The Maid (2005) User Reviews

Not Just Your Average Asian Horror Flick

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 4 June 2007]

A new maid is hired to do random chores around a residence in the Philippines. She is not familiar with the local customs, and learns that she has begun working during the month reserved for dead spirits to be honored. Innocently disturbing one of the ghosts, she begins to learn of a terrifying secret.

The cover of this movie compared it to "Sixth Sense" and "The Grudge", which I think does this film a terrible disservice. Yes, there are aspects of "The Sixth Sense" (seeing ghosts) and I can understand the "Grudge" similarities, to a point. But I don't think a viewer should think of this movie in terms of these other films because there is something unique here that really allows it to stand out from other Asian horror films.

The lead character is interesting because she is both trying to solve a mystery and is herself a mystery: what does the ghost want from her? But also, why has she been summoned to be the maid for this new family (if you're like me, you'll quickly discover she never has to clean anything or watch any children). They're both interesting questions, and I think the viewer will like how they play out -- hints are dropped along the way, but I don't think you'll catch them all on the first watch.

What might be a drawback for the film is the use of loud noises to startle the audience (doors creaking and such) and a few times where a ghost jumps into the frame completely unexpectedly. In some ways this was a cheap trick to get a scare out of the audience, but as someone who doesn't scare easily (I've seen more horror films already this year than you'll probably ever see in your life) I have to admit I was a bit jumpy and had to grip the blanket a little tighter.

A strength of the film was the creator's obvious awareness that Americans (and other non-Filipinos) would be watching this. The religious observances are explained in a way that is understandable but doesn't treat the viewer like a child or an idiot. I have no idea if the holiday observed here is real, but even if it's not I was convinced. The culture is very well captured.

Give this one a chance -- I found it to be so much more than I expected. After I was starting to think all Asian horror followed such similar patterns (which is not to say American horror doesn't), this was so refreshing. Solid plot, great characters... and a puzzle piece ending that will leave you feeling this one comes complete.

A Nutshell Review: (DVD) The Maid (2005)

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 25 February 2007]

It's not that difficult to understand why The Maid was successful during its run at the local theatres, and have garnered international attention. I did not catch the movie when it premiered in the theatres (that's another story for another day), but one of the many reasons/excuses I had was that the horror genre of late from Asia were usually laughable efforts, with mediocre story lines, sometimes bordering on the ludicrous.

Not that The Maid didn't have its fair share, but somehow it was tolerable, and actually tried to tell a decent story, which I enjoyed. While some might say it's influences have come from movies like The Sixth Sense and Ju-on, I thought it was a decent effort for our current generation of directors to have spun a yarn from the horror genre, currently monopolized by the Japanese and the Koreans. Curiosity about the effort locally had me borrowing this DVD, and I shall unabashedly say I'd enjoy every moment of it, though not without some gripes of course.

The premise is set entirely during the Lunar Seventh Month, which is the month where the Chinese believe the denizens from Hell are released for their holiday on Earth, where they can roam around, and spook folks who do not observe the rules. Rules like not returning home late, not stepping on offerings, not turning back when someone calls you out, and so on. The Maid, seen through the eyes of domestic worker Rosa Dimano (the very beautiful Alessandra de Rossi from The Philippines), introduces audiences and refreshes those familiar with the strange customs, about the do's and the don'ts.

New to Singapore, her employment comes from an elderly couple, the Teos (television veterans Chen Shu Cheng and Hong Hui Fang), who head a Teochew opera troupe. While the Hokkien dialect has made its fair exposure in local cinema thanks to Jack Neo movies, it's refreshing to hear the Teochew language being the lingua franca of choice in the movie. It doesn't take long for Rosa to violate some of the unwritten laws, and therefore, she starts to experience things that go bump in the day and night.

Yup, strange things happen in the day as well, which I find peculiar. Anyway, be it in limited lighting, or broad daylight, the cinematography by Lucas Jodoigne was beautiful, and probably added a positive dimension to the overall feel of the movie, as did the art director Daniel Lim. Were there moments of disappointment? You bet, and the major one is with the spirits themselves. They just stand around doing nothing! Despite relying on the usual tricks up the sleeves of horror filmmakers, like the passing shadows, musical crescendos, creaking furniture, and close up fast cuts, the technique used never go beyond that, and the spirits just hang around. What gives? Some editing needed to be tightened as certain scenes were inserted without much thought to narrative flow, and looked a bit out of place as a transitional scene.

