The Tag-Along

Different kind of ... well not the one where you do not text your friends for sure. Well former friends that is of course. No this is about "real" ghosts that you wouldn't mind getting rid of. Interesting and intriguing premise that is set up right from the beginning, where we get an explanation for those beings. And their purpose if you want to call it that.

That being said, the rest of the movie is quite predictable, as a few nice jump scares here and there and has a nice overall mood. But does nothing to really get your juices flowing. At least in my humble opinion. Not a bad movie either of course.

I don't watch a lot of Asian horror films, mainly because I have never really been much of a fan of paranormal movies, and for the most part Asian horror films tend to focus on paranormal type things (mostly scary little kid ghosts). But the other night I was bored and in the mood for a horror film, I decided to not be picky at all and basically just randomly pick one of the newer releases from the genre. I stumbled onto a Taiwanese film called "The Tag Along" and honestly I am glad I did.

The film follows Zhi-wei He, a young adult who lives a fairly busy life trying to juggle his job, his girlfriend, and spending time with his grandmother who lives with him. Zhi-wei He's life is turned upside down when a little ghost girl in a red dress shows up and takes his grandmother away. From there things get pretty wild as the little ghost girl makes multiple appearances to terrorize Zhi-wei and the other people in his life.

Early on "The Tag Along" does a lot of things right, the characters are interesting and the story is set up well, plus there are a lot of very well done subtle scare scenes that did a good job of catching me off guard. Unfortunately as the film progresses it becomes more and more dependent on CGI and less on practical scares. At this point it was still entertaining, however the CGI caused the film to lose a lot of it's creepiness. There are actually quite a few scenes that had me giggling a bit due to the goofy effects.

I liked "The Tag Along", overall it was a pretty fun ghost story that was clever at times and didn't rely too much on the normal Ghost Movie clichés (even though there are quite a few present here). Without the CGI I feel like this could have been a lot better, but even with it the film is still entertaining and worth checking out.

6/10

Well watched this movie since I had no other good movies. But I ended up being satisfied with the movie. Interesting concept and I came to know it's based on true events. In some portions of the movie, ghost is not well portrayed and looks like a low budget movie . Overall can be watched with no doubts . Better than other foreign movies released this year.

The Haunted, also known as The Tag-Along, is a highly entertaining Taiwanese horror movie. An elderly woman from a vast apartment complex has mysteriously disappeared and her worried best friend starts having strange visions and hearing weird noises. Soon after, the disappeared woman suddenly returns and is in a confused state of shock. She remembers being held captive in the mountains outside of Taipeh and pronouncing her best friend's name who has now also disappeared under strange circumstances. Her busy grandson and his fragile girlfriend start investigating with the help of an elderly security guard. They soon realize that numerous recent disappearances in the region are related to the ghost of a little girl living in the mountains. While they are getting closer to uncovering the truth, they start risking their own lives facing abominable witchcraft.

This overlooked movie convinces on numerous levels. First of all, it's one of the most important Taiwanese horror movies, starting a popular franchise and being the first of its kind to get limited international release. While this movie might seem like another ghost story at first sight, the movie incorporates numerous elements of Taiwanese culture that add a fresh perspective. The locations are perfectly chosen from desolate apartments over gloomy hospitals to foggy forests in the mountains. The round characters are intriguing and especially the difficult relationship between the ambitious son and his fearful girlfriend is cleverly developed throughout the movie. Being a horror movie, the film has an uneasy vibe right from the start and showcases a few unsettling moments while always favouring atmosphere over jump scare tropes. With a length of one hour and a half, the film doesn't overstay its welcome and remains dynamic from start to finish. The production values are above average as the movie makes the best out of a low budget.

I'm glad that I was able to pick up this movie along with its good but not as convincing sequel in a collective set for only seven bucks. However, this movie is worth much more than what I've paid for it and will certainly convince international horror movie enthusiasts. The combination of Taiwanese culture and a creepy ghost story adds something new to horror cinema and I can only encourage genre fans to give obscure international filmmakers a chance instead of only focusing on Hollywood reboots, remakes and sequels.

I really think the movie is really interesting on how its told the story. The story is unique with a urban legend that I never heard of and is interesting on the details of it. Like how there's a Little Girl in a red dress who cause people to disappeared into the woods and cause them to experience illusions. The movie is build up really well throughout and the atmosphere is pretty effective with its mood throughout. I found a couple of illusions to be pretty freaky on how its done and feels like a psychological horror movie. And I like the climax of the movie.

I found the creepiness factor to be weak since the jump scares aren't that effective and some of the illusions doesn't look creepy.