Day 15: Shutter (2004)

Day 15 of Calloween Movie Month

Content warnings: suicide, self-harm, domestic abuse, sexual assault, blackmail

Recommended?: Yes

Spoilers and discussion of many of the above topics below. You have been warned

Good for her.



Shutter follows a photographer, Thun, and his girlfriend, Jane as they discover strange figures in their photos after fleeing the scene of an accident they caused. As things unfold, Jane finds out there's a lot she didn't know about Thun, and Thun finds out he can't outrun his past forever.

Shutter is insanely effective at scaring it's audience. See, scares are a bit like jokes, not only does everyone have a different taste in them, but they follow a formula that's effective in bringing out your emotional reaction before you can hold it back. Set up, punchline. A reliance on tension, and the element of surprise. A well crafted joke is always funny, and a good scare will always get the adrenaline pumping. Another similarity is that playing with that formula, if done right, can bring it to new heights not thought possible. Shutter does both.

It's got a great grasp on the fundamentals. Creating tension, making jumpscares work as scares without being lame or tedious, causing paranoia, feeding on the viewer's fearful guesses and expectations over anything. That set up-punchline formula works great here. Mounting tension followed by a hammer to your heart and a confirmation of your worst suspicions. But it also plays with your perception and ability to empathize with it's protagonist.

At first he seems like a fairly average, decent guy. A good friend and a gentle lover, talented with photography and dedicated to his craft. A lot of the horror in the first half is derived from how insanely malicious the spirit haunting him is. Everything from locking doors and breaking mirrors to, in one of the best scares, leading Thun's best friend to suicide.

But then more is revealed about what's actually going on and the type of guy Thun really is under his warm exterior.

It's already pretty bad at first. You find out his relationship with his highschool girlfriend and the evident vengeful spirit, Natre. She was quiet and mousy, but kind. She never had much luck making friends, so Thun "took pity" on her and decided to ask her out. He hid their relationship, making it obvious he was embarrassed by her. Even going so far as to join in on his friends laughing at and teasing her. She hits a breaking point, saying she's hurt and suicidal and telling him she's started cutting herself (which Thun views as a threat.) He ignores her and tells his friends about her and what she's been doing, so his friends tell him they'll handle it. He claims he doesn't know what happened to her, that she just wound up dead one day.

But it gets even worse.

See, his friends way of "handling" her suicidality and "threats", was to hold her down and violently sexually assault her. Thun walked in after the damage had been done, and Natre begs him for help and comfort. His friend tells him to take a photo so they can blackmail her into keeping her mouth shut about their crimes. And so he does. He takes pictures upon pictures, sealing her fate. She commits suicide shortly after, and none of them ever show an ounce of remorse.

Knowing everything now, your sympathies have (hopefully) shifted. Now you aren't on the side of the unlucky lead, but of the ghost. She never hurts anyone who doesn't deserve it. Yes, she interacts with Jane, but never in a hostile way. She only seeks to warn her so she doesn't turn out like her. And Jane, when Natre leads her to the photo evidence of who Thun actually is, leaves.

Now, the film asks you to side with her. To enjoy his torture, to understand he deserves consequences, but also to sit and wonder if you feel she is just in how far she goes, and what it says about you if you think she is or isn't. It asks you uncomfortable questions, still managing to stay horrifying through out because of this. But if you ask me?

Shutter is a morality tale more than anything. It's less that Thun is dwelling on his past or that he's trapped in it, but more that his past is clinging to him. Beckoning him, calling him, grabbing him by the ankles and dragging him back into it. He can't hide from his mistakes or his transgressions to Natre. Even if he burns every snapshot and piece of evidence, she is sitting on his shoulders. Bearing down on his body and soul. And it's everything he fucking deserves.