The Ring, The Grudge, The Eye, The Pulse, One Missed Call, and now Shutter

Just when you thought you’d seen the last American plagiarism of an Asian horror movie, another is airlifted across the Pacific. Shutter is the latest of them: the story of a Yankee couple honeymooning in Japan. Blobs are appearing in the pictures they take at tourist sites. It comes to pass that the blobs are malevolent spirits. They broach the world of the living and lay waste to the couple’s honeymoon plans. At one point in the film, a slinky, longhaired Asian girl slides her corpuscular tongue into the throat of the American man, who is enticed despite some unease. They fuck.

Shutter is Hollywood’s bootlegging of a Thai film with a far creepier trailer. Who knows, it might be as cornball as The Grudge. In that movie, Bill Pullman and Sarah Michelle Gellar succumbed to computer-generated ghouls in Tokyo. Speaking optimistically, Shutter might turn out as well as The Ring. In any case, the trans-Pacific remake machine is petering out. It hit a new low this year with One Missed Call, a remake of a satire of American remakes. Shutter is coming to Sunrise Cinemas today. Tickets cost $7 or less. For more info, call 954-763-7994, or visit www.sunrisecinemas.com.
March 21-April 4, 2008