A recent poll conducted by CNN revealed that one third of the people believed in ghosts, and that many of those claim they’ve seen one. At the same time, interest in spirit photography – events in which images of the dead are caught on film – has never been higher. The phenomenon is as old as photography itself, dating back to the 1860s. Spirit photography has been riddled with controversy and fraud, yet many believe it to be one of the few methods of capturing ghostly phenomenon that approaches scientific methodology. Magazines devoted to spirit photography proliferate throughout Asia, and new internet sites devoted to the subject spring up every day. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art recently hosted an exhibit devoted to spirit photography, called “The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult.” This intriguing and foreboding subject is a key element of the psychological thriller “Shutter”, from executive producers of “The Grudge” and “The Ring.” In “Shutter”, a newly married couple discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. Fearing the manifestations may be connected, they investigate, only to learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved – and that a past mistake can lead to an eternity of vengeance.
For photographer Ben (Joshua Jackson) and his new wife Jane (Rachael Taylor), his new assignment – a lucrative fashion shoot in Tokyo – was supposed to be a kind of working honeymoon. With this exotic professional opportunity and the limitless possibilities of a new marriage, Ben and Jane arrive in Japan. But as they make their way on a mountain road leading to Mt. Fuji, their new life together comes to, literally, a crashing halt. Their car smashes into a woman standing in the middle of the road, who has materialized out of nowhere. Upon regaining consciousness after the accident, Ben and Jane cannot find any trace of the girl Jane believes she hit with the car. Shaken by the accident and by the girl’s disappearance, Ben and Jane arrive in Tokyo, where Ben begins his glamorous assignment. Having worked in Japan before and fluent in the language, Ben is comfortable there, and he eagerly reunites with old friends and colleagues. Jane, a newcomer to the city, feels very much like a stranger in a strange land as she makes tentative, unsettling forays through the city.
Ben, meanwhile, has discovered mysterious white blurs – eerily evocative of a human form – that have materialized on an entire day’s work from the expensive photo shoot. Jane’s concerns escalate as she believes the blurs in Ben’s photos are the dead girl from the road, who is now seeking vengeance for them leaving her to die..
“Shutter” stars Pacey of “Dawson’s Creek,” Joshua Jackson.
