|
Shutter (Widescreen) (Unrated Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Masayuki Ochiai
Actors: Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor (ii), Megumi Okina, David Denman, John Hensley (ii)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $4.35
You Save: $25.64 (85%)
New (49) Used (47) Collectible (1) from $4.35
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 2149
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 2252386
UPC: 024543523864
EAN: 0024543523864
ASIN: B0019X3YX2
Theatrical Release Date: March 21, 2008
Release Date: July 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: previously viewed, guaranteed, circle barcode around center hole, 1st class ship, USA region 1
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Based on a 2004 Thai horror flick, this surprisingly effective Hollywood remake is actually set in Tokyo. That's where newlywed hubby Joshua Jackson has taken bride Rachael Taylor (Transformers) for an ill-advised honeymoon. They hit a woman standing in the middle of a spooky road, after which all sorts of ghosts seem to emerge from Jackson's camera (he's come to Japan for a fashion-photography gig). Can our plucky heroine, a fish out of water in a confusing city, find the answer to this haunted puzzle? Well, yes, but she won't like what she finds. Shutter is distinguished by director Mayasuki Ochiai's compositional eye, which favors the empty, creeped-out spaces in which ghosts might dwell. The movie also gets into the phenomenon of "spirit photography," which suggests that the dear departed make their presence known as white flashes in snapshots. That stuff's kind of fun; unfortunately, Ochiai's ear for dialogue is as clunky as his eye is sharp, and Jackson and Taylor are saddled with some truly unfortunate exposition. The actors don't leave much of an impression either, although Megumi Okina (leading lady of Ju-on: The Grudge) is sufficiently spooky as a woman who will not be ignored. --Robert Horton
Product Description
A young photographer and his girlfriend discover mysterious shadows in their photographs after a tragic accident. They soon learn that you can never escape the past as a ghost continuously haunts them! System Requirements:Running Time: 86 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/DEMONS UPC: 024543523864 Manufacturer No: 2252386
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 Camera at the Ready August 26, 2008
Santeria (Tallahassee)
Shutter is an English Language version of the Thai original that is nuanced as it is diverse. In an attempt to bring some films to English Cinema, the concepts are transposed entirely, sometimes in part.
The Camera of a New York native photographer who is now working in Japan starts to capture the image of the "ghost". The wife is prime vehicle for seeing the ghosts, and as stated in many of the DVD features ( Commentary etc) the Wife is the way the audience is supposed to see the events. As I have stated in other reviews, the unrated version has again proven itself to be the de-facto gold standard, since this is a gem of a scare, which supposedly differs from the cinematic piece. It is really not clear if this is the case, and it is just a subjective judgement, but the film seems to suffer to some degree from a non-english speaking Director, especially in the dialogue scenes, but it is clear from the Features that he brings a wealth of spooky experience to the non-verbal material, and it is why this material stands out so very well. It is to this end that the latter part of the film ( past 45 minutes) starts to pick up speed from non-verbal material and where the Director has taken some scenes from the original.
THE DVD:
Great Commentary. Works superbly well... not exactly entertaining, but it is extremely informative. The features are genuinely good, and at points intensely spooky.Its not the Ring, but its extremely good.
 SHUTTER ...NEEDS TO GET SHUT DOWN!!!!! August 24, 2008
Benjamin Kidman (SanFrancisco,CA United States)
I was very, VERY disappointed in Shutter. Was looking forward to it since I seen the trailer. How can they make the trailer look so good and make the movie so BAD??? LAME & Bord me most this flick!. I love Ghost stories, but this Ghost & scrpit didn't scare me or get me even in edge my seat at least!! Most Ghosts in horror movies have a evil looks and scare, but this one was lame & most the times corny & laughable! I seen the twist coming from a mile away. Most likely everybody did. The acting was average. The last 10 minutes AND ending was REAL laughable & I am still laughing, what the corny ending & B.S they come up with!!! SKIP THIS GARBAGE! C
 A Satisfactory Marriage of "The Grudge" & "Ghost Story" August 23, 2008
R. Schultz (Chicago)
This movie's effects aren't as scary as those in either "The Grudge" or "Ghost Story" with Alice Krige. Perhaps that's just because we have seen so much of it before in those two previous movies. Or perhaps that's because the effects themselves aren't quite as inventive or as creepily cowled.
