Shutter

The next couple reviews are films that hard both back to my early dealings in Asian Cinema (i.e. Horror), and also odd omissions from my watching C.V.  This film I can’t believe I missed at all, being as it is probably the key Thai Horror, and as I often say, I really should watch more films from Thailand.

Our main protagonist in “Shutter” is Tun (Ananda Everingham), a handsome freelance Photographer, who seems to have it all – looks, great job, pleasant personality and a lovely Girlfriend, Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee).  After attending a wedding party one night with his college friends, Jane and Tun are involved in a car accident, where Jane appears to run down a young girl.  In a moment of ill-judged panic, Tun convinces her to drive on before anyone notices.  This eats at Jane’s conscience a lot, yet when they revisit the scene of the accident, they find no evidence at all of anything having happened.  However, Tun is initially intrigued by strange imagery, possibly of a Ghost, on his latest Photographic sets, and he is beset with a terrible back ache.  Jane and Tun investigate the world of Ghost Photos, and eventually uncover a horrible truth about a past tragedy, one which casts a worrying light on the true nature of Tun.

On the face of it, co-directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom (Best name ever!!) have crafted little more than a by the numbers Asian Horror movie.  Long Haired Asian Female Vengeful Ghost?  Check.  Use of a common phenomena (Photos of Spirits in this case)?  Check.  A dark personal secret hitherto unsuspected? Check.  Yet, to be fair, this one is actually in the superior bracket of these films.

Being a Thai film, it is never going to be a film reliant of graphic detail, and is stronger for that – it relies on atmosphere and some quite excellent set pieces, aimed to chill you rather than scare/upset you.  In fact, the weakest aspects of the film are actually when our Ghost makes a full appearance, not because it is bad, it is just we have seen Sadako-lite too many times before.  Yet a glimpse here and there works really well, as does the use of the technical side of Tun’s Photographic Skills – the Darkroom and the flash bulb.  It is certainly a film made on a budget – it is not lushly filmed, but certainly looks professional enough, and makes the most of what it can place on the screen.

It is also a film that needs to be watched fully to the end.  Tun seems a nice guy, but his strange reaction to the hit and run seems utterly out of character until we discover his actions in the past which are only revealed in the final half hour.  He is moved very slowly from being the handsome hero, to someone quite weak and actually to be despised.  Jane on the other hand works her way up, from being the pretty girlfriend who is there to act all scared, to the more investigative of the two, and actually at some point becomes our lead character.

It also has the unusual structure of effectively having three endings.  Tun and Jane eventually track down the dead girl who is haunting them, and we get a rather sad story of a lonely girl and her grief stricken mother.  Then we get the full story of Tun’s relationship with this girl, and our understanding of some of the events are made clear – involving something that is all too human and far more horrifying than a ghostly image.  If it ended there, that would make it a reasonable film, but it is that final few minutes, when everything is tied together, when vengeance is shown to be eternal and unforgiving, then that is the point it suddenly become special.

The film is also pretty open minded about the phenomena of Ghosts on film.  It is willing to show that a lot of them are fakes, either accidental double exposures, or mock ups designed to sell magazines.  But it also leave the door open for those which are unexplainable (although suggesting that a Polaroid ™ cannot be faked is just wrong).

For me, this is a worthy, even superior entry into this genre.  It is disturbing enough to chill, but has enough character work in it to maintain interest even when the Ghostly activities are not the main focus.  And that final scene, well that makes it worth the price of admission alone.  Recommended.