Shutter- Film Review

Film Title:Shutter
Year of production:2008
Genres:Horror, mystery, thriller
Director: Masayuki Ochiai

Plot outline: A newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a trajic road accident. They deiscover that the ghost is Megumi, a woman who fell in love with Ben but he rejected her. She haunts and murders his friends but they find her body and burn it hoping to get rid of the spirit.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? why?
The scene that impressed me the most was the scene where the photographer was taking photos of the models. The use of ghostly parallel music created an unsettling effect and let the audience know that the ghost is in the room. There is a quick montage of shots of the camera moving towards the photographer letting the audience know that the spirit is about to kill him. As this point we dont know what going to happen but we get a close up of the camera jolting suggesting that the spirit has got to the photographer through the camera. This is followed by a skewed angle of the photographer falling to the floor and dropping the camera. We then see an extreme close up of a hole in his face where his eye used to be. There is alot of blood and the scene ends. The music and the montage of shots before the death really impressed me as it created tension within the audience and left them sitting on the edge of their seats. The body horror was also really effective as it made the audience shudder when watching it.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of film making? Which features on the generic check-list did you spot in the film? When? How?
Watching this film has helped me understand horror in the film making and what techniques you need to create a successful horror film. I noticed that Ben's wife was pretty and blonde and had 'female victim' characteristics even though she is the only survivor in the end. This challenges the idea of characters and representation in that 'Female Victims' get killed off first. In the film, each time a death occurred the victim was in a creepy enclosed location with low key lighting. For example, the empty room with a chair where the spirit died. The shadows were very unsettling because it created restricted narration.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own horror trailer?
I like the body horror (gore) effects used in this film. They are very graphic and very unexpected. I noticed a good body horror effect in the scene where the spirit takes her dress off to show her back had rotted away and is now green and puss filled and looked diseased. I would like to create an effect like this in my trailer. I would also like to include a psycho killer in my trailer as the killer in this film really inspired me to create my own one. I also appreciate the different locations in the film. The shadows created scenes of restricted narration and made the events in the film more creepy. I would like to film a death scene setting up the room to create lots of shadows.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer?
I would like to avoid an unhappy ending in my trailer as i found when watching horror trailer unhappy endings where very predictable. Open endings are exiting and give you something interesting to plan. This will also get the audience talking about the film and what could happen next if there is a sequel to follow it.

What was the best aspect/more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?
The most powerful moment in the film was when they found the body and burnt it hoping to get rid of the spirit. With this the audience suspects the spirit to be gone making them feel safe. In my trailer i would like create a scene when the killer appears to be gone and then suddenly turn it around for a really effective ending to get the audience talking about it afterwards. Knowing that the killer is still out there will make them feel nervous even after the film has ended.