Chung oi

In Hong Kong, the successful designer Ming (Shawn Yue) lives with his beloved girlfriend Wai Luk (Stephy Tang) and her younger sister that loves comic books of ghost stories. When Wai is diagnosed of cancer in the pancreas by her doctor, the life of Ming turns upside-down, and he sacrifices his career to spend more time with Wai. He finds a new job in a lower position and out of the blue he finds that his boss Chu Fong (Yung-yung Yue) was his friend in the elementary school. When Wai gives- up of the chemotherapy and decides to treat herself in accordance with the traditional Chinese medicine guided by her aunt, she has a weird behavior at home, and her frightened sister insists that she is a ghost. Meanwhile, Ming gets closer to Fong, who is a successful entrepreneur but a woman needy of love, and during a travel to Peking, they have one night stand. During the next days, Ming and Fong have a love affair and Ming believes that Wai is a spirit resolving her issues to move to the next level.

"Chung Oi" is another great movie of Danny Pang, one of my favorite directors of Asian horror movies together with his brother Oxide Pang. This creepy story is actually a dramatic and tragic romance, developed in a slow pace; and as usual in Asian horror movies, the story has a plot point in the very end, offering a surprising conclusion to most of the average viewers like me. The title in English – "In Love with the Dead" – is simply perfect and does not misguide the viewer. Last but not the least, the acting is top-notch and Shawn Yue and Yung-yung Yue are very gorgeous women. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Paixão Sobrenatural" ("Supernatural Passion")

I picked this movie up because the cover and synopsis suggest a scary movie and I have great respect for Asian horror films. Having seen it I have to say that this is only horror in the sense that it is horrible to be dying of cancer and it must also be horrible to be in love with somebody who is dying of cancer. The movie brings this across reasonably well. There were a number of scenes that made me feel for the characters, especially once the acting got better after the first third or so - as if actors had to settle into their roles (except for the little sister who is just awful all the way through). The central theme seems to be the love and responsibility the main character feels for his ill girlfriend on one side and on the other side the temptation to go after somebody else and get away from it all. This may be a bit generic but could make for a legitimate drama about a relationship triangle. But then, once in a while, the movie chucks an eerie scene or a cheap jump scare at you as if to make sure everyone is still awake. Sadly, these do not go anywhere and after each one the movie just goes back to being a relationship drama as if nothing had happened. The ending then comes as something fairly predictable. So I suppose what I was missing is a consistent theme or indeed any kind of story arch. After reading the English and Portuguese titles here, the Chinese one ("Cuo Ai": "Wrong Love") still captures best what the film is about. Most posters and the foreign titles, however, feature some sort of eerie imagery, a tone which is not reflected in the actual film. This left me pretty disappointed because it feels like false advertising. Finally, I was very surprised to find out this was directed by Danny Pang who brought us The Eye (the excellent Chinese movie, of course). Unfortunately, this movie doesn't even come close.

While a bit too late for Halloween and by no means a spectacular movie, this latest Danny Pang product, leading up to The Eye's transformation into a Hollywood remake, is by no means a bad release, and has its fair share of little triumphs.

For starters, the handful of thespians on show here all perform well, especially leads Shawn Yue and Stephy Tang. Yue does a marvelous job, even further cementing himself as Hong Kong's strongest male actor. Tang is also good, surprisingly creepy in a film that succeeds in throwing at least one major curveball, namely where the basic premise takes us.

Sure, the Pang connection is a dead giveaway, but still, many viewers will think they're looking at a romantic tragedy when it starts. The setup is there and the horror doesn't get going till a much later point in the story. And it's a basically good premise: Tang plays Wai, a young woman diagnosed with cancer. Her life partner Ming (Shawn Yue), who loves her and her little kid sister more than anything, goes the distance and gladly sacrifices his career as a designer so he could spend more time with them.

This invariably leads to his dismissal and search for a new gig, which in turn becomes an opportunity to hook up with old childhood friend Chu Fong Ting, now a fully developed and decidedly gorgeous executive. That's when things go awry and the film takes that inevitable turn towards grossout land. Be warned, one scene in particular will have you skipping a few meals, and kudos to Stephy for agreeing to do the repulsive honors. ' In fact, this one is probably the scariest, most disturbing release from the Pang collective. That still doesn't mean it's terribly frightening, but effective use of darkness and light adds volumes to proceedings, as does the superb soundtrack, once again contributed by Pang's usual Thai collaborators.

So we have good acting from everyone involved (even the brief hello from Patrick Tam works well), potent atmosphere, a few genuine moments to take home with you, and effective movie magic.

What we don't have is a solid punchline. Unlike the deceptive opening portions, you could see the ending coming from miles away, and one has to conclude the writers and director really didn't mind or even intended for this to be the case. As a consequence, forget about any Sixth Sense-esquire revelations.

But in the context of horror releases from HK, In Love with the Dead not only features one of the more original and intriguing titles, it's also more heartfelt and intelligent than the rather mediocre average, and as such definitely warrants perusal.