Three Strikes
‘Tales from the Occult’ is short on scares, short on the occult, but switched on to Hong Kong’s truly horrific property scene.
Tales from the Occult
Directors: Wesley Hoi, Fruit Chan, Fung Chi-chiang • Writers: Wesley Hoi, Stanley Wong, Ling Wai-chung, Ho Siu-hong, Fung Chi-chiang
Starring: Cherry Ngan, Ng Wing-sze, Peter Chan, Sofiee Ng, Jerry Lamb, Cecilia So, Kelvin Kwan, Richie Jen, Chung Suet-ying
Hong Kong • 1hr 41mins
Opens Hong Kong September 15 • IIB
Grade: C
Let’s get one thing straight here. “Occult” refers to that which is magical, astrological, or anything based on supernatural powers. Sure, it can generally refer to anything mysterious, but as a rule, if it’s necromancy or black magic or palm reading it’s occult. Ghosts, weaselly real estate advisors and high property prices are not part of the occult. In that light you can understand why the title of the new horror (and I use that term lightly) anthology Tales from the Occult | 失衡凶間 is misleading. Not only is the trilogy of shorts collected here thin on the horror part of the equation, there’s only one sorcerer/sorceress in the mix, and zero in the way of dark arts. Instead, we get a sad imitation of what Hong Kong horror used to be like (admittedly there are a few good chuckles) and an urge to pull out old DVDs of Visible Secret or Dumplings or Mr Vampire.
Tales from the Occult brings together two veterans and a novice for its shorts: first time writer-director Wesley Hoi Ip-sang, horror vet Fruit Chan Goh (the aforementioned Dumplings) and emerging filmmaker Fung Chih-chiang’s (A Witness Out of the Blue) for mixed – at best – results. Semantics aside, Tales is a polished enough entertainment with a strong cast of A listers and character players, but is toothless in the worst way. For decades, horror – most speculative fare, really – has been the go-to genre for pithy commentary and satire about the world in its moment: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Lord of the Rings, The Host, It Follows, The Handmaid’s Tale (that book is sci-fi. Fight me!). Pang Ho-cheung’s Dream Home and Chan’s own Coffin Homes have already gone over a lot of Tales’ ground. Why are we here?
Not what it looks like
We start with Hoi’s unfortunately titled “The Chink”, in which budding pop star Yoyi Koo (Cherry Ngan Cheuk-ling) is compelled to deal with a lingering trauma from middle school, when she found a dead body crammed into a tiny crevice between two buildings (the titular chink). Her singing career is being derailed by the gruesome memory, and she gets no comfort at all from either her deadbeat boyfriend Alan (Kelvin Kwan Cho-yiu) or her uncle and therapist (!) Ronald (Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui). Part two, as helmed by Chan, is better. In “Dead Mall” Jerry Lamb Hiu-fung plays social media finance influencer Wilson Yeung, livestreaming from a shopping plaza reopened after a deadly fire. He’s expounding on the can’t miss investment potential, while another influencer, the host of Wonder Quest (Cecilia So Lai-shan) is investigating the ghosts that supposedly haunt the mall. There’s a third livestream happening, by a security guard (Yeung Wai-leun) that’s trying to get justice for himself and a bunch of other investors Wilson bilked years before. Wrapping things up is arguably the best entry, Fung’s “The Tenement”, which follows the last five residents of a tong lau as they try and figure out what’s with the water spirit in the stairwell. But it’s mostly about mystery author Ginny (Sofiee Ng Hoi-yan), her neighbour Lucky (Peter Chan Charm-man), the local sorceress (Baby Bo Pui-yu) and the rangy Uncle Lang (Paul Che Biu-law) harassing retired gangster Frank (Richie Jen Hsien-chi) to do the dirty work and get rid of it, real or not. It can’t be there. It will impact their selling price.
…bloody malls
Inappropriate counselling is a horror
One thing that can be said for Tales from the Occult is that they’re in the right order. After a flimsy start, each entry gets better, if never getting really good. Getting “The Chink” (I just cannot handle that) out of the way early at least allows us to instantly relegate it to the dumpster. Ngan, who was so charming in her breakout, The Way We Dance, is wasted as a dumb girl taking bad advice from everyone. The segment flashes to life briefly when Hoi flirts with taking a sapphic route, but it’s too little too late. When a suicide attempt is hilarious, you’ve done something wrong. Chan manages to shoehorn in some of his signature snark (the “crowds” in Wilson’s livestream is clever) and a touch of gore but the fact that it took four people – Chan, Stanley Wong, Ling Wai-chung and Ho Siu-hong – to say so little is disheartening. Fung and co-writer Hoi most successfully capture the 1980s peak horror vibe in “Tenement”, playing on concepts of truth, perception and, most of all, self-preservation, wrapping it in atmospheric light and shadow, greys and dark corners. Fung and DOP Ming Wong make the most of the distinctive old building and inject the action with a touch of absurd humour here and there and finish with the most watchable entry. Jen, surprisingly, has the best one-liners. We all get it. Everyone’s nervous about putting a foot wrong, saying the wrong thing, shooting the wrong image. But if this is the future of Hong Kong horror, the future is bleak. — DEK