Detective Kien: The Headless Horror

I didn't expect much but this is an incredibly excellent movie. Beautiful cinematography, tight script, and a charming blend of horror and detective elements. You have to go to the theater and see it right away.

I've always been a picky person, and I didn't think Vietnam would have such a well-shot movie.

If it was an english language movie, it could stand up to the best movies. Hope you feel the same way.

The film does a great job of combining entertainment and art. And it deserves, as I said, to be the best Vietnamese film in years. I hope to see Detective Kien in many more films to come. This best Vietnamese movie in many years.

When the young "Nga" (Doan Minh Anh) goes missing, her aunt "Miss Moon" (Ngoc Diêp) can't get the local authorities to investigate, so she writes a pleading letter to renowned judge's detective "Kiên" (Tín Nguyen) to see if he will come and look into things. When he arrives, complete with his official badge of office, he sets the cat amongst the pigeons in the small community that's not without it's suspects. To add to his problems, it seems that this village has an history of troubles, with a legendary water ghost reputedly emerging from the river and terrorising the population then leaving decapitated bodies to wash up all over the place. Now "Kiên" is a man of science, and now (reluctantly) allied with his enthusiastic new sidekick they discover that nobody in this village is quite whom they seem and with the chief, his wife, his daughter, the potter, the shaman, the lover and just about every one else in the mix, he has his work cut out trying to discover the truth. Though I found the production a little bit sterile, there is still quite an amiable chemistry between our detecting duo and with plenty of lies, deceit and red herrings the story carries along nicely until a denouement that's acrobatic, messy and leaves us wanting - whether we want it or not - needing more. It hits the ground running and doesn't hang about for a couple of hours that I though had shades of "Vienna Blood" (2019) to it. Worth a watch.

Starting from bad: the actress Dinh Ngoc Diep who plays the role of the aunt. Her facial expressions and lines that are supposed to be comic gave me the feeling to be badly acted and out of place most of the time. In general the comical moments in the movie do not blend well with overall vibe.

Another big disappointment is the paranormal element: not what I expected after seeing the trailer, and I wish it had been handled differently.

On the positive side it is worth mentioning the Direction. The special effects are quite good and did not left me the feeling of being cheap of anything like that. The Storyline is solid. Some good twists and emotional moments.

In the end, considering this a be a local vietnamese production, I was pleasently surprised by the general quality of it.

I would rate this movie a 7- , much better than the latest Hollywood productions.

A movie whort watching and 2 hours well spent in my opinion.

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Great movie with talented actors and actresses. The story was well written keeping the audience guessing on what will happen next. Sound was well played. Scenery was beautiful which appears to be at Ha Long bay. The detective was well played by Quoc Huy. All the supporting people were well played. The story was set in the olden day in northern Vietnam where a number of people was murdered with the head chopped off! Some scary scenes will make the audience entertained. Well worth watching and hope there will be part 2. The story based on a novel. Many people still believe in ghosts in Vietnam. Well done.

It's been a long time since I've experienced such an outstanding Vietnamese film. The movie was excellent, resolving all its issues neatly, leaving no unanswered questions by the end. Visually, the film was stunning - the color palette, costumes, and sound design were flawless. Overall, the actors delivered incredible performances, especially the ones portraying the antagonists.

In terms of horror, the film didn't evoke as much fear as Qua Tim Mau (another movie by director Victor Vu). However, I've always felt that there's a very modern message in Victor Vu's horror films: that there are no real ghosts or demons in this world - it's humans who harm each other.

This film was truly excellent and absolutely worth the price of admission.