Cham bin hung leng

Initially I hadn't even heard about this 2002 Hong Kong horror movie before now in 2020, when I was given the chance to sit down and watch it. And given my fascination with the Asian cinema, of course I needed no persuasion to do so.

I didn't know what to expect from "Sleeping with the Dead" (aka "Cham bin hung leng"), aside from it being a ghost horror movie. But when I saw that the movie had Jordan Chan in the lead, I must say that things looked brighter.

The storyline in "Sleeping with the Dead", while being sort of generic and archetypical, actually turned out to be rather enjoyable and entertaining. Especially because director Wai-Man Cheng managed to keep the story shrouded in enough darkness to make it not overly predictable.

The movie does boast some nice actors and actresses, aside from Jordan Chan, with the likes of Simon Lui, Kelly Lin and Elena Kong on the cast list. And anyone with a healthy interest in the Hong Kong cinema should be more or less familiar with these performers.

I enjoyed "Sleeping with the Dead", although the title was an odd one for the movie.

My rating for this 2002 horror movie from director Wai-Man Cheng actually settles on a six out of ten stars. While it is not the best of moments in Hong Kong cinema, it is definitely a movie well worth sitting down to watch if you have the time and chance.

Sleeping with the Dead, a nearly ten-year-old ghost story from Hong Kong, manages a few scenes to entice the viewer. But, unfortunately, there is never much of a pay-off. We see the life a doctor who becomes involved in the investigation of a series of grisly murders. Despite his job and the rash of killings, he seems detached, focused mostly on his relationship with his wife. That relationship seems to be falling apart, but the doctor has no problem attracting other women (which is odd since he's so moody), he sleeps with them but they're certainly not dead. Ghosts appear from time to time and our doctor seems to be able to see them. Ultimately the story goes nowhere. We get an explanation for the killings, and for the doctors detachment, but it falls sort of flat. Watch if you have insomnia.

If anything, SLEEPING WITH THE DEAD is mostly the victim of familiarity aka over saturation. With a host of Hong Kong films involving dead people and people with the ability to see said dead people, SLEEPING just comes across as being more of the same. Jordan Chan gives a mature performance, but it's not enough to save a film that, simply put, is being put out in a market already filled with similar films boasting similar themes and, on most occasions, starring people who are in the same films with the same premises!

Kelly Lin gives a good performance, but like Chan's turn, she's in a hapless film. There's nothing here that hasn't been done, and worst, 2002 is already bloated with films with similar themes. Maybe in another year, SLEEPING WITH THE DEAD might have been better. But alas, it's just another victim of a trend that refuses to die. (Har har.)

4 out of 10.