MovieChat Forums > Shutter (2004) Discussion > Am I the only person to really not like ...

Am I the only person to really not like this movie?


I absolutely adore Asian horror, especially ones about ghosts; so after reading many, many rave reviews calling it 'the scariest film ever,' I expected to love it. Perhaps I had just set myself up for disappointment, because I didn't enjoy it at all.

In fact, I thought it was quite mediocre and cliché, devoid of any very creative scares whatsoever. I just can't understand why so many people seem to love it. There was little atmosphere (which is essential for creepy ghost stories), and while the acting was pretty good, the plot twists weren't all too original. The best part of the whole film, in my opinion, was the last 10 minutes. Does anyone else feel this way?

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You may have gone in with too high of expectations.

I watched the film last night with no knowledge what so ever as to what the movie was even about and I found it very enjoyable with impressive acting skill and an intriguing story line.

Maybe if I had been expecting "the scariest film ever' I would have been disappointed but I can promise you that my 11 year old son who watched it with us (I'll admit, probably not the best decision but, as I said, I had no real idea what the movie was about) found is unbelievably scary and spent most of the movie with his hands over his face.

Would you say you really didn't like the film at all, or was it that you were disappointed in how it was given what you were expecting?

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There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who get binary and those who don't.

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I'm curious, it being 4 years later now-- how traumatized is your kid?

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Given that you replied to my post 4 years after I initially posted it, I felt that I was obligated to reply even though I hadn't noticed that you had made the post 18 months ago.

I doubt my now 18 year old son even remembers this film. He's always been a touch squeamish at heart (a fact he tries to hide adamantly now that girls and dating have entered the scene), but he still loves a great spooky story even though they give him the "creeps." OR, perhaps its because they give him the "creeps."

Over the years I've tried to only deny him watching shows when I was certain they were "too strong" for him and I've come into conflict with friends and family over being permissive about him watching shows that they felt were over the edge.

I've simply nodded and grinned while thinking silently to myself, "Mind your own business!" I've also taken the time to explain that to him as well because I want him to understand that people will often go out of their way to explain to you just have bad a parent they think you are.

As of today I've managed to raise a normal, well adjusted, intelligent and compassionate male even with a steady stream of Japanese horror, Hollywood explosions and Loony Toon cartoons without the violence edited out like they were when I was a child in the late 70's. Its almost as if that has NOTHING to do with the way their minds develop.

He is doing quite well now...and thank you for asking.


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There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who get binary and those who don't.

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How about now, seeing that another 18 months has passed? 😉

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Your hopes were up too high to ever meet. Different things scare different people. I would say that this is one of my top films overall.
It made me scream more than once in my living room, I freaked out my dog. It's hard to get me to scream at a horror film, but this made me jump.

Now, I don't notice any plot holes, which is a major plus. The acting was good, and their dialogue was believable. The pacing was fabulous. The lighting and cinematography brought you right into the room with the characters. I don't agree about the atmosphere being absent, I thought it was engaging. The long black haired girl ghost is not anything new, but there is a reason why she always works... she scares the crap out of many people.

The ghost was really scary looking, every time they showed her, I felt like I couldn't breathe. It was like when I was 6 years old, and I would watch House On Haunted Hill(B&W one) and the old woman scared the beejezus out of me. She still does to be honest.
Ghost stories are what scares me. I love horror films, a day without one is a crappy day in my eyes. I think this one is a prize horror piece.


If you are Anti-American: Admit you are doing it just to be cool. Does it feel good to hate?

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If you've watched the American remake of this film, you'll get a new respect for it... I mean granted there are better "Asian Horror" movies out there, but the American Remake is such garbage, it makes this film look like gold.

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I was disappointed because the film seemed so americanised. Very cliched and ultimately boring (I fell asleep).

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When you say Americanized, what do you mean?

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I agree with Capricornian. It wasn't particularly original or scary. And I, too, love Asian horror.

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I, too, watched this film with great anticipation, having read lots of rave reviews, only to find it quite disappointing. The acting and production values were good, but the story itself was pretty mundane. It's not a bad movie by any means, but I can't imagine including it in a list of favorite horror films.

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I agree that the last 10 minutes were the best.

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I also didn't find it to be terribly original or interesting, in fact I found a lot of it rather silly (and I do like ghost stories and Asian horror movies in general).

I also found the scary scenes repetitive - just jump scares with a loud musical sting over and over again (and then the ghost just disappears).

It's great that so many find it scary, but it just didn't work for me.

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I'm so glad I didn't think I was going to see the scariest movie ever, what a bummer that must've been. My expectations of it were low, and the fact that I jumped twice, made me quite happy with that in itself since I rarely jump these days. Other than those jumps however, it was quite boring. I don't think it has much replay value since that would mean reading all the subtitles again and I can't be bothered to do that for this movie.

The remake was worse so no luck there.

I rated the remake a 6 out of 10 and this one a 7 out of 10.

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