Shutter review

It’s not just the hero’s photographs that risk overexposure in this 2004 Thai chiller, a derivative stalk’n’slash that sees the inevitable vengeful ghost (with long black hair, natch) hound a young snapper and his girlfriend through the former’s negatives. For all its similarities to other J-horrors, though, Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom’s classy spookfest boasts an intelligence and coherence that have long been considered surplus to requirements by its flashier Asian cousins. For one thing, the malevolent ghoul stalking the couple has a genuine grievance that lends real tragic heft to her backstory. And if some of the shocks come off feeling as dated as last summer’s Polaroids, it’s a small price to play for a picture that manages to be scary and unsettling without resorting to cheap thrills and gore.