Practical Photography

Last night I watched Shutter the American version of the Japanese horror. It stars Joshua Jackson of Dawsons Creek fame and that should have been the first warning.

Japanese horrors like The Ring, The Grudge and The Eye have been very popular with the Western audience and have been re made directed more towards the American audience. The Ring was the first and although not as good as the original it was still good, then The Grudge was re made starring Buffy, I mean Sarah Michelle Gellar and so on.

Shitter is based around a photographer with a dark past, after he marries his new bride he goes to Japan, where he once worked, to do a fashion shoot. He takes his new bride, Rachel Taylor, but on the way they encounter a strange accident, envlving a Japanese girl.

After the accident many of his photos have an unusual streak of light in them, his assistant informs his wife that these are spirit pictures, and conveniently her ex boyfriend (Ando from Heroes) is an expert in these.

His wife pursues this to get to the bottom of it and makes many discoveries…

The film was average but after watching so many of these re makes I can guess the plot as they are very similar in style and there is always a bit of a twist at the end. I am also inclined to think that the remakes are never as good as the originals so will probably reserve judgement until I’ve sat through the original and read the Japanese subtitles.