Fourteen Days from Suicide
Great title. Not such a great horror movie. Though
taking into account the complete lack of budget, it could have been a lot
worse. Most of the film takes place in a few rooms that they barely bother
to furnish. Special effects consist of a few moving chairs, slamming doors
and green lights. Of course if you have a great script, a large budget
and special effects are not really needed. There is a kernel of a good
idea here, but it never quite comes to fruition. Still I prefer a horror
film like this that depends on atmospherics rather than a lot of slicing
and splattering.
A woman wakes up from a frightening nightmare
in which her husband waves casually at her and then leaps off a rooftop
to his death. The husband, Simon Lui, is an elevator maintenance man in
a building that seems to have its share of bad karma. He meets a woman
in the elevator and then meets her again a few minutes later when she ends
up on the sidewalk next to him – from a death leap.
Suicide seems to be contagious and soon the building
has its share of ghosts inhabiting the place. Shermin Yiu starts a new
job working for Christine Ng. Call me crazy, but after seeing chairs move
by themselves and then a ghost in the bathroom, I would be looking for
a new place of employment. I don't like ghosts in the bathroom - that crosses
the line of good etiquette. It doesn't bother Shermin though who explains
that she really needs this job. I guess so – because she stays even after
finding a finger in the soup. This is the basic weakness of this film –
and many horror films – people don’t act very wisely. If you see a ghost
– run like hell – don’t look back - don't turn back – is a credo that I
live by !
Another thread has Pinky Cheung as a jealous fiancée
who is slowly going insane and seeing ghosts and images of her boyfriend
having a “monkey affair” with Shermin. Her best friend Almen Wong tells
her to see a doctor. They run into a fortuneteller on the street who tells
Pinky to get prepared for her funeral. Cheerful words to live by – or die
by.
The main reason – if there is one – to perhaps
see this film is the number of young actresses that populate it. Pinky
Cheung is quite good, Shermin may have potential and the wife is also not
too bad. Almen Wong’s part is fairly small – and I continue to be disappointed
that she has not shown up in any good action roles since Her Name is Cat.
Ryan's Box Office report mentions that Fourteen
Days before Suicide is the first movie produced by a new film company S.W.A.T.,
which is going to produce 13 movies according to their press conference.