In 2004, a film reached the big screen in Thailand called Shutter. The film proved to be a hit and was added into the Hollywood machine to be remade. Following the moderate success of the majority of Asian-horror remakes, it would seem to be a given that this would be added to the long list that began with The Ring in 2002 (and stands as the best of the remakes). Beyond that, Shutter has become the third one to reach the cineplex this year (after One Missed Call and The Eye).

The problem these films are running into is that they are all blending together. It seems like all of the films are being pulled from the same style - you know, the girls with long black hair that walk funny and have funny sounds, not to mention the washed out colors and plentiful jump scares. Shutter is about as generic as they come. I can only hope the original film is better.

As the film opens, we are introduced to the recently married couple of Ben (Joshua Jackson) and Jane (Rachael Taylor). It is just after the ceremony. The pair prepares to set off for their honeymoon in Tokyo before Ben starts a new job as a hotshot photographer with a company in the same city. Little do they know the dangers ahead of them.

The plot is straight forward, and if you have watched a few of these remakes you probably already have a pretty good idea of how it is going to go down and can safely skip the film. It is this familiarity that the filmmakers have to work to overcome. The formula is becoming very familiar at this point and there is very little stepping up to fill the creative void that makes these films worth watching. This puts a lot of pressure on the creative team to deliver a solid script, the director to shepherd the execution, and the actors to make us care.

To use this year's earlier remake releases, there is a thin line between being completely worthless, like One Missed Call, and being watchable, as in The Eye. In the case of Shutter, it falls south of the watchable line and slightly above One Missed Call. This is a movie with some nice moments of genuine style going for it, but the execution is tired and relies on the jump scare to keep everyone interested. The characters are as dull, lifeless, and unlikable as they come.

The central conceit to Shutter sounds much like that of White Noise (and we all know how good that was). It involves a phenomenon called spirit photography, which makes the claim that ghosts can appear in photographs when the emotion is strong enough to trap it in this world - unfinished business and whatnot. The question I had going in was whether or not they would tie the ghostly images to actual film. While Polaroids do come into play (with a discussion of faked photos), the spirits appear on digital photos as well. I was disappointed.