Fairy Tale Killer (2012) User Reviews

Promise Beginning that Becomes a Messy "Saw" Rip-off

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 16 December 2012]

In Hong Kong, Wu Zai-Jan (Baoqiang Wang) is arrested for lingering in the hall of the Police Department with a weird white make-up on his face and brought for interrogation with Inspector Han (Ching Wan Lau) and his team. The suspect is mentally retarded and tells that he has murdered a man named Cheng Fai (Suet Lam). He also calls the detectives "wolves". The detectives go to Cheng Fai's apartment to investigate and they find that the supposed victim is alive. They return to the precinct and discharge Wu Zai-Jan since he is a retarded making them waste their time.

Inspector Han is expecting to be promoted and has a troubled marriage, with his autistic son that he does not love and his estranged wife that does not accept his attitude towards their son.

On the next morning, Inspector Han and his team have to investigate a murder case and they find that the victim is Cheng Fai, who was found dead in a park with seven stones in his stomach. Han and his team realize that they made a mistake releasing Wu Zai-Jan and they decide to cover their steps in the previous day solving the case. They discover that Wu Zai-Jan is a psychotic intern of a mental hospital that has just escaped from the facility and is also very connected to an intern that draws in her cell. When other victims are found dead in murders that recall fairy tales, Han and his team fight against time to avoid the fairy tale serial-killer from committing other murders.

"Zui hung", aka "Fairy Tale Killer" is a Danny Pang thriller with a promise beginning that becomes a messy "Saw" rip-off. The plot is developed in slow-pace and with senseless subplots. The Gothic cinematography is a plus, but the confused screenplay ruins the interesting storyline. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Despite an interesting premise, this exercise in the serial killer genre falls flat with poor characterisation, less than coherent scripting and hamfisted direction

[moviexclusive · 5/10 · 8 May 2012]

Whilst his other half Oxide has found some measure of success with the offbeat 'The Detective', Danny Pang has still been struggling to find that one hit to launch his solo career. But despite having all the elements in place- an intriguing premise, a strong lead actor and most importantly a relatable genre- 'Fairy Tale Killer' is unlikely to be that breakout hit for him, turning out instead as a wholly generic serial killer thriller that pretty much wastes the potential within its conceit.

And indeed there is much promise to be had in its story of a serial killer who dispatches his victims as if they were in some fairy tale- referencing among others the fate of the evil witch in 'Hansel and Gretel' as well as that of the evil stepmother in 'Cinderella'. Adding to that is how the twist to these classic fairy tales is visually realised in the film through a series of dark foreboding sketches, the artist behind them an autistic girl (Elanne Kwong in an uncharacteristic role) closely related to said killer.

But it seems that after figuring out the modus operandi for the killings as well as the clues for their lead protagonist Han (Lau Ching Wan) to solve the murders, the quartet of writers (including Danny Pang, Szeto Kam-Yuen, Jessica Chu and Wu Meng Zhang) can't quite figure out how to spin a coherent tale. Certainly, they aim to turn the genre on its head by revealing the murderer right at the start- a psychotic named Jun (Wang Baoqiang) who recently escaped from a mental hospital- and having him turn himself in before a perplexed group of detectives even before committing any of the crimes.

Thinking that he is simply spouting nonsense, the team release him from their custody- only to realise all too late the truth behind his words when the first victim (Lam Suet) turns up face down dead in a ditch. Another three will follow, all the victims linked somewhat conveniently to a troubled past involving Jun. Rather than concentrate on the procedural, Pang and his co-writers have their characters go off in parallel directions that fail to converge satisfyingly.

So Han is saddled with an autistic son whom he can't find the heart to love, a long-suffering wife (Joey Meng), as well as distrustful colleagues whom he tells on to secure a much coveted promotion- oh and there's also that bit about how his son just happens to be a savant who manages to piece together the aforementioned drawings so he can figure out how the next victim is going to die. Meanwhile, Jun is wracked with confusion as he tries to justify his actions by thinking of himself as the 'good guy' ridding the world of 'evil wolves'.

