The Maid (2005)

During the Seventh month on the Chinese calendar, the gate of hell open and the dead rise to walk the earth. There are rules people must follow for 30 days in order to survive. Never swim, never turn back at night when you hear someone call and never talk to strangers on a deserted road. Break any of the rules and you face the haunting consequences. Rosa (Alessandra Di Rossi) a young woman from the Phillipines arrives in Singapore to work as a domestic maid. Naive and innocent she has never believed in the supernatural and ultimately breaks the rules of the seventh month one by one. Now she will pay a terrible price for her ignorance,

Genuinely creepy, interesting story...

Genuinely creepy. Alessandra de Rossi delivers a convincing performance, but the real star of the movie is Singapore, with it's traditions and superstitions it proves to be a more than apt setting for the ghost story. Very well made. September 22, 2008

Sure Gave Me A Lot Of Jumps!

I just watched this last night,and I really liked it. Very creepy,and made me jump,a lot!Sometimes I wasn't sure about who was a ghost or a living person,but that just made it better.Very interesting and original story,about an unusual Chinese cultural belief.One of the best Ghost story movies I've yet seen.Right up there with another of my Asian favorites "A Tale Of Two Sisters". June 24, 2008

Twisted Singaporeans

According to Chinese legend, the gates of hell are opened during the seventh lunar month. During this time the dead spirits walk amongst the living on earth, to 'wreak revenge or repay a kindness', as the narrative intro explains. Given the nature of this picture, you can imagine which one will occur over the next 85 minutes.

This is a surprisingly effective bit of creepiness from the Chinese community in Singapore. The story centers around a young Filipino maid who has been hired by a Chinese-Singaporean family at the start of this lunar hell month. The family has an adult mentally-challenged son who acts like a youngster, and manages to intrude on many aspects of the new maid's life. In addition, the maid is able to see the dead spirits walking. The matriarch of the Chinese family explains that she must have angered some to the rising spirits, and it's not long before the burned visage of a young woman haunting her new abode.

Our young maid becomes aware that this family is anything but normal, and she's embroiled in a hellacious battle of spirits. The effectiveness of this film derives from psychological tension and ritual surrounding this macabre Chinese festival. There are brief moments of intense gore and suffering, but largely the film is propelled by mood and character tensions, rather than effects.

Asian horror has alot to answer for after creating an avalanche of mediocre copycat films over the last decade. The Maid is refreshing, and reaffirms my faith in the power of this genre, when creativity is directed to the good of the film. Worth a look, even for eyes jaded by eastern-inspired horror.

The extras include cast interviews and documentary background surrounding the festival of the dead spirits. There's a trailer and short promos for other Asia Extreme titles.

February 2, 2008

Genuinely Creepy

Kelvin Tong's The Maid is an interesting little film. It is not really scary but it is genuinely creepy in a way that not many films are today.

Starring Alessandra de Rossi as Rosa Dimaano, a Phillipine maid who goes to work for a family in Singapore in order to earn money for her family, the film gets heavily involved in Chinese superstition and tradition. Rosa arrives in Singapore during the Chinese Seventh Month. This is the time when according to tradition the gates of Hell open and the spirits or hungary ghosts walk among the humans. Rosa unknowingly breaks tradition and begins to be haunted by these ghosts. She is especially followed by the ghost of a former maid seeking revenge on her host family.

The film is unique in that it presents custom and traditions that few Westerners know about in addition to telling its traditional ghost story. This is a worthy entry into the Asian horror genre that should have received a wider American audience upon its release.

The Tartan disc offers an interesting making of feature in addition to some trailers of their most current releases.

October 7, 2007

3.5 stars--A creepy little movie

In the The Maid, a young woman comes from the Phillipines to Singapore to work as a maid for an older Chinese couple who have an adult, mentally disabled child. The woman comes during the 7th month on the Chinese lunar calendar, a time when they believe the gates of hell open up and the dead walk the earth and seek justice. There are rules to follow so the ghosts don't bother you, but since the maid doesn't know the rules, she unwittingly breaks them one by one. Soon she is being harrassed and stumbles onto a family secret.

I liked the plot of The Maid, especially the ending. The acting is pretty good and there is some very creepy imagery with the ghosts. There are a few times when the appearance of a ghost is telegraphed, but there are others that are a surprise and made me jump. The pacing is a little slow sometimes and the editing choppy at places, but overall The Maid is one of the better horror movies I've seen recently. August 28, 2007

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