That said, I'm still of the opinion that Kelvin Tong's The Maid has its niched appeal, and more importantly, cemented his ability to make commercial films that can be enjoyed by the masses. If his Love Story had put me off, The Maid had shown what he is capable of, besides his debut with Eating Air, which I also enjoyed.

The visual transfer is decently done, and allows for details to be seen even in scenes with little lighting, rather than becoming all black. The colours were vibrant during the opera scenes, while maintaining the dull atmosphere of the Teo family. English and Mandarin subtitles are available, though for the first 2 minutes of the film where there was a dialect voice-over, somehow the much needed translation explaining some Seventh Month superstition was missed. While subtitling was good, there were some noticeable grammatical errors in the beginning.

You're given a choice of either Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1, so depending on how spooked you want to be when the music by Joe Ng and Alex Oh comes on, you might want to tweak it for that surround sound capability.

The Code 3 DVD by Scorpio East comes with the standard offerings like scene selections, and contain special features like the 1min 55s theatrical trailer, as well as the Making Of, with both English and Mandarin subtitles. containing interviews with the principle cast, Kelvin Tong the writer-director, and Daniel Yun, executive producer.

Running 22 minutes, there's a decent amount of information revealed on the art direction, and some behind the scenes look during shooting, where I thought a scene showing the cast having a heck of a time dancing during their break, was hilarious.

A ghostly appetite.

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 23 September 2008]

Sometimes they got it, while other times they sink. That's how I feel about some of the modern ghost features coming out of Asia. 'The Maid' mostly falls in with the former. Yeah it's formulaic by your usual standards, but the low-budgeted slow-burn Singapore entry is sleekly directed with a strong enough platform for the story to open up upon and add some refreshing details to the predictable mixture.

A young maid arrives in Singapore to help out the Teo family, who own an Opera troupe. Her arrival goes hand-to-hand with that of the seventh month known as the hungry ghost month. Soon she's seeing ghosts, and the Teo's are worried she's done something to upset them for this to happen. However she learns that she has a striking resemblance to the previous maid who worked with the family, before she disappeared.

The execution of the premise isn't as good, as it sounds on paper. The concept behind the plot is actually more curious than that of the linear background story about a family with a secret, which when let out is intensely harrowing if customary. The Chinese customs and believes about the gates of hell opening up for vengeful, hungry spirits to wander among the living seeking closure or revenge in the seventh month of the lunar calendar is ideally enthralling and creepy.

Director Kelvin Tong compositional work and placement is a stand-out. Cold, gloomy and haunting imagery is beautifully catered for and Lucas Jodogne's presentable cinematography streamlines the rundown, sapping urban backdrop. The darkness lurking within every alienating corner is shared in the characters' state of minds. Heart-ache, denial and just like the protagonist (wholesomely acted by Alessandra De Rossi) we're left plunged in the dark and distressed by the revelations. The evocative music is skin crawling, as the sound effects have quite a chilling imprint when they break up the silence and terse script with sudden pitches. Some high-strung shocks are foreseeable and shadowy figures flashing by can only do so much. Chen Shu-cheng and Hong Hui-fang deliver rewardingly strong performances.

Disjointed substance and style.

[TashC · 6/10 · 19 June 2006]

A horror story about a maid in Singapore? We've heard quite a few, but in this one instead of a horrified Ma'am, it is the maid who is standing at the gates of hell. And unfortunately they are wide open.

Rosa Dimaano (Alessandra De Rossi) is a trusting, pretty Filipina orphan who comes to Singapore to see the world. But it is the start of the lunar seventh month, Hungry Ghost time, and the world is a place of confusing and jarring chaos. Ignorance is no protection and Rosa inevitably offends "something" and soon she is seeing ghosts and having nightmares. Her only happiness is playing with her employers' simple son, Ah Soon (Benny Soh), but to be honest this is hardly a relief as he is also really spooky.

