Shutter (2008 film)
Encyclopedia
Shutter is a 2008 American remake
of the 2004 Thai horror film
of the same name. The remake was directed by Masayuki Ochiai
, and was released on March 21, 2008.
) and his new bride, Jane (Rachael Taylor
), leave New York for Tokyo, Japan, where Ben has a job as a photographer. While traveling, Jane hits a girl wearing a thin dress in the middle of the wilderness (despite the cold and snow), running over her with both wheels and running into a ditch. After regaining consciousness, they find there was no body or even a trace of blood on either the car or the road, and they decide to leave, thinking the victim was all right. They later start to find mysterious lights in their photos, which are later identified as spirit photography
by Ben's assistant, Seiko Nakamura (Maya Hazen). Jane begins to have eerie dreams and visions as if they are trying to tell her something, and senses a mysterious haunting presence stalking them. 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. Seiko takes Jane to her ex-boyfriend, Ritsuo (James Kyson Lee), whose career is to investigate paranormal
activities, and he tells them that the lights are spirits, manifestations of intense emotions trying to communicate. At a subway station, Jane spots the ghostly presence of the girl she hit, causing her to believe that she killed the girl. Ben later also has a similar terrifying encounter in his dark room. They then go to a medium
, Murase; however, Ben refuses to translate what Murase says, claiming he is a fraud.
Later on Jane decides to visit the office building in one of the photos. When she gets there, she goes to the floor where the light has gathered, and takes pictures in the empty office. She encounters the yūrei
, and learns that the girl's name was Megumi Tanaka and that Ben knew her. When she confronts Ben about it, he admits that he and Megumi were once involved in a relationship, but that after the death of her father, she became very obsessive and clingy, and eventually he dumped her, with help from his two friends.
Ben's friends, Adam (John Hensley
) and Bruno (David Denman
), 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 in a state of shock and undress, suggesting that he has been sexually violated
. After watching Bruno jump from the building Ben and Jane go back to their apartment. Ben wants to leave but Jane says "We're not going anywhere" and hands Ben their wedding photo in which the right hand side shows a distorted picture of Megumi. They realize she's been with them the entire time and what happened on the road was meant for their attentions. They go to Megumi's home, only to find her decayed body. She had committed suicide with potassium cyanide
long before the car impact.
That night Ben is tortured by Megumi. She appears in different places around the room and climbs onto the bed, straddling Ben, taking off her dress, and throwing it on his face, revealing her inhuman body. She then precedes to follow him around the room where she lets her tongue out (which is much longer than a normal human tongue) and forces it into Ben's mouth, kissing him, releasing a swarm of flies that almost choke him. Jane wakes up and screams at Megumi to leave Ben and her alone, after watching flies come out of his mouth. Megumi's shadow appears behind her against the fluttering window curtains and she is wrapped up in the curtains and pushed against the window where her head cracks the glass. Jane screams "He left you because he never loved you" which then breaks the hold and throws her back on the bed. Megumi stops with a brief sinister laugh, leaving Ben alive.
After Megumi's funeral, Ben and Jane return to New York, thinking it's all over. However, Jane finds some recent photos in an envelope which still show Megumi, who is crawling toward a picture of Jane hanging on the wall. Jane goes into the room behind the picture and finds a camera in a trunk. After uploading the memory card into the laptop Jane sees more photos taken by Ben, showing Adam and Bruno raping
Megumi at her home before her suicide, while Ben does nothing but watch them doing the deed. After this discovery Ben returns home, where he tries to explain he felt it was the only way to drive Megumi away, as nothing else was working. They'd used some pills
and had planned on using the pictures as blackmail against Megumi if she didn't leave him alone but it turned into rape. This explains why Ben didn't want to translate what the medium said earlier in the film and why Megumi murdered Adam and Bruno, as Ben knew this was about revenge against all three of them. Believing that Megumi was trying to warn her, and disgusted by Ben's past actions, Jane leaves.
Driven mad by all the events related to Megumi, Ben begins photographing the apartment with his Polaroid camera, looking to confront her. After throwing the camera across the room, it takes a picture of him, showing Megumi sitting astride his shoulders. Remembering in the hospital where a nurse weighed Ben, showing a weight of 275 lbs, the weight of two people, as well as the mysterious shoulder pains, Ben realizes that Megumi has been with him all along since her suicide without his knowledge. Horrified, and in an effort to rid himself of her, he electrocutes himself. He is rendered completely catatonic and sent to a mental institution, where he is shown sitting slumped over on the edge of his bed. The last scene is a reflection of the glass from the door, showing Megumi still draped over his back.
reported that 7% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 51 reviews, and Top Critics has a 10% rating based on 10 reviews. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.
and Canada
and grossed $10,447,559 in 2,753 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking #3 at the box office behind Horton Hears a Who!
s second weekend and Tyler Perry
'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.
