I think that a new rule has to be passed. Some kind of rule that restricts America from leeching on to overseas cinema in order to juice tons dollars from teenagers that need only see a misty setting or a dead person to get scared, because if the makers of Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie can make them laugh, then bring on the spooky ghosts moaning their “ooOOOhhs” and Halloween skeletons that can clearly make truckloads of money off of the same idiots. In this case, it’s Shutter that has been violated by the American writers. By the way, I’m not kidding when I say that the American Shutter had those generic Halloween decorations. I wish I was kidding.

The first Shutter plays out like a campfire ghost story, and that’s for the good. It’s a wonderfully chilling, underrated piece of work that works more as a shocker than when it builds up suspense. It has some of the creepiest visuals I recall in a horror movie, ones that make you lose sleep because you were too busy cowering under the covers in fear. You are taking part in another man’s nightmare, watching helplessly as he gets tormented by one of the creepiest villains in Asian horror history, much like Samara from Ringu, but more intrusive on your sense of security.

One of the most spookiest parts of Shutter is the scene where our main couple is looking at a collection of supposedly real ghost photographs. Instead of exploiting the parts of the photograph that are out of place, they let the audience figure out what’s wrong with them. It’s chilling, and enjoyable to point out where the supposed “ghost” is. It’s like the entire time, Shutter is playing with the audience, letting them join in on the fun.

So, now I have to talk about how spectacularly suck the other one is.

It’s an unwritten rule that if there is a good movie made in Japan, it must immediately converted to a craptastic super turd in America. We have all the great scares that the original had, but Americanized! The ghost isn’t scary, it’s lame, stupid, horribly written, and what the hell happened to the creepy photographs? They suck now! The “ghosts” are pretty much the equivalent of lens flares. OOH! I’m hiding under my seat now, because those were mighty expensive cameras that could be BROKEN! Oh, wait, that’s a ghost? Here, I think it’s appropriate to show you what this movie is, because a picture is worth a thousand words, words that express more hatred than any word in existence.

That is the equivalent to the experience you will have watching this thing. I just saved you 85 minutes and 5 dollars to rent the thing. All the integrity has been abandoned and dumbed down to the level of left-shoe-on-right-foot stupidity.