Zhai bian

"The Heirloom" tells the story of a young architect James Yang who inherits an old family house in Taipei.He moves in and bring his long time girlfriend Yo along.James quickly starts having bad dreams connected to long buried memories form his childhood.It seems that the house hides a dark secret,in which thirty years prior the entire family attended bizarre rituals an ended up committing suicide all at the same time.Each relative hung on a rope to die.Taiwanese horror flick "The Heirloom" is not as good as it's reputed to be.The visuals are certainly impressive,but the script is quite weak.The total lack of scariness is seriously disappointing.Overall,"The Heirloom" is a rather mediocre horror film from Taiwan that left me unsatisfied.My generous rating:7 out of 10.

Perhaps what drew me to this film was that it touted a haunted mansion, and a Chinese haunted mansion at that! It was an interesting premise, and the poster image featuring a bottled fetus (something to do with a child ghost) did little to deter me. After all, it was featured on a local newspaper along with snippets of an interview with the film's director, who stated it was his first horror movie, after directing mainly music videos.

That alone should have told me all I needed to know.

But like a protagonist in one of these horror movies, I trudged eagerly forward, blissfully ignoring those warning signs. Now, having bore witness to this travesty, I must say that it was just plain bad for a horror movie. It fails in all regards: It is NOT scary in any way, shape, or form.

I am a fan of psychological horror (like the 1963's The Haunting, The Others, and the Japanese masterpiece, The Ring), but this film did nothing for me. It had only one single scene that was averagely scary in suggestion, but that was placed early on in the movie, and was ruined by MTV style jump-cuts... obviously the director's music video routes showing through here.

And though I don't always enjoy shock-a-thon type scarefests, well placed moments certainly work wonders for a film. Unfortunately, this 'movie' has not a single scary jump-in-your-seat type jolt. Considering that I was seated in an almost empty cinema on an empty row at midnight, that IS quite an accomplishment.

Strange that for a horror film, nothing in it is even remotely scary. What little resembled horror in this film was borrowed from other Asian movies that did a much better job (Shutter comes to mind). There was however a slightly disgusting point about the fetus, but throwing in a bag of worms (hypothetically speaking), while disgusting, won't make a scary movie scary.

I must admit though, that the soundtrack for this movie was the (only?) highlight of the film. At times, it sounded almost like a disconcerted rendering of an old fashioned Gothic horror movie. Likewise, the premise of the film is quite an interesting one, but thrown into this neophytes hands is nothing but a jumbled mess.

Now I suppose that while this is decent for his first try, but the director should go back to directing those music videos. For now though, all you parents out there, this is probably a horror movie you can show your kids without fear of giving them nightmares...

I know, I know. Here it is 2006, and who on planet earth is paying attention to Asian horror movies any more? I mean, haven't we all moved onto Spain or France or whoever is the new Korea already? Clearly, if the Asian Wave of Horror has washed itself down the drain, who could be left but a bunch of sixth-generation Sadako wannabees, right?

Actually, scrap all that. I have another theory. If J-Horror has truly gone stale, and no one is paying attention (or money) any longer, maybe the filmmakers still hanging around the soundstage are the true heroes--maybe those directors who continue to unapologetically explore the genre are the truly dedicated artists who believe there's still meat on them thar bones.

If this theory is true, that means "Zhaibian/The Heirloom" offers something to the genre that is decidedly different, new, convincing, or at least creative. And, ultimately, it does just that. More specifically, it creatively turns back the clock on horror films, and transports the viewer backwards in time to the glorious era of classy 1970s horror flicks that relied on plot turns, creepy settings, and characters. Although narratively the film shares next to nothing with American classics like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Changeling," or "Audrey Rose," I couldn't suppress the urge to make the comparison (repeatedly while watching). The problem is, I just couldn't put my finger on why. There's some ineffable quality about "The Heirloom"--maybe the photography, the color palette, the dilapidated mansion as setting, or the wistful music-- that kept me saying, "Jeez, this reminds me of The Omen more than the 2006 remake of The Omen."

