As everyone knows, Shutter is the humongous 2004 horror hit that made first-time Thai filmmakers Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom incredibly famous overnight. Hollywood instantly wanted to remake it, and hired Japanese horror director Masayuki Ochiai (Infection) to helm it.

Hiring a cheaper Japanese director seems to be a horror trend in Hollywood, after Takashi Shimizu helmed Hollywood's The Grudge and The Grudge 2, and Hideo Nakata directed the American The Ring Two. Both films found modest commercial success. But the question remains whether these cross-cultural collaborations work creatively.

In the new version of Shutter, Joshua Jackson (Dawson's Creek) and Rachael Taylor play a newly-married couple who run down a woman as they are driving to their honeymoon hotel. Soon after, Joshua starts to see blurry entities in the photographs he takes. Rachael is convinced that it is the spirit of the woman they ran over, but Joshua has other suspicions...

Shot in the US and Japan, Shutter is not a good remake. Director Masayuki Ochiai is clearly comfortable with the horror sequences which are sometimes done well. But when people are having conversations — conversations which accentuate characters or explain what the hell is going on — Masayuki seems to lose interest. The lapses in logic and loopholes in the plot can't be forgiven either.

Recommended for diehard horror fans only.