23:59

Jump scares and all that. Is that something you look forward to? The story itself is intriguing to a degree. But overall this is as generic as you probably expect it to be. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing. But it also is not something that will challenge anyone who has seen a couple of movies (especially in the horror genre of course).

Acting is not a strong suit either, but the movie does more or less satisfy if you set a low bar and just want a snack. Not all movies have to be exceptional or fantastic. If you can dig that, watch it, if not you may feel this being a waste of time

The overall look of the film is good, actors are consistent and both sound and photography are better than films with such a small budget usually are. Pace and timing are its main failings but I think the local audiences were probably willing to overlook that.

To the Western audience this may seem strange or slow or lacking in the frights. It certainly isn't big budget at all. However the basic storyline is good. I think it suffers a bit in translation culturally but on the whole it is a really good effort for a very low budget. The concept was superb and if more money had v-been utilised I think it would have improved the outcome. I don't mean doing the big Hollywood thing either as that gets done to the point where many films are just ridiculous.

The movie sets up the basis for the spirits, but in two ways, and then throws in a third. One is that a villager was killed in the past by a recruit, so at 23:59 its spirit comes forth. The other is that if a pregnant woman commits suicide, she and her daughter will come to haunt. And the recruits do see spirits. The movie has a group of recruits in training. There is a suicide, and another one dies under mysterious circumstances, so they are on edge. Their Sgt even provides them with talismans and later a medium is brought in. While all the recruits have similar and short haircuts, the Sgt has a very bushy do, and the officer certainly isn't regulation. That is a detail that should have been trivial to know and fix. The movie is decently done, although if what was shown was reflective of their training, not much of a fighting force. It simply is not that interesting although if one was familiar with the legends, perhaps more so.

This Singaporean horror has a concept and simply doesn't make best use of it. The movie starts strong but quickly stumbles into mediocrity.

It tells a story set on a military base about a group of young recruits and the supernatural events that transpire on and around the base.

It looks fantastic, considerably better than I would have expected and the writing is well above par as well. Sadly though it manages to be creepy in places the story is a bit of an incoherent mess and by around the half way mark it quickly becomes apparent that it isn't going anywhere good.

The ideas behind it though solid were clearly in the wrong peoples hands and instead of potential being met we have this messy little feature.

Watchable but ultimately fails on most fronts.

The Good:

Couple of nice ideas

Production values

The Bad:

Plot falls apart badly

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

It's not just Japan that likes their muddled inconclusive plots