Shutter (Thai: ชัตเตอร์ กดติดวิญญาณ) is a 2004 Thai horror film by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom; starring Ananda Everingham, Natthaweeranuch Thongmee, and Achita Sikamana. It focuses on mysterious images seen in developed pictures.
The film was remade as the 2008 American film Shutter.
Plot
After celebrating at a drinking party with his closest friends in Bangkok, Tun (Ananda Everingham), a photographer, and his girlfriend, Jane (Natthaweeranuch Thongmee), get into a car accident. Jane hits a girl but Tun does not allow her to get out of the car and the couple drive away, leaving the girl lying in the road.
Tun begins to discover mysterious shadows on his photographs, leading Jane to believe that the girl who they hit on the road is haunting them. Tun, who has been experiencing severe neck pains since the accident, dismisses the idea, though Tun's friends are also being haunted by this mysterious girl.
Jane begins to investigate and discovers that the girl was Natre (Achita Sikamana), a shy girl who had attended the same college as Tun. After confronting Tun, Tun admits that he and Natre were in a relationship, which Tun had kept secret from his friends. Natre threatened to commit suicide when Tun broke off the relationship.
Tun starts to be haunted by Natre's ghost so he and Jane visit Natre's mother, where they find the decaying body of Natre in her bedroom, learning that Natre had committed suicide. Back in Bangkok, Tun's friend, Tan, commits suicide, jumping from his apartment balcony. Tun discovers that his two other close friends from college have also committed suicide. Believing that they have been coerced into doing so by Natre's ghost, Tun becomes convinced that he will be next.
Natre's ghost appears in Tun's apartment one night, and the chain of events culminate with Tun surviving a fall from the fire escape ladder outside his building. Natre's funeral is held the following day, after which Jane hopes that everything will return to normal.
However, on returning to Bangkok Jane collects some photographs. One of the films shows a series of shadowy images of Natre in Tun's apartment, trying to find something on the bookcase. Investigating further, Jane finds a set of negatives hidden behind the bookcase. She develops the negatives to find photographs in which Tun's friends are sexually assaulting Natre. Disgusted by what she has found, and feeling betrayed by his lies, she leaves Tun.
Realising that he is still haunted by her ghost, Tun takes a series of Polaroid photographs in his apartment in an attempt to find Natre. Having no success, he throws the camera across the room in a rage, only for it to go off, taking a photograph of Tun. The Polaroid develops, showing Natre sitting on Tun's shoulders, the cause of his ongoing neck pain. In the ensuing confrontation Tun jumps from the window, trying to escape.
The next shot shows him slumped over in a hospital bed being visited by Jane.In the doors glass reflction of Tun you can see Natre is still sitting on his shoulder.
Reception
The film has received a 7.6 and 79% "Fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
The film was nominated for the 2005 Golden Kinnaree Award for best film at the Bangkok International Film Festival and has won various awards at smaller festivals around the world. The movie was especially well-received in Thailand and Singapore.
Remake
In 2007, it was remade in Tamil as Sivi. An American remake was released in 2008, directed by Masayuki Ochiai and starring Rachael Taylor and Joshua Jackson.[1] The American remake follows the story of a young couple on their honeymoon in Tokyo, where they soon begin to see ghostly images in their photographs.
Unlike the original, the 2008 remake was received negatively by critics.
References
External links
