Hong Kong Ghost Stories – Review

Directors Wong Jing and Patrick Kong are working together for the first time to bring a ghost horror Hong Kong movie. The 2-part horror stories starts with the spooky and unexplained incidents in a school and the second story is about the ghostly encounter of a group of friend on vacation. Admittedly, our horror section of the site has been a bit slow to review films, but it isn’t intentionally our fault. It’s true, there hasn’t been a horror movie from Hong Kong in some time! It stars Jennifer Tse (Nicolas Tse’s sister making her acting debut) as Miss Yip, who saw some of her students going for compensated dates. Her offers to help them were met with threats and acts of defiance from her students. Things are not what they seemed and it’s twist galore with this segment.

So, is the film particular good? Well, yes and no. If it’s any consolation to make this film trip worthwhile, it’ll be Jennifer Tse starring in her very first role in a Hong Kong film, and from what’s been seen so far, she has a promising career ahead of her. The major flow is the direction, as the directors sloppiness shouldn’t be a surprise to those who have followed Wong Jing’s numerous works through the years- but this may just be his worst. I don’t want to give details on the plots of any of them because I think that viewers need to experience them for themselves with no preconceptions going in.

These directors use powerful cinematic storytelling elements in exploring their genres. This is not an ordinary horror film with a ghost or a slasher/killer with a knife but a combination of people who are capable of psychotic behavior. While all of the films are not perfect and contain some mildly dull aspects, watching both films will leave you intrigued with the art and approach of the horror genre utilized in various countries Asia. Comparing these two segments, Patrick Kong’s Classroom was much more entertaining to sit through. However, Classroom and Travel are as scary as Hong Kong comedic horror goes.

Quite frankly, I am just glad that horror is starting to trickle in as it has been a slow period for films in general. Each story has very different qualities and gave the viewer something to enjoy. Not American style, scream queen, psychobabble laden horror films. More intellectual and artistic as the characters are made to look good rather than deviant. Shorts were you can turn off the subtitles and still understand the plot are hard to come by, but these fit the bill. I wish I could speak the languages of the films because the English translation detracted from the emotional content and context. If you like slasher movies and jump out of your seat scary, pass on these. Otherwise, strap in, and enjoy!