I think there's no hiding the fact that this film is awash in that "ephemeral something" borrowed from those 70s classics; the director is clearly influenced by the era and style (even the lead women wear bell-bottoms rivaling those donned by Cristina Raines in "The Sentinel"). And allowing those influences to shine through is what I believe is so striking--and even risky--here. Again, I'll reference the recent remakes of so many genre classics--The Omen, The Amityville Horror, The Hills Have Eyes. What I often see in these remakes is not an understanding or embracing of 70s high-class horror style, but instead mere mimicry (often shot-for-shot). Who cares?

Of course, the flick has its faults--most prominently (at the 1 hour, 15 minute mark) the action slows to a melodramatic crawl with nonstop slo-mo panning shots of people and places, accompanied by sweeping violins. Unfortunately, the film never regains its pace before the end--but it's still eye-candy worth savoring.

Ultimately, seeing a film like "Zhaibian/The Heirloom" is like tripping upon some long lost 70s American horror classic I've never heard of. (It's just that the story is steeped in Buddhist tradition and is peopled by Asian actors, heh.) In so many intangible ways, it's like watching "The Manitou" or "Burnt Offerings" for the first time. For a director to achieve that kind of "seventies something-ness"--I applaud him roundly. On the other hand, I suppose many movie buffs (and especially younger horror buffs) would shrug off this 70s appropriation, saying "That's old stuff. It's out of date, out of step." But I wonder--will they be pining for "Hellraiser 6--straight to DVD" when they turn 40?

It is nice to have Taiwan step up and join the Asian horror genre. However, this movie wasn't really particularly a great one, but still the effort was made. The DVD brandishes "among the spookiest ever seen in Asian horror", to that I can only assume that the reviewer isn't particularly experienced in the Asian horror genre.

"The Heirloom" tries to tell a fairly simple story, but director Leste Chen manages to totally kill off the storyline by making the story told in a confusing way and often gives up on continuity throughout the story. It was a shame, because the storyline itself was good, but it was just subjected to an improper hand unable to handle it well. It was a real shame, because the aspect of the whole storyline with the child ghosts/spirits was really interesting and the story did have potential for something greater than it turned out to be.

As far as it being a horror movie goes, then "The Heirloom" is surprisingly devoid of scares and spooks. There wasn't even a single shock moment in the entire movie. And compared to Asian standards, then this wouldn't be considered even remotely scary.

The people cast for the various roles were doing great jobs, although it was an uphill battle against a messy script and a confusing storyline. However, Terri Kwan (playing Yo) and Jason Chang (playing James) were doing good jobs carrying the movie against all odds.

But regardless of the messy outcome of the final cut of the movie, then it is good to have Taiwan marked on the horror market as well, and I am hoping to get to see more horror from there - and hopefully movies that aren't as confusing and badly scripted as this one.

I am rating "The Heirloom" a 4 out of 10 rating, because the movie did have potential and was well produced, just a shame about the butchery that was done to the storyline.

The architect James Yang (Jason Chang) returns to Taiwan after living for twenty years in England since he has inherited a family home. He learns that the old seventy year-old house has been empty for twenty years. James invites his girlfriend Yo (Terri Kwan), who is a dancer, to move in together with him to the house. Their friends Yi-Chen (Yu-chen Chang) and Cheng mysteriously appear in the house with no memory of how they arrived there. Soon Cheng is found dead in his bathtub and a snoopy detective suspects of Yi-Chen. He decides to stay in the house, but strange events happen also to him. Yi-Chen decides to investigate the only relative alive in the Yang family and goes to an asylum to interview James' Aunt Sue Yang. She learns a dark secret about the Yang family. Will she find who is haunting the house?

"The Heirloom" is a creepy and dark Taiwanese horror movie with a story based on a Chinese legend of dead children ghosts fed with blood and raised to bring fortune to the family. This legend is totally unknown to Westerns and maybe this might be the reason why this film is underrated in IMDb. However, the screenplay is well-written; the direction of Leste Chen is effective, supported by good performances of the gorgeous Terri Kwan and Jason Chang and beautiful cinematography. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not available on Blu-Ray and DVD