The sheer number of plot lines would only have worked in the hands of an assured director, but Pang is certainly not that person. He switches between scenes too abruptly, never quite developing any so that they resonate with his audience. Instead, what we are left with are largely undercooked subplots, with the main confrontation between Han and Jun given too little emphasis. That becomes even more apparent in the climax, when Pang tries to up the ante by pitting both his leading men in a 'Saw' ripoff.

Yes, we're talking about that ultraviolent ultra-sadistic Hollywood film which we can only surmise Pang must be a fan of. The finale set in some abandoned building has Jun setting up a number of tasks for Han to complete in order to save those close to him- and the most blatant ripoff of 'Saw' is when Han is made to choose between preserving his own life or rescuing his family within the span of three minutes. Of course coming to think about it, were it not for the film's Chinese investors who would most certainly have wanted a Mainland release, the deaths within would probably be filmed in the same gory manner as that in 'Saw'.

If the film remains watchable despite its flaws, it is because Pang has a reliable leading man in Lau Ching Wan. Unlike say that in Johnnie To's 'Mad Detective', his character here is really nothing of a stretch, but he brings his usual brand of gravitas to the role. In contrast, Wang's histrionic performance does him little favours, turning instead his villainous character to no more than caricature. Kwong and Meng are given far too little to make an impression, a pity especially for Kwong who tried to break out of her usual cutie-pie roles with something darker and more intense.

Pang's failure to translate 'Fairy Tale Killer' into something more substantial is probably even more surprising given the common narrative devices that both the horror genre and the thriller share- many of which like the boo-scare and the sudden loud music are employed to varying degrees of success. Also worthy of mention is the appalling soundtrack used in the movie, which not only goes into overdrive each time Pang tries to build suspense, but is cut too jarringly to aid in the scene transitions.

From the missteps Pang makes in this movie, it's no wonder then that some have taken to labelling both Oxide and Danny Pang as one-hit wonders trying to replicate their achievement of 'The Eye'. And certainly, by bungling a movie that boasts an interesting conceit, one of the best leading men in the industry and a genre familiar enough with his biggest hit to date, that promise they once showed has become more and more elusive…like a fairy tale.

Casey's Movie Mania: FAIRY TALE KILLER (2012)

[caseymoviemania · 1/10 · 23 September 2012]

On paper, Danny Pang's FAIRY TALE KILLER looks potential enough to warrant this as one of the must-see Hong Kong movie blockbusters of the year. It has the ever-reliable Lau Ching-Wan in the lead, a killer premise inspired from David Fincher's SE7EN (1995) and Gothic elements of fairy tale undertones, plus one of the screenwriters here happens to be that Milkyway's highly-prolific Szeto Kam-Yuen. But for all the first-rate talents involved here, this highly-anticipated thriller is a huge disappointment in many ways.

However, the movie does starts out promisingly with an intriguing opening scene involving a suspicious-looking guy named Wu Zaijun (Wang Baoqiang) gets captured by the cops for loitering. His face is caked with make-up, and he also turns to be a mentally-challenged person. While held for questioning by Inspector Wong Wai-Han (Lau Ching-Wan), the leader of five-man team (Ken Lo, James Ho, Gary Chiu and Kelly Fu), Wu reveals he has murdered someone named Cheung Fai (Lam Suet). To determine whether Wu is telling the truth or not, the cops investigate the matter and discovers that Cheung is alive and well. Realizing they are being fooled about this, Wong decides to set him free since he figures Wu is a crazy idiot trying to waste their time. Next day, however, Cheung Fai is found dead, with seven pieces of stones stuffed inside his stomach. Soon Wong and his team realize they have committed a huge mistake of letting Wu walk scot-free the night before, and decides to conceal the fact for their wrongdoings. In turn, they tries hard to solve the case as fast as possible before their situation goes from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, Wong's personal life is no better. He has an autistic son whom he has a tough time trying to communicate with, while his estranged wife (Joey Meng) often blames him for not being sensitive enough to their own child.

