shutter

well, the a levels are finally over and whew...but thats gonna be another post cos today's post is about the movie Shutter.

its been a while since ive watched a horror movie cos im damn humchee and im always scared of ghosts and whatnot but today we (the guys) decided to be men an watch shutter, some thai horror movie.

well, it might come as a surprise but i enjoyed the show. i think its truly deserving of its title of horror movie of the year because shutter is not just a ghost story but a love story as well.

the gist of the movie is that one night, a photographer an his girlfriend hit a girl on the road. its a hit and run and soon after wierd things start happening and making visitations.

yea, pretty standard ghost stuff huh and i could even spot when the ghost was coming out and how it was gonna come out so the first few minutes were pretty boring cept that alex kept making me jump cos he was sitting besides me and he kept screaming and grabbing me whenever something creepy came up. as you all know, im very sensitive to the human touch cos my body interpretes it as an assault on my well being so i guess alex was the scariest in there.

what seperates shutter from the rest is how the story unravels after (spoiler alert!! but fuck it, you wanna know, dont you?)

soon, we learn that the photographers friends have been committing suicide by jumping off buildings and that the photographer actually knows the girl that they hit on the road.

we also learn that she's been dead for quite a while (after jumping off a hospital building) after he visits her house for answers. and also that she had a love thing going on with the photographer, whose name was so forgettable i cant recall it now.

well, apparently one night (when she was still alive), the photographers drunk friends came onto her and raped her and he was ordered to take her picture so she wouldnt blab. the pussy did it and so now we have a revenge thing going on.

well, this was actually the point that shutter both lost its horror and element of fear but also the point which elevated it above the rest of the generic the-ghost-is-bad-its-fucking-us-lets-fuck-it-back storyline. when you start to feel for the ghost, especially since the ghost is a pretty young lady(albeit with bad makeup), you start feeling a curious mix of fear and pity and a touch of anger at the loser as well.

so there i was, shaking with fear (literally) and having cold feet and a warm stomach but yet in my mind is wasnt scared, cos i felt the pain of the girl, especially in the scene where she cuts herself repeatedly and screams. shrill and high and neverending. it pierces your ears and you want to flinch and cover your ears but on the other hand you dont cos you have to hear her sorrow and watch her despair.

its almost untearable, each scene draws you in and you cant look away because really, to fully appreciate a horror movie you must look fear in the eye and watch it touch your soul.

two scenes which really struck me were the one at the opening where the photographers girlfriend jane goes into the darkroom to figure out what had rattled the doorknob so vigorously (cos she was looking for her bf at his flat)

the ghost appears from the sink and shes scared shitless and tries to open the doorknob, which suddenly becomes locked and shes rattling the doorknob like crazy.

this is similar to the rape scene, in which the ghost (name is Natre or something like that) tries to escape from the drunk bozo friends of the photographers but shes caught by them at the door when shes frantically trying to open the locked doorknob. it rattles too, with chilling horror as she is pulled back and pushed down onto the floor.

its this kind of clever analogical directing that again seperates shutter from the rest of the one dimensional films.

which brings to mind the question. is the fear of being in the same room as a vengeful ghost the same as the fear of being raped?

think about it for a moment, let your imagination run wild. youre in a darkroom. its redlight all around you and the dripping sound of water echoes in your ears. the sink is full and photographs are floating on the water surface. to your left is a heavy black curtain which hides....well, a few pieces of equipment i suppose and to your left is a table, messy with photographs. Negatives hang messily above your head and the light is blurry, as if seen from a camera lens tinted yellow.

youve just seen a shadow walking behind the door and the doorknob just rattled vigorously, like someone was desperately trying to get out. and for some reason you decided to investigate the noise, cos , well, youre curious arent you?

well, curiousity killed the cat cos when you draw back the curtains.....

nothing happens. you sense something is seriously wrong. this kind of thing only happens in the movies.the sink tap is running. the basin is overflowing and water trickles on the floor. drip drip drip.

