A
newlywed couple named Yul (Tim Chiou) and
Melissa (Amy Smart) are Americans and
spending their honeymoon in China where
they come across the exotic 'Hungry
Ghost' festival and finding out that
there is a deadly legend on these ghosts
coming out at night during the seventh
moon.
Suddenly night falls and they end up in a
remote village in which they find out
that the legend is real and are
terrorised by ghouls and try to find a
way to keep safe until daylight hours.
The film seemed to
be off to a good start with a married
couple having a good time and then
entering an almost dark and deserted area
which has a Blair Witch
type of feel to it leaving it very
impressive. But yet it falls flat as the
story just seems to have these two lead
character's speeding in their car as well
as running away from ghouls which doesn't
seem to have too much of a solid plot.
There's a good moment with
both Yul and Melissa driving along and trying to explore
an area where there's slaughtered animals
and creepy events which leaves a good
chill down your spine as to how they
both react and trying to run back to
their vehicle and their panicking
reactions too.
There's a good camera shot on the back
seat of the car with them arguing and
then suddenly a figure leaps past them
with a good shot on their car swerving
in a ditch which is a nice jumping
moment.
A good shot on Yul trying to push the car out of the ditch
with him really struggling to do so which
looked fairly energetic.
Of course alot of these ghouls almost
resembled the one's in The
Descent in which I think this
flick was supposed to be a US version of
that type. But of course they tried to
add different touches to all of what is
going on too.
A great moment on the three of
them banging on a door of a wooded shack
screaming and panicking when they try to
escape from the ghouls which was another
nicely energetic take.
There are alot of twisted moments with a
character acting like a victim being
rescued by the two lead character's but
then turning on them by attacking them.
Then later on this character is a mellow
type helping the woman out on saving her
husband which really doesn't make sense
at all.
There's many interesting quick camera
takes on Ping trying to attack
both of Yul and Melissa with some objects as well as
the two of them trying to defend
themselves which looked quite brutal even
if the camera takes were blurry alot of
the times. Of course I mentioned the
camera takes on everything was poorly
done.
There's a good scene with Yul and Melissa entering a mansion
full of candles and people and then the
two of them caressing one another.
Nice close up shots on the two of
them tied up back to back in a marsh and
then great close up shots on their faces
with ghoulish hands feeling their head
and faces and them showing great
frightened emotions on all of this.
Many good camera takes on Melissa walking through a cave in water with her
cell phone light trying to search her
husband along with good takes on ghouls
standing lifelessy around her with her
getting a bit scared and Ping reassuring her she's safe which seemed
peaceful like. There's a good shot on her
looking at Yul sobbing
thinking he's dead with a nice movement
on him trying to talk to her.
There's great quick shots on her running
away in the cave with ghouls chasing
after her with full energy on her running
away along with good shots on her running
out of the tunnel and looking around in
the daylight.
There is an impressive ending in the film
which seemed to look quite impressive and
leaving a door open for a sequel too like
most horror films do even if it's a good
ending for the last survivor.
Bottom line is the makers tried their
best to make this ghoulish type flick
original but it falls flat completely in
which the story is very pointless and not
making much sense as to why this is all
happening other than a moon arising with
evil things coming out at night and
terrorising an innocent married couple
near a deserted area of China. Personally
I think there's better types of flicks
than this one but it is saved from
bombing with an energetic performance.
The acting is a small cast
but it looks quite solid even if alot is
going on so I will do my best to conjure
up to see what I can do to review all of
this.
Tim Chiou (Yul) seemed to have shown alot
of good anxiety of all that is
surrounding him and always up for a
challenge with his character as the
husband Yul in the film and never letting
his part down no matter what. There's a
nice shocked reaction of him when he
spots a ghostly type figure. Even if he
was asian he showed a good American like
personality regardless.
Amy Smart (Melissa) brought out alot of good
aggressions to her role in the flick as
well as her frightening attitude too. She
also was very fit you could tell with all
the terror surrounding her and her
running away proves it as well as her
lung power too. She also did a good job
by getting emotional along with her
crying too.
Dennis Chan (Ping) does well as a victim to
these ghouls really acting lifeless at
first and then behaving freaky with his
violent attiude. He also does a great job
by acting mellow when he tries to help
these two out in which he seemed to come
across as a different person alltogether.
There's some slaughtered
animals
Ghouls hands cover two heads squeezing
and blood pours out
Composers Tony Cora and
Kent Sprang offers some good
jungle beat drum thumpings through many
moments of the film with these ghouls
chasing after the lead characters which
showed alot of great timing plus there's
alot of windy ghostly sounds too. Also
around the closing credits we hear some
nice peaceful soothing keyboard music. |
