Creative quotient
Shutter is another American film inspired by a Japanese urban legend. Based on the subject of spirit or paranormal photography, the film features the story of a newly-married couple that encounters a strange set of events on their honeymoon in Japan, Ben (Joshua Jackson) and Jane Shaw (Rachael Taylor) run over a woman with their car, on a deserted road through the woods.
Strange incidents start to happen immediately after the incident and all of their honeymoon as well as work-related photos reveal a spiritual presence. Jane takes the help of some expert spirit photographers and spiritualists to seek answers into these mysterious occurences.
The film ends up amidst a murder mystery and a game of unraveling secrets to uncover the truth.

Technical expertise
On a generic level, Shutter as a stand-alone thriller/horror film is good enough to raise a few scares. But, the film is severely bogged down by the so-called formulaic scenes that are now used a little too often to make viewers jump.
The film’s screenplay has been modelled almost exactly on The Ring and The Grudge series. One clue leads to another as the film’s protagonist uncovers hidden truths that ultimately lead him or her to the root of the haunting. The film does well in this part of its premise, but what spoils the broth is the film’s ghost.
Megumi (Megumi Tanaka) the Japanese spirit in the film is far from being sufficiently creepy or eerie. In certain scenes she does look dead cold and haunting but in others she just appears like a normal girl walking around in a mysterious way.
At the end of the day, Shutter has some really good scenes, plot developments and a really unique subject of spirit photography. But, all that good never quite jells together to give that final kick.

Ratings
The film turns out nothing better than an average Hollywood’s rehashed version of a good Asian horror film. Shutter, for its unique spirit photography premise and the scanty scary scenes, is worth two stars.