JP/18/thai

JP/18/thai

'Shutter' delivers solid screen scare

Kenny Santana Contributor/Jakarta qnoy2k@yahoo.com

A good horror flick is difficult to find these days. Cheap scares (Panggil Namaku 3x, anyone?), B-class scream queens (Bangsal 13, perhaps?) and no gore (12 a.m. comes to mind) are everyday fare on the horror menu.

But the arrival of Thai film Shutter to local cinemas should bring the real deal to audiences looking for a good scare.

A top-notch script wonderful performances, scary images and genuine thrills are all for the digesting.

Since its release in 2004, the story of spirits found in photographs took the world by surprise. It was the highest grossing film at the Thai box office last year, and is soon going to be remade in -- where else -- Hollywood.

When they first spoke to The Jakarta Post almost three years ago during the Bangkok International Film Festival, the film's directors, Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, were still short filmmakers whose acclaimed short films were shown in several international film festivals, including the Jakarta International Film Festival 2003. Beside short films, they also made commercials and wrote film criticism.

Their background in the film industry finally led them to make their first feature, Shutter.

In an email interview, Banjong Pisanthanakun, nicknamed Tong, 26, said, "We didn't intend to make a horror film at first. We'd been trying to develop several scripts. But while we were doing some research, we came across a book about Thai political riots in the past. And what we found in that book inspired us a lot about ghost photos.

"Actually, there's no ghost in that book but the image of soldiers in uniforms reminded us about the ghost photos in forwarded emails that we got from many friends. That's how we got the idea of Shutter."

Tong admitted it was not easy to make another horror film in Asia, which has a booming industry for horror movies, from Nang Nak to The Eye to The Ring to Pon.

"The biggest problem is there're horror films coming up in the theater every week. That's why it's so hard to make a horror film which still has fresh ideas to make people want to see ... And this is probably the main reason why the writing process took a long time," he said.

Tong and Aoe (Parkpoom Wongpoom) spent an entire year writing, rewriting, editing and revising the screenplay.

"We wanted our structure to be strong by itself, not to depend on the horror scenes. We think that a good horror film must have a solid story too, other than just good horror scenes," Tong explained. "All we knew was just that we had to make a great film. And it has to be different from the others in some points. For Shutter, I think the idea of a ghost in photos is simple for everyone (to understand) not only for Thai people."

Citing The Shining, The Sixth Sense, The Others, Kairo, The Ring and Alfred Hitchcock films as his favorite horrors, Tong is clearly in favor of great writing.

"The stories of The Sixth Sense and The Others are so inventive and the direction is fantastic. That's why I like them," said Tong.

The core of these films had taught the Shutter directors the recipe for making a good horror movie.

Tong said that one must have a solid story line, creative ghost scenes and moments that get close to the audience, such as ghost photos or a ghost chasing a speeding car.

And that's exactly what Shutter has. So it was a no-brainer that the film gained commercial success by raking in an estimated 110 million baht (US$27 million) at the Thai box office, followed by success in other countries.

"The success of Shutter in Thailand and the international market was so unexpected. We just wanted to make a good film. At first, we only hoped we could get 50 million baht from the Thai box office," said Tong.

Besides its box office value, its critics approved the film as well. The Hollywood film industry trade publication, Variety, wrote: "The combination of bad karma and bad-boy behavior develops into a gripping supernatural thriller in Shutter, a taut, inventive ghost story from Thailand that shows the local industry at its best."

A Canadian film website, Ioncinema touted Shutter as "Thai horror in its grandest tradition".

With the film's success, rights to remake the film was bought by Fox-based Regency Enterprises at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Roy Lee, the producer of The Ring and The Grudge remakes, purchased the rights to the film for $1 million. Since then, the rumor is that Keanu Reeves will star in the Hollywood version as the leading character, Tun.

Tong waved away the rumor, that no details were available about cast and crew as yet.

Still, one can have his Hollywood dream: Tong wants Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson to play the leads.

Whether Bloom and Johansson will star or not is no matter of concern. What matters the most for the Thai directors is if the Hollywood remake will still have the original's strengths.

"I just hope the remake will have a believable story and characters," Tong said.

And while might take a few more years for the Hollywood version, local audiences need not wait for any remake -- they should be pleased with the terrific original one.

At the very least, they'll be scared.

Shutter is now showing in local cinemas. In Thai with Bahasa Indonesia subtitles.