THE LINGERING (古宅) (2018)

Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Derrick Hao, Mak Ho-Pong
Cast: Athena Chu, Louis Cheung, Bob Cheung, Terry Zou, Li Fung
RunTime: 1 hr 27 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 18 October 2018

Synopsis: On New Year's Eve, Qingyi (Athena Chu) and her son, Dawa, were waiting for her husband to come home from work but he never showed up. Meanwhile, Dawa keeps seeing a stranger who is invisible to Qingyi. Leaving Dawa under the care of her neighbour, she heads to the village to find out her husband’s whrereabouts. Qingyi returns home and sees a stranger hiding in her house… Upon hearing about his mother’s death, Xinzhong (Louis Cheung) returns to his hometown. When he was handling issues regarding her death, a real estate agent appeared and asked Xinzhong to sell his mother’s mansion. Xinzhong must now find the property certificate to sell it. While finding it, strange things keep happening. Are these really just accidents, or was Qingyi warning her son?

Movie Review:

For a 46 year old, Athena Chu looks gorgeous. The Hong Kongactress is the object of fantasy for many guys. Before her charming performance in Jeffrey Lau’s Chinese Odyssey movies starring Stephen Chow, she had already gained popularity in showbiz by appearing in Wong Jing’s infamous Raped by an Angel franchise. Yup, she was known for being a sex goddess and taking on jobs which mainly required the actress to look pretty (affectionately known as “flower vase roles”).

Are things going to change with her involvement in this horror movie directed Derrick Hao and Mak Ho Pong? Unfortunately, we don’t think so.

Chu plays a woman whose husband dies in a worksite accident. The poor lady is left alone in a big mansion with her young son. It doesn’t take long before paranormal activities begin occurring, but to sustain the length of a feature film, the two of them continue living in the haunted house. Years pass and the son grows up to be an ambitious young man (played by the underrated Louis Cheung). After hearing news of his mother’s death, he returns to the mansion with his girlfriend and yup, strange things continue to happen.

This is the kind of movie that was clearly conceptualised to make some quick bucks from horror buffs at the box office. However, being a PG13 title, you probably know things are going to be quite watered down. The premise of the movie, while not particularly innovative, showed some promise initially. A loving widow who will do anything for her only son? Relatively touching, if you ask us. An unfilial son who wants to be disassociated with his mother because she is a vegetable seller in the village? You’ve got some nice drama brewing. A mother and son reunion that may end up in a blood bath? A nice horror flick is taking shape.

But alas, the 87 minute movie decides to take a turn in its last act to make this an emotional drama about parental love. Couple that with a ridiculously unwarranted plot twist and not only do you get disappointed fans who were hoping to be scared sh*tless, you also lose the viewers who appreciate a good screenplay.

The jump scares littered throughout the movie are obligatory and unoriginal. A TV that switches itself on, a tap that runs on its own, a mysterious force that strangles the protagonists, low toned murmurs that come on whenever the room goes dark. While these scare tactics are sometimes effective, they may barely satisfy the hard core fans of the horror genre.

Chueng (L Storm) does his best to play an uninspiring and unlikeable character (he has to put on a hideous wig at one point), while Chuputs in effort to emote (she has to put on hideous make up to play an old woman at one point). The actors who signed up for this movie probably know that it isn’t award winning material, but we are not sure whether they were aware that the final product borders on being a yawn fest.   

Movie Rating:

(Despite the occasional jump scares, this horror movie won’t please fans of the genre)

Review by John Li