you step forwards to turn off the tap. the room is small, claustrophobic. stifling, like you could choke on the air here. and just when you reach forwards to cut off the tap, something bubbles and you see strands of hair floating up. they coalese into the top of someones head and suddenly hands shoot out and grab the corners of the sink.

fuckfuckfuckfuck. youre rushing, spinning, you ram into the door. its just behind you; the door i mean. you grab the doorknob and you turn it. its locked and you cant fucking get out. you tug at it, you know...you dont know whats gonna happen to you cept that it involves blood and one pissed off ghost. you rattle it hard and it wunt budge.

you tug and twist and its not moving. youre not moving. you feel a hand slither up your shoulder....

ok, now for the rape. ok, look, im not gonna write the rape scene out cos it disgusts me. but imagine you were a girl and you were getting gang raped by 4 guys and one guy was your boyfriend and hes not gonna do anything about it except take your picture.

imagine the anger and hurt you would feel. imagine the fear as they grab you from behind and throw you to the floor and strangle you so you cant resist. imagine how after the act your bf breaks up with you and he doesnt give a shit when you cut your wrists with a butchers knife. and how all the pain inside cant seem to go away, even when you catch the edge of the butcher's knife and pull it. pull away your fears, pull away your sorrows baby. do it for me.

i guess its a different kind of fear, on different levels and you really do feel both in the cinema. the rape is a physical fear, it starts low in your gut and clenches your throat. you cant breathe and you squint and flinch and tighten up cos youre so damn scared.

the other one is a spiritual fear. this one, well, only a few ppl feel this kind of fear. its different. its icy cold and it shoots up your spine and spreads throughout your body. youre throat doesnt clench cos its not there anymore, is it? neither do you squint or flinch. you open your eyes wide and you take it all in. oh god oh godohgodohgod. sometimes you might even hear a low voice speaking if you dont try hard enough.

how....clever. that a director can aptly convey this to the audience. maybe not everyone saw it in the same light as i did but then again a movie is a very personal experience.

another moment that really struck me was the period of time when he was trying to find the ghost in his house by snapping pictures of his house so it would show up on the polaroids(poloroids?)

he snapped everywhere but it wouldnt show up. guess its not inside the house eh?

the scene switches back to one where he visits a clinic for a checkup after the accident (cos he hits the "girl" remember?) and has been having neck pain. we see that he weighs 120 kilos, astoundingly heavy for a slim man.

almost as if it was the weight of....

and then we see another scene where a young buddhist monk. a child; stares at him wide eyed and shocked.

hmm, it has been said that children and monks or spiritually advanced people can ......

and then the scene shifts back. hes standing in his room and hes holding his camera in his hand...

and the ghost is sitting on top of his shoulders.

wow. thats neat. i would never have thought of that.

what a burden on your soul eh?

the ghost scratches him and he flings himself out of thw window so he can die like the rest but he survives and becomes mentally withdrawn.

the ending scene is that of his ex-gf, jane (who left him when she found out the truth about the rape) visiting him in hospital.

she sees him through a windowed doorway and goes in. the door flips shut and swings with inertia and in the reflection...we see the man, bent double, and his vengeful lover sitting still on his shoulders.

it is a heavy burden to bear indeed. i think she didnt let him die cos that would be too easy, wouldnt it? hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. if ive taken any moral away from the movie this would be it.

but let us not detract from the masterpiece of horror storytelling that has been presented to us. to love and lose and hate and fear and so many other emotions.

you dont exactly feel pure fear in the movie but then again this is because it is laced with a myraid of other sensibilities and in the end, you feel...sad. because thats what it is. its a sad love story.

and once you understand this you understand why she had to come back. its about unrequited love, its about false promises, its about being left high and dry and stabbed in the back.

its like a spine of ice and a touch of cold air mixed with black dread and soft embers of fire.

i wont watch it again. cos its fucking scary and im humchee. but yes, catch it if you can, because some stories have to be told.

and yes, its a love story.