Fans of lightweight, effervescent films beware. Any movie that begins with a seasick guy upchucking, and ends with a guy getting a lobotomy, may not be your cup of bubble tea.

Such a film is "Shutter.Island" the latest cinematic "psychological thriller" offering from the duo of director Martin Scorcese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo star as a couple of unlucky 1950s era U.S. marshals,Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, who wind up getting shipped off to Boston's Shutter Island, a maximum security mental health facility, where a dangerous female inmate, a triple child murderer, has escaped.

The creep factor begins to set in almost immediately, right after the seasick Teddy staggers back onto the deck of the ferry that is shuttling Chuck and him to Shutter Island. Through the mist of an impending monster storm appears the grim visage of Shutter Island, a creepy, bleak, rocky, wave- battered place best decribed as Alcatraz on steroids. At this point, the booming soundtrack sends forth an ominous "danger approaching" roar reminiscent to that from Jaws, so much that you expect to see Roy Scheider sailing by, chumming for sharks.

As the two marshals depart the boat, they are met by a huge contingent of sinister, paranoid, creepy prison guards who are armed to the teeth. The creepy prison guards then escort the marshals past some creepy inmates, then into a creepy building to meet the creepy, sinister but genial chief psychiatrist, played by Ben Kingsley. Teddy then has the first of way too many (psychiatrist induced?) creepy, gruesome flashbacks and hallucinations involving either the horrors of his WWII exploits at a Nazi concentration camp, his young, pretty, creepy, dead wife (Michelle Willams) or various creepy, dead children. Much more creepiness ensues, and Teddy absorbs most of it, alternating between flashbacks, hallucinations, well-founded paranoia and reality.

Scorsese seems to be paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock and "Psycho" in a number of sequences, including the use of dark, ornate buildings and interiors, and a chair scene featuring a psychiatrist played by Max Von Sydow, that is a dead ringer (pun intended) for that unforgettable "Mummified

Mother Bates" shocker. Unfortunately, where Hitchcock spoon-fed creepiness to his audiences, Scorsese uses a shovel, and by the time that the Psycho-like, predictable and exceptionally gruesome ending comes, you may be worn out from gratuitous creepiness overload.

Shutter Island features fine acting from DiCaprio in a multi- faceted, complex role, a nuanced, low-key performance from Mark Ruffalo, and predictably stellar, sinister performances from Ben Kingsley and Max Von Sydow.

Despite the over-the top screen play by Laeta Kalogridis and the excesses of Scorsese and all those gruesome flashbacks, Shutter Island deserves a peek.

"Shutter Island" (three out of five Suns)

Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow and Michelle Williams

Director: Martin Scorsese

Rating: R (gratuitous creepiness, violence, dead kids and bad language)

Where: Alameda Theatre And Cineplex

Length: 138 minutes