Same old, same old

Enough with the J-Horror remakes already. OK, OK, to be fair, Shutter is a remake of a Thai film, but still—enough is enough. The formula is the same, and it’s worn out, leaving any hopes for being scared lost to predictability.

In this latest flick, newlyweds Benjamin and Jane Shaw (Joshua Jackson—you know, Pacey from Dawson’s Creek—and Rachael Taylor, of Transformers fame) leave their NYC digs for Tokyo (where else?). Benjamin apparently used to work as a photographer there, and he’s returning to his old firm and old friends.

On a dark and rainy night, driving in a foreign country, they lose control of their car and hit a girl (gasp!). But upon examining the scene, she is nowhere to be found. Except she keeps popping up in their darn photographs.

While Benjamin is taking pics of hot fashion models, Jane is investigating this phenomenon of spirit photography. Unfortunately for us, we’ve already been subjected to The Ring and The Grudge, so we’re familiar with this idea of vengeful spirits appearing as creepy Japanese girls with frozen stares.

People start dying and a mystery unravels. But none of it is very scary and it’s certainly nothing we haven’t seen before. Even the killing scenes are a bit boring, with nary a scream to be heard.

Essentially, Shutter can be thrown in the old-news bin. Adding to it is the fact that Benjamin is in Japan, the technology capital of the world, yet he uses Polaroid and film cameras and actually develops photos in a dark room. What is this, the 20th century?

Enough with the remakes. It’s time for something original.