After their initial meeting, Anthony seems intrigued by Betty and wants to spend a bit more time with her to see if she will be right for the part. He seems weird, a bit controlling and absolutely camera-obsessed, but when he offers Betty the lead role and it pays $40,000, she can hardly say no. As it turns out, they'll be filming over the next 3-4 weeks on a secluded island in Maine at his family's vacation house and Anthony likens the project to Cape Fear, which Betty has never seen previously. Even though the details of the film are scarce and Anthony is keeping it that way, Betty is excited since she is enamored with Anthony and she'll be starring opposite Mads Byrne, the handsome lead from Reverence. Despite the fact that she has been floundering since her father's suicide, the tide just might be turning for Betty, so she jumps in with both feet.
The ride out to the Marino estate is long, bumpy, cramped and odd and everyone is piled into Anthony's junky van and after several hours, the group picks up Mads from the train station near to the lake house. Once they arrive at the small town where they will ferry to the island in a rickety garbage scow, Anthony tells Betty she must now assume the role of Lola, her character in the film, starting now with her interactions with any locals.
Once the group arrives at the island, Betty realizes just how isolated they are as no one else is on the island and with the fog and darkness rolling in, she feels truly cut off. Anthony then confiscates everyone's cell phones and they are expected to be in character all the time, as tiny cameras are located all over the house and surrounding areas. Before she knows it, Anthony has pulled her away from the group and starts cutting and dying her hair into a short and shockingly platinum blonde hairdo, all while she is topless. It's just one more way that he is exerting control over her, but it gives her a frisson of excitement.
A knock at the door turns out to be the caretaker of the home, Sammy, a hulking and brooding man who clearly holds disdain for Anthony Marino. Anthony expects "Lola" to interact with Sammy and draw him out of his shell, even flirt with him. While a bit odd and uncomfortable, Betty complies, but it is clear there is an ugly undercurrent between Sammy and Anthony. Anthony obviously wants to elicit something in Sammy and capture it on film, but Betty fears the consequences of playing with this man's emotions. In Anthony's eyes, it should be "anything for the film" and he expects everyone to play their parts, but since all Betty has heard from the start is "trust me" from Anthony and she still has no idea what the film is about, it's getting harder to trust him.
Anthony is definitely the puppet master here, but to what end? When a nasty storm rolls in and the phone at the house goes down, anything could happen. And it does.
While I enjoyed Shutter, I have to admit that I didn't like the characters of Anthony or Betty. Anthony was really controlling and Betty seemed gullible and a bit stupid to let someone treat her that way. Yes, she was processing her father's suicide and her relationship with her mother was more than contentious, but still. She just seemed a little bit pathetic to me. While the book does come to an interesting end, I didn't find the characters relatable, personally, but at least I enjoyed the ride, so that's a good thing. It was described to me as a slow burn creeper and I'd have to agree with that.