This was remade in Tamil as Sivi
, which was a flop and again in Hindi as CLICK
which proved to be a Bollywood
box-office disaster.
s, and an alternate ending. The theatrical version was made available for sale as well.
Commercial songs from film, but not on soundtrack
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 2004 Thai horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
of the same name. The remake was directed by Masayuki Ochiai
Masayuki Ochiai
is a Japanese film director, mostly famous for Kansen and Saimin.-Filmography:# Shutter # Kansen # Dark Tales of Japan, episode Presentiment,...
, and was released on March 21, 2008.
Plot
Ben Shaw (Joshua JacksonJoshua Jackson
Joshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
) and his new bride, Jane (Rachael Taylor
Rachael Taylor
Rachael Taylor is an Australian actress and model. She made her leading role debut in the short-lived Australian program headLand. She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in the films Transformers, Shutter, and Splinterheads.-Personal life:Taylor was born in Launceston, Tasmania, the...
), leave New York for Tokyo, Japan, where Ben has a job as a photographer. While traveling, Jane hits a girl wearing a thin dress in the middle of the wilderness (despite the cold and snow), running over her with both wheels and running into a ditch. After regaining consciousness, they find there was no body or even a trace of blood on either the car or the road, and they decide to leave, thinking the victim was all right. They later start to find mysterious lights in their photos, which are later identified as spirit photography
Spirit photography
Spirit photography is a type of photography whose primary attempt is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities, especially in ghost hunting. It was first used by William H. Mumler in the 1860s. Mumler discovered the technique by accident, after he discovered a second person in a...
by Ben's assistant, Seiko Nakamura (Maya Hazen). Jane begins to have eerie dreams and visions as if they are trying to tell her something, and senses a mysterious haunting presence stalking them. 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. Seiko takes Jane to her ex-boyfriend, Ritsuo (James Kyson Lee), whose career is to investigate paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
activities, and he tells them that the lights are spirits, manifestations of intense emotions trying to communicate. At a subway station, Jane spots the ghostly presence of the girl she hit, causing her to believe that she killed the girl. Ben later also has a similar terrifying encounter in his dark room. They then go to a medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
, Murase; however, Ben refuses to translate what Murase says, claiming he is a fraud.
Later on Jane decides to visit the office building in one of the photos. When she gets there, she goes to the floor where the light has gathered, and takes pictures in the empty office. She encounters the yūrei
Yurei
are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 , meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 , meaning "soul" or "spirit." Alternative names include 亡霊 meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 or お化け...
, and learns that the girl's name was Megumi Tanaka and that Ben knew her. When she confronts Ben about it, he admits that he and Megumi were once involved in a relationship, but that after the death of her father, she became very obsessive and clingy, and eventually he dumped her, with help from his two friends.
Ben's friends, Adam (John Hensley
John Hensley
John Carter Hensley II is an American actor. His film appearances have included Peoples, Fifty Pills, Teeth, and Shutter.-Filmography:-External links:*...
) and Bruno (David Denman
David Denman
David Denman is an American film and television actor.-Education:After graduating from Fountain Valley High School, Denman attended the summer training congress at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco before receiving his B.F.A. from Juilliard.-Career:He made his film debut with Keanu...
), 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 in a state of shock and undress, suggesting that he has been sexually violated
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
. After watching Bruno jump from the building Ben and Jane go back to their apartment. Ben wants to leave but Jane says "We're not going anywhere" and hands Ben their wedding photo in which the right hand side shows a distorted picture of Megumi. They realize she's been with them the entire time and what happened on the road was meant for their attentions. They go to Megumi's home, only to find her decayed body. She had committed suicide with potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide is an inorganic compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline compound, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include jewelry for chemical gilding and...
long before the car impact.
That night Ben is tortured by Megumi. She appears in different places around the room and climbs onto the bed, straddling Ben, taking off her dress, and throwing it on his face, revealing her inhuman body. She then precedes to follow him around the room where she lets her tongue out (which is much longer than a normal human tongue) and forces it into Ben's mouth, kissing him, releasing a swarm of flies that almost choke him. Jane wakes up and screams at Megumi to leave Ben and her alone, after watching flies come out of his mouth. Megumi's shadow appears behind her against the fluttering window curtains and she is wrapped up in the curtains and pushed against the window where her head cracks the glass. Jane screams "He left you because he never loved you" which then breaks the hold and throws her back on the bed. Megumi stops with a brief sinister laugh, leaving Ben alive.
