Cô Hâu Gái

The unusual setting of 1950s Indochina under French colonial rule provides Derek Nguyen's horror-romance hybrid with an element of interest that just about prevents it from being written off as yet another generic genre film. Kate Nhung is very sympathetic as Linh, a young peasant girl who wins a job as housemaid to a French captain on a rubber plantation, but her growing relationship with the young captain, and subsequent conflict with other staff members doesn't provide enough impetus. The horror elements are incredibly weak, both in terms of plot development and scares.

With elements of master-servant romantic relationships in both the Korean film of the same name and Vietnam's superior "Scent of Green Papaya," like those movies, this solid movie does much with very little. What seems like a simple haunting with romantic overtones turns into an epic tale underpinning a much larger morality tale of retribution for colonial injustice. While too slow for many Westerners, this movie makes the most of what it has, never overplaying but keeping viewers guessing. Don't get too comfortable or bored because the whole thing wraps up in a tight, illuminating ending that resonates after the credits. You'll be glad you stay until the end. But be warned: if you were looking for easy romance or obvious horror, you're likely to be disappointed. There's much more to "The Housemaid" than kisses and scares.

Simple. Unlike this movies third act - This movie sets up alot of things right, spooky house, black veil ghost, older setting, all done well. However, the plot gets lost along the way somewhere towards the last 20 minutes. When everything is supposed to either be ambiguous or tied off in a neat ribbon, it completely drops the ball.

As a Vietnamese myself I never care about the film industry in Vietnam cause they often produce way too many awful movie so to see a movie especially my favorite genre horror from my homeland get the attention from the West is awesome but at the same time I'm not biased at all when review The Housemaid cause it still a genetic Asian horror movie with the usual twitching dark woman.It not scary and the mellow drama not helping anything but I will give props to the director for trying the best he can to deliver a enjoyable horror movie without the bad taste joke or over the top acting I usually see in a Vietnam movie

I thought the pacing was perfect and I liked the blending of the horror done by man that leads to just though heartbreaking justice. The ending was effective and well-done. I will watch this one again.