 |
Heirloom, The |
|
|
  |
| Use the darkbrown scrollbar to the right to scroll down for the review. |
James has
just inherited a huge house on the
country side and while his realtor recommends
that he sells it, he still decides that it's
a good idea to move into it with his girlfriend,
Yo. It doesn't take long before strange things
start occurring around the house and Yo is anxious
to find out the history about it, but she has
no idea what she has gotten herself into.
Hong Kong may have produced quite a few horror
movies but just like with Thailand, most of
them are far from enjoyable. To my pleasant
surprise I found The Heirloom to be one of the
better ones with a quite original story even if
it does feel familiar, and a slow pace which
the movie actually benefits from.
The story revolves around a couple who have just
moved into an old house and just like all houses,
it's got a history - and a very dark one as well.
Apparently, there was a mass suicide there many
years ago with only one survivor and so our
heroine, Yo, decides to uncover the truth about
the house. The movie is incredibly slow-paced
and quite uninteresting for the first 40 minutes
or so but as soon as Yo steps into the asylum
where the sole survivor of the mass suicide is
staying, things take a vital turn for the better.
It's nice to see that not all Asian directors
are trying to make a fast-paced horror movie
these days because The Heirloom ended up in
benefiting from the first 40 minutes being slow
since that really gave us a chance to connect
with the characters. Of course, since it's shot
in Hong Kong, it doesn't look as high budget as
it probably should with some poor lighting and
weird colours, but you can't expect much more.
At least the acting was great.
The Heirloom does have its fair share of problems
though, the biggest one being that there are
absolutely no scares in it at all. Luckily, there
is a lot of suspense in the movie to make up for
it but it just isn't the same without any scares
at all. In the end I'm happy that someone tried
to make something original over there, which is
why this movie deserves some extra credit, so
do give this one a chance even if you're starting
to get sick of Asian ghosts flicks.
Two bloody severed hands is all we get here.
The powerful score is brilliant and sets a great,
creepy atmosphere for the movie and the piano music
works nicely together with the slick strings.
It's nice to see that they are still trying to
make original ghost stories in Asia and this
director really put a lot of effort into it.
The ride feels familiar but the story is new
and the twists are refreshing. Check it out if
you've still got hope for Asian ghost flicks left.
Review By: AnthroFred
 |
 |
 |
 |