Yes, 6 out of 10. It's a ghost story told through photographs, with some jump scares.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
6 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Medium
You'll look twice at photos for a night or two, then forget about it.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: A good pick for a dark room, as long as unexplained white shadows in photos don't bother you.
Shutter runs ninety-six minutes. A photographer and his girlfriend leave the scene of a car accident, and soon his pictures start coming back with extra faces in them, which no lab technician has ever mentioned as a feature.
The premise, briefly
After a photographer and his girlfriend drive away from a car accident, white shadows and faces begin turning up in his photos, and his friends start to be disturbed too.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Tun falls out of a window after Natre covers his eyes. Later Jane visits him in the hospital, where he sits slumped over and seems unaware of her, and a reflection in the glass shows that Natre is still sitting on his shoulders.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, Tun throws his camera in a rage and it goes off by itself. The photo shows Natre sitting on his shoulders, and then she covers his eyes and he falls out of a window.
The dog
No dog dies in Shutter.
It is a ghost story built on photographs and jump scares, and it is easier to sit through once you know what the photos show.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
Photographs with extra attendees
After a party, Jane and her photographer boyfriend, Tun, hit a woman with their car. Jane is driving. Tun stops her from getting out, and they leave the woman lying on the road. Soon Tun spots odd white shadows and faces in his photos, and Jane suspects the girl they hit has come back as a ghost. Tun has had severe neck pain since the accident, and a specialist tells him he weighs double his normal weight. He refuses to believe he is being haunted, even as his friends are unsettled by something too.
Jane learns that the woman was Natre, a shy young woman who went to the same college as Tun. Tun admits that he and Natre had a secret relationship, and that she threatened to kill herself when he ended it. Then Tun watches his friend Tonn take his own life, and finds out that two other close friends from college have done the same. He decides that Natre's ghost is making them do it and that he is next. Tun and Jane go to see Natre's mother and find Natre's decaying body in her bedroom. Natre had taken her own life, and her mother could not bring herself to have her cremated. They persuade her to hold a proper funeral. Jane hopes that things will return to normal afterward. At a hotel that night, Tun is confronted by Natre's ghost, and he falls from a fire escape and is hurt.
What was behind the bookcase
Back in Bangkok, Jane collects some developed photographs. One roll shows a series of pictures of Natre crawling toward the bookcase in Tun's apartment. Jane looks behind the bookcase and finds a set of negatives, and when she develops them she sees Tun's dead friends assaulting Natre. She is disgusted, and she is convinced that Natre was trying to warn her. Jane confronts Tun, and he admits he watched it happen, did nothing to stop his friends and took the photos himself. He says he did it under peer pressure, and he has never forgiven himself. Jane leaves him.
Smile for the camera
Tun knows Natre is still haunting him, so he photographs every room in the house and sees nothing in the pictures. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes near the end. He throws the camera in a rage, and it goes off and takes a photo of him. The photo shows Natre sitting on his shoulders, which explains his neck pain and his doubled weight. She covers his eyes, he loses his balance and falls out of the window. Some time afterward Jane visits Tun in the hospital, and he is slumped over and seems unaware of her. In the reflection on the glass, Natre is still sitting on his shoulders.
The ending, explained
Tun photographs every room of his house and finds nothing, then throws the camera in anger. It goes off by itself, and the photo shows Natre sitting on his shoulders, which is why his neck has hurt and his weight has doubled. She covers his eyes and he falls out of the window. Jane has already left him after learning what he did. Sometime afterward, she visits him in the hospital, where he sits slumped over and does not seem to know she is there. A reflection in the glass shows Natre still on his shoulders.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Shutter scary?
Shutter is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. There are jump scares, and the fear comes from ghostly faces in photographs and a haunting that gets sadder as the backstory comes out.
How does Shutter end?
Natre's ghost covers Tun's eyes and he falls out of a window. Jane later visits him in the hospital, where a reflection shows Natre still sitting on his shoulders.
Does the dog die in Shutter?
No dog dies in Shutter.
Is there a post-credits scene in Shutter?
Nobody has confirmed whether Shutter has a scene after the credits.
Why does Tun's neck hurt in Shutter?
Natre's ghost has been sitting on his shoulders since the accident. That also explains why his weight is double what it should be, and a photo taken by his thrown camera shows her there.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Shutter is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
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