Goo chak

Okay, first a word of warning and a confession - the warning: If you're rather literal minded and analytical, you might not like this movie. I would say this movie focuses more on emotional aspects than rational ones. The confession: I read some of the other reviews here before posting mine, and I saw points in both the good and bad reviews.

The people who didn't like this seemed to have problems with questions left unanswered, things that didn't seem to make sense, and the mixture of an emotional drama with a ghost story, wanting it to be one or the other.

For those trying to figure out how the ghost can be this or that person, let's just say it was a demon impersonating all of them. Or something. The scares were still effective enough for me to be satisfying, and I can make up my own reasons for the apparitions with a little creativity. I can see why people had a problem with this, though. It is a little confusing if you linger on it.

Thankfully, for me at least, the story moved along and kept me engaged. The pacing was good. The scary parts were scary, and the emotional parts were emotional, and this movie did both better than a lot of movies I've seen lately. And yeah, it made me cry. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that's this effective at horror AND drama, so I definitely recommend giving it a try.

This film feels reminiscent of a fan-made project, lacking the polish of a professional production. The CGI was notably low quality, which detracted from the overall effect, though it wasn't entirely unexpected given the budget constraints.

The makeup was particularly flawed, with the wigs standing out as particularly unconvincing and distracting. The production set appeared to be thrown together with minimal investment, lacking the detail and craftsmanship that would elevate the viewing experience.

The casting choices were disappointing; aside from the actress portraying the mother, whose performance had some redeeming qualities, the rest of the cast was largely unfamiliar to me and delivered lackluster performances that failed to engage the audience.

While the musical score had its moments of effectiveness, it was overshadowed by a storyline that was shockingly poor. There were no explanations provided for the events unfolding on screen, leaving viewers feeling lost and frustrated.

Overall, I cannot recommend this film due to its numerous shortcomings.

With my fondness for the Asian cinema and Hong Kong cinema in particular, of course I jumped at the chance to get to sit down and watch "The Lingering". As if there ever was any doubt.

What directors Ho Pong Mak and Derrick Tao thought made an effective horror movie, was apparently using loud and sudden noises constantly. But 90% of the times there was nothing following these loud sudden scare sounds, which meant that it became a nuisance to bear witness to, and it didn't work in favor of the movie.

I don't know what kind of stale tea writers Edmond Wong and Dong Zheng were drinking while writing the storyline, because the storyline and plot was just ludicrous. Towards the end of the movie, when it was revealed what was actually going on, nothing up to that point made any sense - the strange happenings, the apparitions, and so forth. It was all just a random mess of nonsense.

They had an adequate cast ensemble to perform in the movie, just a shame that they had next to nothing to work with in terms of script, storyline and plot.

There was nothing scary about "The Lingering", aside from the fact that it all felt like it was just made up as directors Ho Pong Mak and Derrick Tao went along.

If you enjoy Hong Kong horror movies, then there are far, far better choices readily available, and I can't really think of a single reason of recommending this movie.

This movie has so many loopholes that I shook my head in pity for the director's work. Below par. It did not make sense for residents to continue staying in a haunted house, without the question of the ghosts/spirits unsolved.

And it tried to pull a last minute trick to be a tear-jerker. Seriously? What did the movie tried to be? A ghost film or a sad movie?

Acting and camera work was good. Story however is full of holes.