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The Heirloom

Original Title:- Zhaibian

Country - Taiwan

Year of Production - 2005

Run Time - 97 minutes

Genre - Drama/Horror

Rating - R

Director - Leste Chen

Written by - Dorian Li

Starring:-

Terri Kwan - Yo
Jason Chang - James
Yu-chen Chang - Yi-Chen
Tender Huang - Ah-Tseng
Yi-Ching Lu

Synopsis

Twenty years ago, an inexplicable mass suicide occurred in the millionaire Yang household, where the entire clan hanged to their deaths at the exact same hour, place, and height. Only one member survived. To this day, the case remains unsolved.

Review

I hadn't heard of this film previously, nor the name Leste Chan but something at my frontal lobe was tugging telling me there was something overtly familiar about this release. Of course as with most Asian horror there are going to be similarities, Japanese horror at least is mostly based on folk tales- stories passed down from generation to generation with beliefs dotted through the various Asian films [I really must find out about folk tales and their meanings] So with that in mind each director must give us some new take on things, something to make his film more remarkable from the next. Miike, Tsukamoto and even the Pang brothers all have a certain something they bring to cinema. Leste Chen for me did not.

The introduction to the film tells us how dead baby foetuses can be kept in jars as 'child ghosts' and fed blood [as a sacrifice] to bring prosperity as the blood used ensures the giver [master] can control the child ghost. Remnants from other films are dotted throughout and reminded me of far better Asian horror [which did not help poor Leste Chen's cause] Water - Dark water/Ring [book] , girl crawling on floor unable to walk with long dark hair - Ring, small boy walking up stairs confused - Ju-on the grudge ... the list goes on.

The film follows James [explained as he lived in England] and Architect, yo [his girlfriend], Yi and her boyfriend [whose name escapes me] as James inherits a musty old house where his family died and for which he makes no mention of their ghoulish past.

Things start to go awry and after Yi and her fella visit the house and 'the attic' where we see pictures of various people pinned and Yo starts to get creeped out, it is also here I would like to mention that the overcompensation of musical 'effects' begin. I know how music is used in horror to induce tension and atmosphere and in some cases this works well [if imho it is kept subtle] however, this was actually laughable. The musical outburst built up immediatley and then stopped way before a moment that *could* have made us jump. This isn't the first time music is used inadequatley although it did bring to mind cheesy hollywood horror.

Yi's boyfriend soon dies in a mysterious 'hanging' and Yi is soon found randomly in James and Yo's home - with no explanation.

Here are where I noted a few inconsistancies [what? I can't help it!] and inconsitsancies went through the film. Who the hell remembers the time of their last memory? A scene where Yo is seeinig Yi out of her home and James runs up behind them and asks 'have you been past the study?' 'no' they say. Then James runs ahead of them [the way they were going] so how could they have walked past it? Oh and the greatest quote ever, your friends are dying [it seems one by one] your house is obviously creeped out and haunted and Yo wants to move what does James say? " Ah it's ok it's happening to other people not us". Nice one James!

Yi then finds some newspaper clippings telling us what really happened in James' family history and Yo visits his Aunt in an asylum. Now follows the best part of the film so far. The tale told by the Aunt has some of that subtle music I was talking about and the story infact is actually quite a good idea. If only the earlier part had been told better. There was one flaw in the tale however that I found:

*********spoiler*********************************************

We are told James' mother let her blood and used her power to summon the ghost child to kill each one of the family by hanging. So why was Yi's boyfriend killed?

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And also followed was Yo's parting message which I saw coming about 15 mins into the film as obvious as that was. And without giving too much away the ending was also a jip but followed in true horror fashion allowing for a sequel. >

I would rate this 2/5 and it's not the worst Asian horror I have seen and although the music was dire and the characters lacking something, the acting wasn't appalling, the cinematography [although not pang brothers was nice enough] and gave that gothic horror feel to it. The Plot? Well, the idea was there but the execution lacked a certain something. There was no horror to it [or am I really that jaded now?] and no sense of impending doom or even a moment when I almost jumped.

Looking at the cover, I had to chuckle when I read that this is *supposedly* going to be the eeriest asian film you'll see and Chan is set to be the next big Asian director, if he is, then he certainly needs to put some work into things.

2 out of 5

Review by Oishii-san (UK)

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