Shutter (2004)

3.5 / 5
Tagline: Have you ever carefully looked at your pictures?
Directed by: Banjong Pisanthoanaku & Parkpoom Wongpoom
Written by: Banjong Pisanthanakun, Sopon Sukdapisit
Actors include: Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, Achita Sikamana
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Thriller
Length: 97 minutes
Banned: Nope
Country: Thailand

Review:
Well I'd heard so much hype surrounding this one. Supposedly I'd read that it was the scariest Asian film to date and that it was similar to "The Ring" and "Ju-On", but somehow way more terrifying. I was certainly excited when I found a copy of this, but the hype wasn't warranted in my opinion. The movie was actually rather good, the story is quite simple, a guy mistreats and lies about dating a girl, then he runs her down on the road while his new girlfriend is in the car. Then they are harassed by the ghost (yep dark haired typical ghost that one would expect only less eerie really). The plot at least made total sense (more than I find I get from most Asian films), everything is entirely explained and in that regard it's rather satisfying. Also the fact that they included (without permission) pictures that supposedly show ghosts and they were actually quite interesting. It did try to be scary and intense I think, but poor execution and the obvious nature of the ghost showing up and the fact that it has all been done before kinda kept it from reaching it's goal. Still it tried pretty hard and for logic alone and an alright story this one will be worth a viewing for fans of this sort of thing. I guess I'm just disappointed because it doesn't compare to "The Ring" and it's not nearly as jumpy as say "A Tale Of Two Sisters".