After Megumi's funeral, Ben and Jane return to New York, thinking it's all over. However, Jane finds some recent photos in an envelope which still show Megumi, who is crawling toward a picture of Jane hanging on the wall. Jane goes into the room behind the picture and finds a camera in a trunk. After uploading the memory card into the laptop Jane sees more photos taken by Ben, showing Adam and Bruno raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
Megumi at her home before her suicide, while Ben does nothing but watch them doing the deed. After this discovery Ben returns home, where he tries to explain he felt it was the only way to drive Megumi away, as nothing else was working. They'd used some pills
Date rape drug
A date rape drug is any drug that can be used to assist in the execution of a sexual assault, such as date rape. Drugs used to facilitate rape may have sedative, hypnotic, dissociative, and/or amnesiac effects, and can be added to a food or drink without the victim's knowledge.The act of adding...
and had planned on using the pictures as blackmail against Megumi if she didn't leave him alone but it turned into rape. This explains why Ben didn't want to translate what the medium said earlier in the film and why Megumi murdered Adam and Bruno, as Ben knew this was about revenge against all three of them. Believing that Megumi was trying to warn her, and disgusted by Ben's past actions, Jane leaves.
Driven mad by all the events related to Megumi, Ben begins photographing the apartment with his Polaroid camera, looking to confront her. After throwing the camera across the room, it takes a picture of him, showing Megumi sitting astride his shoulders. Remembering in the hospital where a nurse weighed Ben, showing a weight of 275 lbs, the weight of two people, as well as the mysterious shoulder pains, Ben realizes that Megumi has been with him all along since her suicide without his knowledge. Horrified, and in an effort to rid himself of her, he electrocutes himself. He is rendered completely catatonic and sent to a mental institution, where he is shown sitting slumped over on the edge of his bed. The last scene is a reflection of the glass from the door, showing Megumi still draped over his back.
Cast
- Joshua JacksonJoshua JacksonJoshua Carter Jackson is a Canadian American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is best known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series...
as Benjamin "Ben" Shaw - Rachael TaylorRachael TaylorRachael Taylor is an Australian actress and model. She made her leading role debut in the short-lived Australian program headLand. She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in the films Transformers, Shutter, and Splinterheads.-Personal life:Taylor was born in Launceston, Tasmania, the...
as Jane Shaw - Megumi OkinaMegumi Okinais a Japanese actress, and J-Pop singer in the 1990s.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....
as Megumi Tanaka - John HensleyJohn HensleyJohn Carter Hensley II is an American actor. His film appearances have included Peoples, Fifty Pills, Teeth, and Shutter.-Filmography:-External links:*...
as Adam - David DenmanDavid DenmanDavid Denman is an American film and television actor.-Education:After graduating from Fountain Valley High School, Denman attended the summer training congress at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco before receiving his B.F.A. from Juilliard.-Career:He made his film debut with Keanu...
as Bruno - Maya Hazen as Seiko Nakamura
- James Kyson Lee as Ritsuo
- Yoshiko Miyazaki as Akiko
- Kei Yamamoto as Murase
- Daisy BettsDaisy BettsDaisy Betts is an Australian actress, who starred in Out of the Blue and Persons Unknown. She will be in the upcoming movie Caught Inside, directed by Adam Blaiklock and starring Ben Oxenbould, Sam Lyndon, Simon Lyndon, Leeanna Walsman, Harry Cook, and Peter Phelps....
as Natasha
Critical reception
The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 7% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 51 reviews, and Top Critics has a 10% rating based on 10 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
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 StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
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! (film)
Horton Hears a Who!, also known as Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, is a 2008 American CGI-animated comedy feature film based on the Dr. Seuss book of the same name. It is the fourth feature film from Blue Sky Studios, and the third feature film based on a Dr. Seuss book, following How the Grinch...
s second weekend and Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
's Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns
Meet the Browns is a play written by Tyler Perry in 2004. In it, Cora and Mr. Brown are headed to Brown's side of the family. In Madea's Class Reunion, it is revealed that Brown is actually Cora's father, so he is taking his new daughter to his family...
. 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.
This was remade in Tamil as Sivi
Sivi
Sivi is a Tamil film starring Yogi, Jayashri Rao and Anuja Iyer, directed by K. R. Senthil Nathan. It is a remake of the 2004 Thai-thriller, Shutter.-Plot:...
, which was a flop and again in Hindi as CLICK
Click (2010 film)
Click is a 2010 Hindi horror film starring Shreyas Talpade. Critics such as Taran Adarsh noted the film's similarity to the 2004 Thai horror film Shutter.-Plot:...
which proved to be a Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
box-office disaster.
Home release
Shutter was released on DVD on July 15, 2008 and the Unrated Edition included commentary, featurettes, deleted sceneDeleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s, and an alternate ending. The theatrical version was made available for sale as well.
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 BarrNathan BarrNathan Barr is a film and television composer known for playing the majority of the instruments heard in his compositions.-Biography:...
& Lesbeth 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 NosakaAkiyuki Nosakais a Japanese novelist, singer, lyricist, and former member of the House of Councillors. As a broadcasting writer he uses the name Yukio Aki and his alias as a chanson singer is Claude Nosaka.- Biography :...
, 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