It's a shame that a good set-up like this would have made into an interesting thriller. But Danny Pang's unfocused direction serves the biggest culprit here. While he does have a knack for visuals, he fails miserably to deliver any sense of mood or atmosphere to make this as creepy as possible. Instead, everything here feels so lifeless and what he can do the most is thrown over a couple of over-the-top score to deliver jump scares that's hardly scary at all. The pace is also awfully slow, and the story is all half-realized ideas with little payoff.

Even all the cast here are sleepwalking throughout their roles. Lau Ching-Wan is terribly wasted here. Despite his would-be complex role, he looks completely lost here. As the serial killer Wu, Wang Baoqiang is equally shallow as well. While he still earns some credit for his mentally-challenged role, there's nothing much about him worth noticing for. As for the rest of the supporting casts, the less said the better.

FAIRY TALE KILLER is a yawner, and no doubt this movie shares the same ill-fated consequence with Roy Chow's NIGHTFALL earlier this year.

http://caseymoviemania.blogspot.com

A Nutshell Review: Fairy Tale Killer

[DICK STEEL · 2/10 · 4 November 2012]

The Pang Brothers have so far produced a series of hits and misses, and that too even in their own individual film pursuits. They have unique ideas especially for the horror/thriller genres, but somehow have not always been successful in crafting a solid, punchy finale to finish off their stories that have always started off quite brightly. Which makes it a disappointment, and anti-climatic. Alas this continues even in Danny Pang's Fairy Tale Killers, a film that even the evergreen and reliable Lau Ching Wan had failed to save.

Lau plays Han, a cop who has questionable morals, and this even extends to his subordinates. After all, as the Chinese saying goes, if the upper beams are crooked, so too are the bottom columns. It's a relatively unique set up in that we know upfront that the protagonist is going to have something bite back at him for his lack of honesty and integrity when in a job that calls for such values, and one who doesn't have any qualms at backstabbing others just to ensure his expected promotion plans doesn't hit a brick wall.

Trouble begins when they arrest Jun (Wang Baoqiang) whom the investigations team think is nuts, since he provided them a name of someone he had killed, but whom they had found alive. They release Jun, only to find that his victim (Lam Suet) got killed eventually. Worried that their superiors have found out that they had intelligence on a pre-meditative killing but had released the culprit so that he can do what he told them, they begin to concoct a cover up and try to re-arrest Jun, which is where trouble continued.

As with all serial killer movies, the killings often follow a ritual, and here they are something that vaguely resembled fairy tales as the title had suggested. Vaguely. And in true blue Pang brothers style, the story here falls back on the horror genre style of revelation, where everything will finally get rationalized with a real world situation stemming from unfair treatment or abuse. Here, it relied very much on Wang Baoqiang's ability to play crazed, and Elanne Kwong's unremarkable turn in playing a mute, almost deranged artist whom Jun has the hots for, where they have eloped from their institution. How they survive from children to adulthood get brushed aside into acceptance of this movie logic, if only to draw a connection between them and Lau Ching Wan's cop.

It's more about a tale of redemption and morality, but one that was meandering and bogged down with unnecessary subplots, and weak villains so to speak. Lau Ching Wan can only do so much with a character which I admit is written with loads of potential, but stuck in situations that are relatively absurd. Many things get explained away very conveniently, if at all, and the domestic issues Han face really plodded the pace, with Han having to deal with his wife (Joey Meng) and autistic son, and often getting chided for spending more time than necessary on his job rather than on the family.

If I had my way, this should have just focused squarely on the one-upmanship between killers and cops, rather than to try and include some moralistic smarts just for the sake of. Drama isn't the Pang's forte, and this film exposes Danny's shortcomings in this area, making Fairy Tale Killers lack its desired happily ever after as a movie.