Rosa's employers - a solitary chain smoking artist (Chen Shu Cheng) and an unpredictably tempered dressmaker (Hong Hui Fang) - live in a near derelict shophouse, cluttered with Wayang costumes, creaking cupboards and glowering pictures of the ancestors. Add a failing electricity supply, no telephone or TV and Rosa is absolutely alone in her misery. Or is she? From "The" Title to the twisting joints and/or heads of creepy kids, crawling long-haired wide-eyed zombies, blurring of identities, burnt photos, unprovoked suicides, the proliferation of grabbing-stalking-glaring-weeping-hanging ghosts and even the scorpions, this is a tribute to Asian horror. All the traditional, requisite and much loved scares are here and impossible to miss thanks to a heavy hand on the violin (think amplified Hitchcock).

Though regularly repetitive (especially by the nth explanation of the state of things during the seventh month) and disjointed, The Maid does not suffer from a lack of substance. No doubt this year we will all be more careful about kicking along the ash-ridden pavement and sitting in the front row of the Chinese opera.

Enjoyable Asian-Ghost Film From Singapore...

[EVOL666 · 7/10 · 6 November 2006]

I'm personally not a big fan of this newer wave of Asian ghost-films, but I found THE MAID to be one of the better of the ones that I've seen. The storyline was decent (though somewhat "flawed" as other reviewers have noted), and was rife with "jump-scares" as opposed to depth - but considering I was expecting a straight-up RINGU/JU-ON rip-off, I'd say I was pleasantly surprised...

Rosa is a Filipino girl who comes to work as a maid (where she does NO cleaning...maybe "maid" has some other meaning over there...) for a couple in Singapore. Unfortunately, her trip abroad coincides with a Chinese "holiday" where the gates of hell are opened once a year and spirits are roaming the land in strict accordance to certain rituals. Rosa begins seeing ghosts and the story takes a more coherent turn when we find that some of them are related to her hosts and some experiences that took place prior to Rosa's arrival...

As others have noted, THE MAID isn't really breaking any new ground in terms of storyline/concept. There are ideas lifted from other similar films, but at least THE MAID puts them together in the right way for the most part. I found the cinematography to be quite beautiful and the acting seemed on par with what I would expect from this sort of film. Plenty of "startle" moments for those that dig that sort of thing, almost to the point of redundancy - but once everything was said and done, I felt the plot was relatively strong if not 100% original...7/10

Out come the freaks and the woodwork squeaks

[soundvision · 2/10 · 3 September 2005]

There was a good movie trying to claw itself out of the Maid - much like the ghouls that were creeping out of the woodwork, at regular intervals throughout the show.

Plus points - that the producers chose to use a local Chinese dialect - Teochew in this instance, instead of trying to be politically correct and abide by the country's speak mandarin campaign, and that there were moments of genuine scares, that made you jump out of the seats.

Pay attention however and you will be rewarded with ample plot holes, e.g. why did Wati react in fright when she saw our maid for the first time, even though the former and Esther had been friends? and why did they even bother to feature a ex-Singapore Idol reject as the itinerant postman, other than the fact that he looks good - well, to me anyway - and seriously, which postman in Singapore actually carry free stamps to give away? etc. And oh, all that screeching and creaking of doors and gates do grate.

That said, it wasn't an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon on the last day of the ghost month. And oh yes, the first few rows of the cinema hall were empty. Wooo....oooh...

Spooky doings in Singapore

[ctomvelu1 · 7/10 · 18 August 2009]

A Filipino girl is sent to work in the dilapidated home of a Singapore couple, the husband an oddball, chain-smoking artist and the wife a shrewish dressmaker. They have a grown son who is slow-witted, and who the maid Rosa befriends. She has arrived for work at a point in the year when vindictive ghosts are on the prowl, according to the local lore. Soon enough, she is being confronted by them. She also discovers evidence of a previous maid who appears to be missing under questionable circumstances. We get plenty of creaking doors, scary faces and fleeting shadows in the best Asian horror film tradition. There's even a scorpion or two thrown in for good measure. This is definitely not your typical American ghost movie, although strident sound effects and repetitive scary faces may wear a bit thin on American viewers after awhile. Give it a try.

