Awful pacing is considered suspense in Asia
CRITIC'S CORNER
By DNA Smith

Rachael Taylor, left, and Joshua Jackson star in "Shutter."

"Shutter"
Running time: 85 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13

You'd think a horror movie called "Shutter" would have more shudders in it.

Not a chance.

"Shutter" is an American studio remake of a 2004 Thai film that ripped off the formula used by just about every Japanese ghost movie in the past 10 years. You know the drill: Happy American in Japan stumbles upon creepy, stringy-haired apparition with jerky movements who is hellbent on revenge.

And because this is Asianinspired cinema, you have to wait forever for a few seconds of anything remotely scary to happen, because what is dull and tedious and awful pacing in American films is considered suspense in Asia.

"Shutter" is about a newlywed American couple Jane (Rachael Taylor) and Ben (Joshua Jackson) on honeymoon in Japan. On the way to their honeymoon cabin in the country, their car hits a Japanese woman and the couple swerve out of control and slam into a tree. When they come to, they go back to the scene of the accident and find no one there. After the police search, the two assume the woman wasn't badly hurt and simply returned to her home.

Not so.

Soon after, they discover strange white streaks on their photographs. It turns out these are "ghost images," the spirits of the ticked-off dead picked up by the camera film. Jane assumes the woman she hit with her car is dead and is trying to contact them. In her investigation into the identity of the woman, Jane discovers that Ben had a previous relationship with her and that there is more to this ghost than it appeared.

Then some supporting characters die.

After that is the big surprise ending, which takes forever to get to -- and is, frankly, not worth the wait.

Or your 10 bucks. "Shutter" isn't even worth a rental. Avoid it. GRADE: D (c) 2008 King Features Synd., Inc.