Shutter

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: A recently married couple is on their honeymoon when they get in a car accident, seemingly running down a woman in the street. The husband is a photographer, and after this series of events, ghost-images start inexplicably showing up on all the pics he and his wife take. Who is the spirit and why is she bothering them?

Scariness factor: Not mind-blowing, but there IS a creepy-ass scene where the husband is trapped in a dark room with the camera-flash going off over and over, only to illuminate someone moving around the room and advancing on him.

Gross-Out Factor: Really quite minimal. Hence the PG-13 rating.



Complaints: This movie had a LOT of gaps in logic. Small things, but things that DROVE ME NUTS nonetheless. And right now I can't think of even one of them, go figure. And yet throughout the whole movie I was like, What?? WHAT??! One example, (which isn't so much an example of gaps in logic as it is of just dumb writing) was *SPOILER ALERT: after the husband endures the trauma of having two of his friends die, one right in front of him, he and his wife are sleeping in bed, and he wakes up from what appears to be a horrible nightmare. His wife's response: (paraphrased) "What? What is it, honey? What's the matter?" My response watching it: "Jesus, you dumb broad. He just had two friends die, and you both are being haunted by a ghost. Um, what do you THINK might be causing him to have nightmares??? How have you even managed to fall asleep in the FIRST place?????" /END SPOILER Also, the ending was a little bit anticlimactic.

High Points: I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (not meaning to imply that you would recommend something shitty Bijoux--I mostly just am not a fan of slick modern Hollywood horror flicks and/or flicks with folks from things like Dawson's Creek in them, heh heh). The scene I mentioned above. Well-done and creepy. I also really like the notion of spirit photography. It always fascinated me when I was little, so it had THAT going for it as well. I also was impressed by the resolve of the wife at the end of the movie--I'm glad they didn't let her slip into a weak, wishy-washy female character.



Overall: Although I wasn't blown away, it DID have a few creepy moments in it. If nothing else, it's good fluff for a rainy afternoon.

Grade: C+