You see Hitchcock and Lecter's shadow than horror in the Maid

[samuelding85 · 4/10 · 31 August 2005]

The Maid is one of the few Singapore horror film to be made, which somehow, follows the footstep of the previous Singapore horror, Return to Pontianak, which is a box office flop accompanied with tonnes of bad reviews.

The movie is surprisingly, a hit in Singapore. Opened on the 14th of July in the Chinese lunar calender, The Maid surrounds a maid's survival of the Seventh Month in the Chinese lunar calender, which is also known as the Hungry Ghost festival. It seems that young director Kelvin Tong, who previously brought us Eating Air, a wild comedy of Singapore street punks, is bringing us a different kind of his touch with The Maid. Featuring Chen Shu Cheng and Hong Hui Fang, the well known Singapore veteran actor, together with Alessandra De Rossi, the Phillippine actress, it is about Rosa, a Phillippine girl, who was employed as a maid by old Mr and Mrs Teo. Both Mr and Mrs Teo lives in Singapore and they are Chinese opera performers. Rosa arrived Singapore on the 1st day of the Seventh month, and she broke several taboos set by the old Chinese on the Seventh Month.

She ends up seeing ghost in the end. Not one, not two, but plenty. Including the people living around her.

Worst still, her brother living back in Phillippines, desperately need money for treatment on illness due to poverty. To ensure that she gets her pay, she must survived thru the Seventh Month.

However, from there onwards, it seems that the show is a mixture of horror and suspense from Hitchcock's previous works. When Rosa saw ghosts around her, it creates a tension atmosphere in the air. Instead of having ghosts roaming around the streets, the ghosts are staring at Rosa, giving her 'Why are you doing this to me?' look. And the rather illogical storyline makes up part of the suspense. Instead of working as a maid for the Teo's, Rosa seems to have plenty of free time looking around the house she works for. Instead of doing household chores, she opens up every single door to look for the ghost, who has been haunting her since Day 1. Instead of horror, it created Hitchcock's suspense.

And when Rosa discovered that Mr and Mrs Teo is a pair of psychos, it creates a feeling of having a pair of Mr and Mrs Hannibal Lecter controlling a helpless victim. This gives a touch of murderous atmosphere in the movie, which somehow, doesn't really seems to match with the genre and the title of the movie.

The movie, however, did a great job on adding horror in the film. You see ghosts who wears a red cheongsam and a red scarf over her head, just like the corpse bride. But i am not selling the upcoming Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's The Corpse Bride over here. It has nothing to do with the animation following the style of the duo's old film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. More rather, we have ghosts who has the look of Japanese horror, with the ghost from the Japanese horror, One Missed Call 2 aka Red Candy as the best example. The main ghost in The Maid looks like the ghost in Red Candy, and that's all i could say.

Alessandra De Rossi brought out the fear a woman in a foreign land faces. Her helplessness and fear in The Maid brought out the helplessness and fear most Philippino maids who worked in foreign land had.

As for Chen Shu Cheng, he gives Singaporean audience a new look on playing the role of Mr Teo, who was a psycho beneath the skin. It leaves a more lasting impression of a heartless creature, compared to Hong Hui Fang, who was also a psycho beneath the skin. Though Hong played psychotic roles in her local drama series career, The Maid leaves a more lasting impression, compared to her drama series, but not that much memorable than Chen.

In all, there are rooms for improvements for The Maid, but it seems that Singapore are catching up with their standard of movies.

Semi good horror movie from Singapore, but nothing most of us haven't seen before.

[Aaron1375 · 6/10 · 30 September 2006]

I liked the premise and from what I read on the box it sounded like it would be interesting, and I love a good ghost story. However, I was a bit disappointed by this movie. Not entirely mind you, it had a rather good cast and there was some good ghost moments. Still it was so thoroughly predictable...anyone who has seen say "The Sixth Sense" or "A Tale of Two Sisters" will have no problem with the shocking ending seen here. Other than it might be a bit more graphic than those two movies. The movie of a Phillipine girl who goes to work as a maid for a Singapore couple and starts her job during the time of the year when the locals must observe many customs relating to the dead or experience their wrath. Lots of burning paper and other very nice visuals during this part of the film. The job is quite easy from what I see too as the gal who was hired as a maid only does a little of this and that and when she does try to sweep up she gets in trouble with her employer. At least this gives or gal plenty of time to look after her employer's mildly retarded son and see all sorts of creepy stuff. My favorite was the play where she sat in the front row. So all in all a typical ghost flick with nothing really new to add to the mix except for a mysterious girl who dies by leaping from a food court. Didn't quite understand that one. So if you like this type of movie you may think it is an okay flick if you are looking for something new, this is not it.

