Double Vision - Fünf Höllen bis zur Unsterblichkeit

I am not a devotee of Hong Kong or Asian movies. What initially attracted my attention to Double Vision was the presence of David Morse. Over the years he seems to have had a knack for showing up in interesting, if offbeat, films. This movie is no exception to that pattern. The acting of the leads is good to above average. I don't want to duplicate the comments expressed so well by others. Let me just say that I concur with the general opinion that the film goes offtrack in the third act. Up to that point it relied on the characters of the leads and exposition on Taoism. After that point it veered off into supernatural confusion. However, all in all, worth the viewing.

Double Vision is definitely one of the best Asian horror films I've seen in the last few years, and definitely the best out of China/Taiwan.

A dark film with a good storyline (though yes, the last part of the film is a bit hazy), and excellent characters and actors. A real unexpected pearl, far better than what I had expected from promotional material when it was first released.

A very refreshing change to the usual Korean/Japanese/Thai ghost films, it is genuinely frightening without being deliberately gratuitous.

The temple scene mid-way through the film remains my favourite scene, so fast and well done that you're left utterly shocked by the time its over.

For a good dark supernatural horror film, or for something completely different to the increasingly done to death Asian ghost/horror film with long black haired ghosts, see this one.

Here's one of these films that must of gone unnoticed in it's two week running. This would have to be one of the most overlooked films of 2002. We have two great male leads for starters who play good off each other. Taiwanese cop, Leung (always impressive) becomes obsessed with this case involving bizarre instances and deaths, if stylish, some in graphic detail that all lead to some fungus which has made it's way into the brain of the victims. Morse, strong here again in these roles, plays a FBI serial killer profiler, who teams up with Leung where he almost becomes more concerned with the destruction of Leung's family, than this mind wracking case. It involved a standoff that went horribly wrong, involving a family member, from which Leung's little daughter has gone mute. It's good too that we have the family angle, and more lighter, happier moments with Leung's family and Morse, who puts him in place, regarding his lovely wife, child. This film will cause you to use your noggen, even more so towards it's bleak end. Double Vision has some very violent scenes, I warn you, one involving a priest being disemboweled, as a few quite graphic be headings in a temple. This violence quite caught me by surprise. This is a supernatural violent, and imaginative thriller of a higher order, and damn well engrossing. If you're a supernatural horror freak or not, as not ever hearing of this one, hunt it down. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

DOUBLE VISION is a weird little serial killer film from Taiwan with some surrealistic touches and some memorably gruesome set-pieces. The clear influence here is SEVEN, which comes as no surprise during this era, although I was also more than reminded of THE X-FILES as DOUBLE VISION has the same kind of spirit of investigation as it charts the two cops going after a serial killer who employs a very unusual method.

This is a slick, glossy production which works well and keeps you watching just because the plot elements are so unusual and bizarre. It's not the type of film that you'd describe as a classic and it's not really one that sticks in the mind either, but it works well enough and keeps you watching throughout. Tony Leung is expectedly good as the lead but the real stand-out is imported American star David Morse, one of the most underrated character actors working today, and of course he's excellent here.

This film had an engaging premise. A murderer is shooting pellets laced with a mite-bearing, extremely hallucinogenic mold into air conditioners of intended victims. The victims then destroy themselves in a manner orchestrated by their killer.

Now here is the disappointing part... The film could not decided if it was going to remain a mystery or a supernatural thriller. Unfortunately, by the time the credits rolled, I really didn't care.

There are several different sub-plots traveling straight together in the first half of the film. Tony Leung Ka Fai plays a cop failing to cope with the attempted murder of his daughter and the suicide of a corrupt fellow officer he helped bring to justice. His daughter won't speak and his neglected wife is seeking a divorce. Amid the murders, Leung Ka Fai learns that a FBI agent specializing in behavioral science and assigned to work with him, has been summoned by his superiors for show. One of his fellow detectives alludes to this and that the government might have a malevolent purpose behind this. The investigation points towards supernatural forces, and we are led into a temple where we witness a murder take place in the midst of what appears to be a Taiwanese Satanic ceremony.

All this flies straight together, but then each veers off in a separate direction, and in order to make sense and keep up with the story line, the viewer needs "double vision."