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Two Vietnamese
horror movies released as a double-bill.
Ngoi Nha Bi An (Haunted Manor) revolves around a
film crew who have decided to shoot a horror film
in a notorious ghost house. Suoi Oan Hon (Ghost
Stream) tells the tale of a family who lives by a
river and is tormented by an evil spirit.
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea,
Japan, China, Hong Kong, Cambodia, yes pretty much
every Asian country has been producing lots of
horror movies over the last couple of years but one
country that's been quiet is Vietnam. Why? Well
apparently the Vietnamese government isn't very fond
of horror films or movies with a supernatural theme,
understandably I might add considering what that
country has been through. Anyway, last year South
Korea teamed up with Vietnam to make the horror
flop "Muoi" but the movie didn't feel very Vietnamese
at all. What few people know is that right before
Muoi was released in Vietnamese cinemas, this local
double-feature was released and became a surprise
hit. Did it deserve it? Not at all but it's nice to
see that they're on their way up.
This horror double feature kind of feels like a
pre-Shutter Thai horror flick - you know, like
Buppha Ratree or Nang Nak when Thai horror movies
looked cheap and had very campy ghosts in them.
Now, I doubt that Vietnamese film industry will get
to blossom as quickly as Thai cinema did but it's
moving in the right direction and this double feature
certainly isn't as awful as one would expect - though
I am going to be extremely nice to this movie since
I understand what restrictions the movie makers
must have had and also taking into consideration
that Vietnamese film industry is still in such early
stages. Anyway, let's begin with our review.
The first movie is called Ngoi Nha Bi An which roughly
translates into Haunted Manor. Right from the get-go
I knew this was going to be quite awful as it starts
out with a group of thugs seeking shelter in a
creepy house (or as I'd like to call it, a really
cheap set). The acting is just awful and when the
actors stand up and dance to some Vietnamese rock
music while shouting "Yeah, woh" you can't help but
to be embarrassed and cover your eyes with one hand
in shame. Anyway, one of the thugs falls to her death
when a ghost appears in a window and scares her. Now
we move onto the main story in which a film crew has
decided to shoot a horror film in the notorious
house. Naturally strange things start to happen on
the set and it doesn't take long before the ghost
appears and starts spreading terror.
You know, it's a genuinely awful movie, it really is,
but it's easy to tell that everyone involved in this
movie was 110% dedicated and they've really tried
to make a good movie here and considering that it
is one of their first attempts at making a horror
movie, it's really not as awful as it could've been.
The main actress does a decent job and the make-up
is okay. It looks better than the regular indie
DTV horror flick as well but the positives stop there.
Then we get to the second story, Suoi Oan Hon, roughly
translated into Spirit of the Stream or Ghost Stream.
Now this one has a better foundation with a more
solid script and a few scares that actually almost
work. This time we get to follow a family whose
still in mourning after losing a valuable family
member some time ago when he drowned in the stream
next to the house. Things take a turn for the worse
when certain family members start seeing ghosts
around the house, but what could it mean? And what
could the spirit want? Ghost Stream is a perfect
example of how to make a supernatural flick when the
government doesn't want you to because it's easy
to explain why it's not supernatural (they have very
strong rules against this) - and also, it makes a
pretty amusing end twist - if a bit far-fetched.
You know, heading into this double feature I expected
something really awful but I actually think that
there's some hope for Vietnamese horror film industry.
See, the quality may still be the same as in
Cambodia but the Khmer film industry is getting
worse by the hour while Vietnam is on the rise and
is building new cinemas every year. Who knows, maybe
in a couple of years Vietnam will be the country to
follow when it comes to horror - but they're not
quite there yet and I wouldn't recommend hunting
this ghost story down either.
No.
Stock music, been used to death.
Better than expected but still pretty awful Vietnamese
double feature with two uneven and generic horror
stories that fail to both scare and entertain. Still,
seeing as how it's from such a poor country, I was
mildly impressed by the quality of the film.
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