It used some Chinese traditional ideas, adding them to its plot line. It is scary enough (yeah, why not for the over-sensitive).

[dilan_sasque · 14 May 2006]

"The Maid" is OK.

It used some Chinese traditional ideas, adding them to its plot line. It is scary enough (yeah, why not for the over-sensitive).

But I think, this "Feng Shui", a Philippine flick which also used some elements from the Chinese traditions, is much scarier, technically and technologically, considering that the Philippines is from the third world and Singapore is an Asian Tiger. Well, "Feng Shui" is not without its flaws. There are ideas in the movie that are quite cheesy if you're not a Chinese(or a Filipino). But I really think, without any bias(for I grew up in the Philippines), that "Feng Shui" is more engaging and mind-blowing than "The Maid". I also think that it is much creepier. There are these rumors that Brad Pitt's gonna remake this Philippine flick. DON'T MIND IT!

"FENG SHUI" CAN STAND ON ITS OWN.

I am really tired of these remakes from the Americans. And I really think that they make horrible remakes.

There is this another Filipino horror film that's also receiving praises and attention from the international awards circle. The title is "Sigaw" in Filipino, "The Echo" (or to be more accurate "Scream"). I heard, this is sure to be remade by Roy Lee, which, if I am not mistaken, the same producer of the American version of "The Ring" and "The Grudge".

Well, just a bit of info.....

Not satisfied

[Lucabrasisleeps · 5/10 · 24 February 2015]

Coming from the glory periods of Asian horror, I would expect a much better horror film. The story is now so stale and overused and it has been used in countless Asian films.

The usage of English is not to my liking at all. The flat accents really turned me off. The dialogue doesn't seem genuine when they speak such flat English. It could have been better if it was maybe in Tagalog or something. The English could have been limited only to certain circumstances. This was a big problem with the movie.

The story moves in predictable directions with nothing new in execution. Even the jump scares are not highly interesting. I am not so convinced that they actually tried to build up the atmosphere. They just tried to show the same old clichéd jump scares.

So why do I give it a 5? The movie redeems itself by the ending a little bit. Frankly it was going on predictable lines that I wasn't really expecting a twist. So when it came, I was a little surprised. But I wouldn't say it is a great ending. The lead actress is pretty so that is a plus and she is adequate in her role. There are some scenes which are impressively done like the festival scene but they are too few and far between. Overall I am not satisfied.

5/10

Sometimes, During the Seventh Month, Strange Things Happen

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 25 June 2007]

"Every year, for thirty days during the lunar seventh month, the Chinese believe that the gates of hell are thrown open. Vengeful spirits or hungry ghosts wander among the living, seeking revenge and justice before the gates of hell are closed again for another year." The eighteen years old Rosa Dimaano (Alessandra de Rossi) arrives in Singapore from Philippines to give support to her family working as a maid in the house of the artists of a Chinese opera troupe Mr. and Mrs. Teo (Huifang Hong & Shucheng Chen) on the first day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. She is welcomed by the family and introduced to their friends and their retarded son Ah-Soon (Benny Soh). Later, Mrs. Teo advises her about their beliefs and how the dead should be respected and honored along the seventh month. However, Rosa sweeps their offer on the sidewalk breaking a basic rule and offending the spirits, and she is haunted by ghosts everywhere. When Ah-Soon calls her Esther Santos and she finds some belongings of the unknown Esther in the house, she discloses a dark and scary secret about the past of her masters.

"The Maid" is an original, scary and very-well constructed ghost story based on a Chinese superstition. The screenplay introduces with an explanation about the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and Mrs. Teo explains the rules to be accomplished to Rosa, giving the big picture about the theme to the viewers like me that are not familiarized with this tradition. I startled many times with the creepy ghosts, and the scene when Rosa is watching the presentation of the troupe sat in the middle of the spirits is really frightening. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Sétimo Mês" ("The Seventh Month")

Seemed sort of like an American horror film.

