By Adam Ruhl
Rigor Mortis opens in limited release this Friday June 6th.
It’s a Hong Kong horror film but I would be hard pressed to squeeze it into any
one category of the genre. Much like Cabin in the Woods, we are getting just
about every horror trope and monster shoved into one movie. I actually saw this
film from the first time almost a year ago at the 2013 Fantastic Fest, but I was
attending so many films that a few got over looked and Rigor Mortis was one of
them. Now that I have had another chance to see it I would like to
correct the oversight.
Siu-Ho Chin plays himself as an actor whose career and family
life has collapsed and he is forced to move into a tenement building in the
poor village he grew up in. His first act upon arriving is to try to hang
himself. In a sign of things to come, he is simultaneously possessed by an evil
spirit and his neighbor has to cut the rope/ exorcise the spirit (the spirit
reminds me of some of the effects of the Grudge movies and then I noticed the
director of the Grudge was the producer of this film).
The tenement is old and filthy, like a building from Seven,
and is filled with elderly people. At least the mortal tenants are elderly; the
immortal tenants include ghosts, demons, crazy people, and eventually, vampires
which form our primary antagonist. An elderly man falls down the stairs and
dies. His wife, not wanting to be without him, commences bringing him back as
the undead (side note: one of the interesting things I learned from Rigor
Mortis is that Glutinous Rice works the same as Garlic).
Overall it’s a good film, it feels a little scattered with
wildly disparate elements and stories going off in their own directions. They
don’t quite all tie back together but that’s okay because a lot of the fun is
wondering through this dark, dank apartment complex. The characters are rich
and their stories interesting. Much like Cabin, the film doesn't take itself
too seriously (the vampire hops) and I feel like I would understand more of the dark humor in it with
more cultural context. Some of the film is just outrightly dark and those are the
parts that in my opinion worked best.
Opening Friday, JUNE 6-
RIGOR MORTIS
Released by WELL GO USA
STARRING: Anthony Chan, Siu-Ho Chin, Kara Hui, Richard Ng, Hoi-Pang Lo, Hee Chang Paw
DIRECTED BY: Juno Mak
PRODUCED BY: Takashi Shimizu and Juno Mak
No comments:
Post a Comment