Director: Joe Chien
Year: 2017
Country: China
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
A hundred years after the mysterious events at the house, a cultural relic restorer arrives at the scene to investigate the strange claims and becomes ensconced in the same supernatural phenomenon that plagued the first residents and tries to uncover the events of the past to save himself.
Review:
For the most part, this is quite the fun sequel. Much like the original, the film works it's best when delving deep into the supernatural which is quite prominent throughout here. The advent of curses allows for the vomiting of worms and maggots other such creatures just by being near the building is quite nice, while the flashcut images of skeleton faces or falling limbs grazing characters here provide a solid backdrop to the rest of the material at play. Once inside the sprawling Gothic-styled manner, the opulence and overall design of the house allows for the supernatural setups to feel quite at home. Set amid the endless corridors, elaborate designs of the rooms and the various decorations within, scenes featuring the sudden appearance of blood spilling from book pages, light-bulbs crashing and exploding or insect swarms to suddenly appear and chase them around the house make sense.
The manner in which this drives a more psychologically-charged storyline that drives her to madness the more she's around the house adds a rather strong secondary aspect to the creepiness of the film. By tackling the issue of her guilt over the loss of her daughter and then adding on the scenes of the ghost daughter running through the house, this triggers many of the supernatural tie-ins later in the film from the few dreams she has trying to reach the ghost before the house crumbles around her, having the children's toys trigger various other confrontations between the two of them or even cause her to believe in the affair storyline really brings about a pretty creepy storyline. Most of this is due to the incredibly strong acting of Mei Ting as Ha Fei, who plays the role of the woman slowly losing her sanity as the events unfold quite well. Garnering audience sympathy as she undergoes these strange situations that emerge, her portrayal of a previously mild-mannered woman forced into outcome is quite enjoyable overall.
As well as Ting's great performance, the rest of the cast here is rather enjoyable. Julian Cheung as her husband Song Teng initially seems like the lead character with his fine turn in the first half as the scientist looking for answers only to get swallowed up the overwhelming showcase that Ting brings out. Willing to stick by her side and stay with her, he comes off as the stoic and unfeeling husband without really doing much to get the audience away from siding with him. By never going down the road of being a jerk, he just comes off as the clueless yet still loyal partner which is nicely appreciated. As the assistant Lao Yin, Gillian Chung is a rather intriguing character where she’s thrust into the adulterer role through the house’ influence rather than how she reacts and is incredibly enjoyable to watch in the opposite role than expected. Also graced with Vivian Wu and Joan Chen among it’s stellar cast, there’s a lot to like in this aspect of the film.
There isn’t much in the way of flaws present, but they are pretty prominent. The main issue to contend with is the storyline that’s far busier than it needs to be. The film works best dealing with the connection between them being in the house and how the events of the past are influencing their actions which could’ve made for an intriguing storyline going back-and-forth in time. However, adding in the storyline about the perceived adultery and the potential employee trying to steal her away don’t really need to be included in the film. Rather, they cause the film to drag the pace down to such a degree that it feels stagnant and dull for long stretches detailing all these potential segments. As well, they also cause the storyline involving the devious sorcerer to feel underdeveloped and misses out on the potential for some creepy imagery showing how he goes about his craft that is missing in the finished product that could’ve added more creepiness to the film. It ends up lowering this one enough to keep it down.
Overview: ***/5
In the end, this one emerges as a fine follow-up that entertains enough to be worth a look for those that enjoy these kinds of slow-burn ghost stories. Highly recommended to fans of the original or the curious about it’s positives aspects, while those that aren’t as interested here should heed caution until tackling the original.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
Comments
Post a Comment