Director(s) – Ho Pong Mak and Derrick Tao
Starring – Bob Yin-Pok Cheung (House of Spirits, When Heaven Burns), Kai-Chung Cheung (Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight, Keeper of Darkness), and Athena Chu (Supercop 2, The Legend of the Condor Heroes)
Release – 2018
Rating – 1/5
This has been the most entertaining October I’ve had in a long ass time. I’ve been binging horror movies and I made a rule that most of the films I watch this month be first time watches. I’ve seen some great anthologies, a couple slashers, some horror comedies, and even a found footage flick but I have yet to see a genuine supernatural film.
A few weeks ago I was sent a press release from Well Go U.S. for the 2018 Hong Kong horror film The Lingering. After watching a few great horror anthologies I decided it was time to toss this one in. I know my tastes in foreign horror is different but this was one I just couldn’t get into.
**Spoiler Alert**The film begins with a mother and her son as they wait for her husband to arrive but he never does. Her son has been seeing something strange around the home in his absence and often tells her that he is playing hide and seek with uncle but he has no uncle. After sometime she visits his place of work and discovers that his poor decision cost him life along with the rest of his crew. we move forward and the boy is now a man with a very successful restaurant. He gets a call that his mom is missing and he refuses to show sympathy but later receives a call that she has died. He goes to identify the body and is given an offer by a real estate agent to buy her property. While searching the home for the deed he starts to encounter the same strange happenings he once did during his childhood.**Spoiler Alert**
I wanted to like this one. I really enjoyed the artwork for this one but I cant find anything enjoyable about this one. The movie was a huge time waster and extremely difficult to sit through.
The acting in this one is solid but the characters are painfully bland. They have no personalities and you make no real connection with any of the characters which makes it difficult to want to follow the story if you don’t care for the people. The story for this one is more a supernatural drama rather than a paranormal horror movie. The main focus of the movie is the main character’s business prospect and making enough money to cover opening a chain of restaurants. I don’t know about you but as a middle class man working payday to payday I dislike watching movies where the main focus is making money in the amount that this dude does. Aside from that, the movie is extremely boring. I found myself drifting off to sleep several times.
Finally, no blood or gore here. In fact, no real chills either. The film has no atmosphere or tension with the story just rolling through with nothing to pull the viewer in. Overall, The Lingering is the biggest bust of October for me. I wanted to like it but it didn’t give me a chance. Skip it.
