Troublesome Night 6
I found the sixth entry in this horror series
to be a surprisingly taut little gem of a film that creates a spooky atmosphere
and never veers away from it. Surprising, in that the previous Troublesome
Night films were first of all anthologies (which this one is not) that
consisted of three unconnected stories and also because they could be quite
inconsistent. Like many HK horror films, the stories often resort to inappropriate
humor to lighten things up, but this often results in destroying both the
mood and pacing of the film.
Not this one though as it moves along at a
rapid pace and never stops for comic relief or a pointless romance. A terrifically
eerie score, a tight script and an involving story along with a no nonsense
performance from Louis Koo creates a tense mood throughout. The viewer
never is quite sure where the story is taking them until the very end –
and even then a question lingers in the air.
A writer and photographer from a gossip magazine
are going after another scurrilous story and they open an elevator to go
upstairs. A woman in red is hanging inside. To get a better picture of
her face they go inside to move her hair aside and suddenly the hanging
figure reaches out for them. When the police force open the door later
– the woman in red is gone, the writer is hanging from the ceiling with
an umbrella stuck through him and the photographer is quivering in the
corner – clearly having gone insane.
Louis Koo and Simon Loui are the investigative
team and they soon come to the conclusion that something very strange is
going on. Is the killer the ghost of a woman that died from a fall four
years ago? If so, why is she after these people from the magazine? Another
employee, Amanda Lee, is frightened for her life as well but won’t tell
them why.
Koo though also realizes that something that happened
to him one-night four years ago may have something to do with this case
– but he was hit by a car and can’t recall what occurred. Slowly, it appears
as if he may be going insane – as he begins having delusions about waking
up in strange places, seeing corpses in a bed and a woman (Gigi Lai) in
red. Or are they delusions?
The viewer knows no more than Koo does as he struggles
to follow the case and keep his sanity. What happened four years ago? I
won’t go so far as to say this is a scary - look under your bed afterwards
– film, but it will keep you guessing and has a definite edge to it. A
thoroughly enjoyable film of this kind.
My rating for this film: 7.5