they start to find mysterious lights in their photos. Ben begins to complain of severe shoulder pain, and his friends begin to comment he's looking bent and hunched over, though the doctor he goes to see can find no cause. Ben's assistant takes them to her ex-boyfriend, who says that the lights are spirits, manifestations of intense emotions. They then go to a

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

, Murasame, who Ben soon claims is a hack and refuses to translate what he says. Jane decides to visit the

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific d ...

in the photo. She goes to the floor where the light has gathered in the empty office and takes photos. She encounters the girl's spirit, learns her name is Megumi and that Ben knew her. When Jane confronts Ben, he admits that he and Megumi were once in a relationship but when her father died she became very obsessive and clingy. He eventually dumped her with help from his two friends. Jane is upset with Ben and decides they need to find Megumi. They go to Megumi's home and find her decayed body; she had committed suicide with

potassium cyanide Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications i ...

. Elsewhere, Ben's friends Adam and Bruno are killed by Megumi. Adam's eye is torn out while shooting pictures and he dies from shock; Bruno commits suicide by jumping from his apartment. Finally, Ben is attacked by the ghost of Megumi who attempts to choke him. After nearly throwing Jane through a nearby window, Megumi stops, leaving Ben alive. After Megumi's funeral, Ben and Jane return to New York. Jane finds some recent photos in an envelope which still show Megumi. She finds other photos, taken by Ben, Adam, and Bruno forcing themselves on Megumi. Ben tries to explain he felt it was the only way to drive Megumi away, as nothing else was working. This was the reason Ben didn't want to translate what the psychic said earlier. Disgusted by Ben's past actions and realizing that Megumi was trying to warn her, Jane leaves him saying she will not spend the rest of her life with him. Angered, Ben begins photographing the apartment looking for Megumi. After throwing the camera across the room, it takes a picture of him, showing Megumi sitting astride on his shoulders. The movie pans back to the hospital where a

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

is weighing Ben, showing 275 pounds, the weight of two people. In an effort to rid himself of her, he electrocutes himself. He is rendered completely

catatonic Catatonia is a complex neuropsychiatric behavioral syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviors, and withdrawal. The onset of catatonia can be acute or subtle and symptoms can wax, wane, or change during ...

and sent to a

mental institution Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

. The last scene is a reflection of the glass from the door, showing Megumi still latched to his back.

Cast

Release

Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator

reported that 9% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 65 reviews. The site's consensus states, "Being a remake of a Thai horror film instead of Japanese doesn't prevent ''Shutter'' from being another lame Asian horror remake."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.

Commercial response

The film was released March 21, 2008 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and grossed $10,447,559 in 2,753 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking #3 at the box office behind ''

Horton Hears a Who! ''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Who ...

''s second weekend and

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of the Madea character, a tough elderly woman. Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmmak ...

's '' Meet the Browns''. As of June 26, 2008, it has grossed a total of $47,879,410 worldwide – $25,928,550 in the United States and Canada and $21,950,860 in other territories. The film's $8 million budget and its almost $48 million worldwide grossing has secured the film as an extremely lucrative success.

Home media

''Shutter'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

on July 15, 2008. The Unrated Edition runs 5 minutes longer and includes commentary, featurettes,

deleted scene A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...

s, and an alternate ending.

Soundtrack

Track listing

# "Welcome to Tokyo" – 1:55 # "We Hit a Girl!" – 2:58 # "TGK" – 1:37 # "Making Love" – 2:40 # "Alone in Tokyo" – 0:59 # "The Spirit Room" – 2:27 # "The Argument" – 3:05 # "Fly in the Eye" – 2:31 # "Visiting Murase" – 2:27 # "Jane Visits TGK" – 4:29 # "The Truth" – 1:54 # "I Saw Megumi" – 1:56 # "Driving to Megumi's" – 3:18 # "Rest in Peace" – 2:35 # "Flip Book" – 3:21 # "The Whole Truth" – 2:39 # "Psych Ward" – 1:02 # "Good to Me" (performed by

Nathan Barr Nathan Barr (born February 9, 1973; also known as Nate Barr) is an American film and television composer and musician. His television scores include ''True Blood'', ''The Americans'', ''Carnival Row'', and '' The Great''. He won a Primetime Emm ...

& Lisbeth Scott) – 3:23 ;Commercial songs from film, but not on soundtrack * "Falling" – Performed by Krysten Berg * "Just the Tip" – Performed by Becca Styles * "Come on Shake" – Performed by Shake * "That Kinda Booty" – Performed by Dem Naughty Boyz * "Sky Business" – Performed by Matt Pelling & Paul Williard * "Nasty Funky Crazy" – Performed by Becca Styles * "Fallout" – Performed by Brydon Stace * "In a War" – Performed by Michael Popieluch * "Underwater" – Performed by A.M. Pacific * "Omo Cha No Cha Cha Cha" – Performed by

Akiyuki Nosaka was a Japanese novelist, singer, lyricist, and member of the House of Councillors. As a broadcasting writer he used the name and his alias as a chanson singer was . Early life Nosaka was born in Kamakura, Kanagawa, the son of Sukeyuki Nosak ...

, Osamu Yosioka, and Nonuyoshi Koshibe * "Do Something" – Performed by Shane Tsurugi for Rock Life * "Seventy-Seven" – Performed by Dino Zisis * "Oh, Joey" – Performed by Lucky 13

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shutter (2008 film) 2008 films 2008 horror films American supernatural horror films American remakes of Thai films Horror film remakes Films about suicide Films about stalking Films directed by Masayuki Ochiai Films set in Brooklyn American ghost films American mystery films Regency Enterprises films 20th Century Fox films American rape and revenge films Films set in Tokyo Films produced by Roy Lee Films scored by Nathan Barr Fiction about photography Films about photographers Japan in non-Japanese culture Vertigo Entertainment films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films