[Cablebot3000 · 6/10 · 20 August 2008]

The maid is about a young girl who is staying with a family to help out with certain chores and such. The Lunar seventh month is here, and that means that the ghosts that get the people who are not doing the proper traditions.

This is a pretty good movie, unlike a lot of oriental horror films, it didn't have a lot of the weird girl with the long black hair coloring her face. It sort a more American feel to it. Lots of surprises, lots of ghosts, and a lot of running away from them. However, the movie works,and has some nice twists. The acting is pretty good, and the setting and location was nicely done. Pretty good movie. I rate it 6/10. (my rating)rated PG-13 for intense violence/terror and disturbing images, and some sexual content

One of the latest in a series of Asian Extreme Horror flicks

[ltlacey · 1/10 · 6 May 2009]

I wish I could comment on the actual movie, but the DVD I had drove me nuts. It was Chinese with English subtitles, and some English spoken. Not a problem, unless you have people moving their mouths saying what is obviously a lot of dialogue, then a few seconds later, during another scene we get a few words, like 1-3, from the previous scene's dialogue. I lasted about 20 minutes with this nonsense before I said, Enough. And Tartan is MUCH better than this. Shame on them for allowing this audio mess out to the public, since the premise of the story, the traditional Asian superstitions about ghosts, ancestors, and rituals sounded very interesting. Maybe Tartan will fix this mess and re-release the movie so I can watch the darn thing.

This is the last day of the seventh month. Rosa must die today!

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 5 September 2009]

The Chinese believe the gates of Hell are thrown open for 30 days during the 7th Month. Ghosts walk among us. I suppose that is better than having teabaggers and birthers walking among us in the 8th month like they do here in the US.

Rosa (Alessandra de Rossi) comes to Singapore from the Philippines to work to help her sick brother. She is focused on doing a good job for the Teos (Shucheng Chen & Huifang Hong), and doesn't pay attention to the things you are supposed to do to not offend the Ghosts. Unfortunately, the movie goes on for almost 40 minutes before they bother to tell her that she screwed up.

That's after she sees ghosts everywhere. We don't know at times whether it's real or imagined. The sounds are spooky and the suspense is great. It's a real ghost story in the old fashioned "scare your pants off" school. Things get really strange when we find out the real reason for Rosa's presence.

Those at the Toronto and New York film festivals can see de Rossi in Independencia.

Very Spooky and Creepy, but Kind of Slow

[timothygartin · 7/10 · 29 September 2019]

I liked this movie. The thing I liked most was the spooky atmosphere. The director makes a lot of great, and in my opinion uncommon, choices to stage scenes for the most effect. The acting was good, especially in the lead roles. The twist ending wasn't a super surprise, but it was ok and the movie overall was internally consistent.

I wanted to give this one a higher rating, but at the one-hour mark, I checked how much time was left. That is always a bad sign for me. I thought the movie dragged a lot in the middle. Even though the scenes were shot well, they didn't move the plot much.

I recommend this movie.

Far better than it's reputation

[slayrrr666 · 9/10 · 13 April 2009]

"The Maid" is a highly impressive and incredibly entertaining Asian ghost effort.

**SPOILERS**

Arriving in Singapore, Rosa Dimano, (Alessandra de Rossi) goes to work for Mr. Teo, (Shucheng Chen) and his family, Luan Teo, (Huifang Hong) and Ah Soon, (Benny Soh) a group of Teochew Opera works, as their new maid. Finding that she has arrived on the first day of Hungry Ghost Month, where citizens honor their dead family members, she goes about her duties while they go about their jobs until she accidentally disturbs a ceremonial ritual meant to protect the family from wandering spirits and soon begins seeing numerous visions and encounters with different ghosts around her. Realizing that the encounters have been caused by a ghost of a former employee seeking revenge on the family, she tries whatever she can to help it and stay away from the family.

