Review of Shutter (2004) by Cherish S — 10 May 2009

Now here's a good fucking horror film in a time where horror films have become bigger jokes than their spoof films.

I think it's exactly the rough-around-the-edges aesthetic of asian horror films that make them so fucking scary. Remember the Ring? I shat myself when I watched that. And the American remake was crap. It was way too slick firstly, and secondly Hollywood films are too conventional. They always want to explain everything. Since when was it common knowledge that strange fucking shit happening in your house is easily solved by burying the violently killed ghost's skeleton. Who the fuck made that Supernatural Shit 101?!

Anyway, shitty American remakes aside, this was a good old fashioned, scared-the-bejesus-out-of-me film. Strong original concept that really is based on asian superstition. It's this kind of movie that proves you don't need cutting edge CGi to make a scary movie scary. No, you need creativity. You need to induce paranoia, unease, evoke a motherfucker's deepest fears. You don't need shit flying out from a corner every 5 minutes. And you don't need blood and guts every 10 minutes.

This is how it's fucking done. And I have no doubt that the american version sucks ass.