However this movie has a cleaner storyline than "The Grudge" or "The Ring." It has some of the elements of a classic Agatha Christie mystery in that the clues to its resolution are all there, for anyone who doesn't ignore them as incidental to the action.
And even though "Shutter" doesn't deliver quite the on-going frights we've come to expect from thrillers involving Japanese producers/directors - its manifestations all add up to a resolution that's a real shocker. The final images and their imports are bound to haunt you long after the "Shutter" has closed.
There is also good scenery here. Although the lead actors are American and the movie is in English, most of the action takes place in Japan. You get to see a lot of everyday Japan, the ordinary streets and offices that you probably wouldn't get to see as a tourist. In some ways, this movie puts you there even more vividly than "Lost in Translation" did.
The bonus material on the DVD is spread over both sides of the disc, and includes a brief history of "spirit photography." Capturing errant shafts of light on film and interpreting them as the hovering spirits of the dead was quite a craze during the Victorian period. Producing and selling such images remains a going industry in Japan to this day, according to the DVD history.
The commentator on one of these bonus fragments says that making an effective thriller is like strapping viewers into a roller-coaster seat. You want to create music and special effects that act like the click-click-click of the coaster's wheels on its tracks as it climbs, climbs - carrying the captive viewer to the top of an incline. Those clicks clench them in anticipation of the oncoming plunge over the top into the abyss. If that's true, the clicks in this movie aren't quite as pronounced as they might have been - but the plunge over the top is one of the most harrowing ever.
A Case Of Too Much Exposure August 21, 2008
Mark Eremite (Seoul, South Korea)
Ghost movies. Give me a break. Instead of rehashing all of the old complaints (another Japanese remake! same old scares and scenes! just like The Grudge!), let me tell you why this movie fails for me.
The best ghost movies out there are trying to tell a story. The ghost exists for a reason, and the reason isn't exclusively to scare the bejeezus out of people. When that IS the goal (see Poltergeist), there still must be a story attached to the fear. I guess, ultimately, ghost films have two burdens to bear: creative plots married to creative creepiness.
Unfortunately, SHUTTER doesn't have much of either. A young camerman (Joshua Jackson) and his new bride (Rachael Taylor) move to Tokyo where he has a new highpaying gig. Somewhere along the way they (may or may not have) hit a woman wandering alone on a dark, forest road. The woman disappears and, whoops!, they are both tormented by the woman's ghostly image.
Nothing creepy about this film is unique to it. The directing and the cinematography are well-done, the acting not so, and the end result is a series of dark Ho-Hums, much like you might experience on the Haunted House ride at your local autumn fair. It doesn't necessarily flop on that score, in spite of the unimaginative story, but the requisite twist ending drags the whole thing out to a length that will make you check your watch more than once.
For many ghost films, I often find myself asking, "Why doesn't she just..." and "Why did he..." The rules the ghost plays by are never clear, and when our spiritual succubus cranks things up a notch, you have to ask yourself if she's just learning how to be more creative, or if it's solely because the writer is trying to follow the tried and true Rules of Plot. ("All the stakes must be raised in the Third Act.") Likewise, Jackson's character doesn't have enough depth to justify anything he is supposed to have done. To be frank, none of the characters have much depth, but in Jackson, it stands out the most.
Even these flaws aren't particularly lethal for horror movies, but the final scenes and Jackson's final actions are utterly incomprehensible. I won't spoil anything here, other than to say that Jackson's final solution for it all strains credulity. I'm not saying I would be thinking clearly if I were tortured by an Asian presence from beyond the grave, but I also doubt I would resort to the sort of brainlessly violent resolution Jackson's desperate photog employs.
SHUTTER is, ultimately, another movie that's only as scary as the audience is willing to let it be, a passable and forgettable "boo!" that is more trick than treat.
Underrated movie August 12, 2008
G$ash17 (Nashville, TN)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie is more like 3 1/2 stars but at the time of writing this it was at 2.5 and that's too low. I enjoy a lot of remakes since they still feel like a different movie and have different elements and a lot of the times are better. I haven't seen the Japanese version and I don't care too, I don't get a hard on over foreign films. This was pretty entertaining and kept a decent pace however and the acting was pretty good. A good story even if it was kinda predictable towards the end, worth the watch and underrated!
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 DVDonsale.com | |
