Cinefantastique Online

You are browsing the archives of SHUTTER.

Japanese kaidan are suffering from a severe case of cinematic over-exposure. The bright light of the projector bulb has burned away most of the mystery surrounding the various yurei, onryo, zashiki-warashi, and jikininki that have haunted the screen since Sadako emerged from her well in 1998’s RING. If there is a “seen it all before” ennui to [...]

Remaking Asian horror films is a thankless job, but Hollywood keeps on trying. Fans of the originals hate the new versions, and general audiences seem to be losing interest: ONE MISSED CALL and THE EYE, both released earlier this year, made only $26.9-million and $31.0-million, respectively. Hoping to reverse this trend is SHUTTER, starring Joshua Jackson [...]

SHUTTER, the new film starring Joshua Jackson (DAWSON’S CREEK) and Rachael Taylor (TRANSFORMERS) is based on an Asian horror film, as is all too often the case these days. However, there is a difference from the usual remake: the new version is an American-Japanese co-production, based not on a Japanese film but on an excellent effort from Thailand. The screenwriter [...]

Strange things – ugly, scary, awful – lie hidden in the dark, unseen but not forgotten, waiting for their chance to manifest, crawling back into consciousness like Freud’s “Return of the Repressed” – refusing to lie quietly in the shadows, no matter how hard some characters try to keep the lights out. Invisible to the [...]