The Good News: There was a lot of really good things in here. One of the better pluses here is the high number of scares that emerge from the ghosts. By playing into the usual Asian style, with the painted faces and completely feature-less facial features, they come off as incredibly striking when viewed, and when they start popping up out of nowhere, such as inside closets and under the bed-sheets, there's a bunch times when their sudden appearance out of nowhere scores big time in the opening of the film. These are aided quite considerably by the atmosphere these scenes are shared with, as it's pretty much all the different set-ups used for the celebrations. With the different elements used, such as the items placed among the offerings, and with the superstitions and different rituals needing to be appeased, it offers up a rather fun and certainly heightened sense of atmosphere when actually put all together. Both of these are responsible for the film having one of the best paces around, as the mystery helps out but it's mostly all about the ghostly interaction. That makes the film so enjoyable and easy to get-in-to, as it starts off with lots of great shock encounters before getting to explaining it. The quantity of encounters in this half is really what sets it apart, as there's plenty of ones in here that work. Besides the earlier ones, the big ones seen during the festival are the most impressive as they're genuinely creepy and really serve the film well with adding in some impressive scare scenes. There's also some nice action here served from the admittedly-exciting foot-chase that goes on. Taking place through several exciting locations, including through down-town and a really unique circular staircase that leads to a shocking conclusion, leaving it one of the best moments in the film. That also brings up the last big plus in this one, the finale, which has a lot of great stuff in it. Beyond the great action of the house being set on fire with the mad dash to get out, this also manages a lot of fun during the rest of what works. Deciding to hold off on the revelation as being told and instead shown here adds since it's pretty much really enjoyable to watch it unfold rather than being told what happened. The action is great, the revelation is well-handled and it makes the whole thing interesting and exciting. Plus, it also manages to send the film out on a high-note with how everything comes to pass here, which this segment a real highlight, and combined with the other factors here, the film highly entertaining and enjoyable.

The Bad News: This here had a couple of minor flaws. One of the biggest ones is the film's central idea of placing so much emphasis on the scares, as that can be really tiring and quite irritating at times. By simply showing the exact same types of scenes over and over with the only variation coming in the form of what's doing the action and where it occurs, there's very little that can be done with that before it starts getting repetitive, which is what starts to happen here at times. There's not much that really changes things by not moving around the type of scares it features. The only other flaw here is an entirely confusing scene where, due to later events, makes it weird as to why it's featured which makes it absolutely confusing as to why it's here. These are the only things wrong with it.

The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and creepy ghost entry, with a few minor touches to hold it down from practically nothing, as the flaws aren't that damaging. Really give this one a shot if you're into the Asian ghost films or find this one interesting, while those who aren't big on this should heed caution.

Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence and some Language

The Maid (Singapore, 2005)

[maarck6 · 8/10 · 20 March 2018]

ONce a year, for thirty days the gates of Hell open and the hungry and the angry spirits walk again in Singapore. Now Rosa comes from the Philippines to an arranged housekeeping job to replace the missing Ester, the previous housekeeper, who seems to have vanished, only to find weird and strange things happening at the household. I love ghost stories and I love horror movies, and this one is both. The movie is completely helped by the beautiful Alessandra de Rossi, whose looks are downtuned some to play the poor impoverished Rosa. Also good is Huifang Hong who is both beautiful, and the driving force behind the strange happenings, as she only wants what is best for her son (Benny Soh), who is a huge muscular man who is both childlike and retarded, something which leads to some really difficult times when he forgets himself. The rest of the characters are all pretty unimpressive, although nobody embarrasses themselves. All-in-all, a great watch of a movie that I never would have seen if it weren't for the internet, where I saw it. . This is a movie that I will have to watch again. I love ghost stories, and I didn't guess the twist until I had my nose rubbed in it. Now that I know what this movie's twist is, I can now watch this movie again with a fresh perspective.

Good Help Is Hard To Find...

[azathothpwiggins · 25 September 2020]

A shy, young girl named Rosa (Alessandra de Rossi) gets a position as a maid. She arrives at the house during the seventh month, which, according to legend, is when the "hungry ghosts" are said to walk the Earth.

The family for whom Rosa works seems normal enough. However, she soon learns that her situation isn't quite as simple or safe as it appears to be. Rosa's new employers have a secret that will reveal itself in bizarre, terrifying ways.

THE MAID makes us wonder what is going on, almost until its final frame. A well-made, slow-building, supernatural thriller with a devilish denouement!

A classic creeper from Singapore...