Monday, October 20, 2014

Rigor Mortis (2104)

I love Chinese hopping vampire movies.  It's such a different concept to Western horror movies depictions of vampires and zombies.  The whole thing fascinates me, and I love the traditional garb they wear and the silly way they hop with their arms outstretched.

This movie describes itself as a "...martial-arts-infused chilling homage to classic Chinese vampires movies...."  So I was pretty damn excited to hear about it. The trailer looked totally crazy and was action packed and super creepy.  So imagine my disappointment when the movie was not anything like the trailer.

Chin Sui-Ho, a down on his luck formerly successful actor, moves into a rundown tenement building.  His apartment has known tragedy before and on the first night he attempts to hang himself and ghostly spirits attempt to possess his body.

Sui-Ho is rescued by a Priest who lives nearby and fights off the spirits. The Priest seeks out Sui-Ho as he eats in the downstairs restaurant and relates stories about some of the other apartment dwellers.   Sui-Ho tentatively interacts with some of the people, and feels protective of a young mother and son who are alone.

But there are supernatural happenings in the building, and when one of the tenants dies, another performs a ceremony that will bring him back from the dead - which is all that tenement needs since it's not such a great place to being with.

It's too bad the trailer portrayed it as a movie with hopping zombie action and more action in general. I probably would have enjoyed it if I hadn't believed it was something totally different from what it turned out to be.  It's visually well done, and the story is intriguing, but my expectations were for something totally different and ultimately I was left disappointed. It is a much bleaker movie than the trailer would have you believe.  Of note is that many of the actors appeared in the Mr. Vampire films.

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