Asia has churned out some very good horror films over the past decade. Breathing life into the genre, they brought new vision and new approaches. Of course the first ones to cross the pond were the good ones, films like The Ring, The Eye, Dark Water, and The Grudge; then when the top tier titles were spent we started to get middling titles, and as those began to run out the quality starts to become even more widespread.
The Heirloom hails from Taiwan, and while it picks up in the latter third, it is such a dreadfully dull slog that you may not be able to make it all the way through. The Heirloom is one of those movies that has some very good things going for it, making the whole quite frustrating.
James Yang (Jason Chang) is an architect, recently returning to Taiwan after studying in the UK. He has inherited a large gothic mansion on the outskirts of Taipei. It is an old decaying home whose origins date back to the Chinese occupation. Even though he is urged to sell right from the start, he decides to keep it, and invites his girlfriend, Yo (Terri Kwan), to come and live with him there. She has some initial misgivings, but quickly agrees to move in. Shortly thereafter, in what any veteran of these haunted house type tales will know, strange things start happening. The first victims of the occurrences are James and Yo's friends Yi-Chen and Cheng.
I guess it would help to back up a little bit. The film opens with text telling of the ancient Chinese tradition of worshiping young ghosts. They would take dead fetuses, keep them in jars and feed them blood in return for good fortune. Like most ancient practices used in movies of this type, this one has dire consequences. In this case, a mass suicide by James' family twenty years earlier leaves him the heir to everything, and now that he is of age, it is his. The problem is that he knows nothing of his family's legacy, of their use of dead fetuses to better the family's fortune.
James and Yo try to make sense of what is going on, and aren't making much headway. Then partway through, James' committed aunt reveals the dead baby legacy to Yo, who starts to piece things together. From this point on, it becomes the young couple's mission to close this circle of death.
The biggest problem with the movie is that it moves along so slowly that I found my interest never even building to the point where it could wane. I never really cared about the characters or became invested in their survival. The further it went, the smaller the chances became that I would care. Sure, the post-exposition time did get better, but it was too little too late to save the movie for me.
Despite what a slog it was, it was not a complete loss. The cinematography is gorgeous, the mansion set becomes a character itself, giving an aura of menace, dread, and impending doom. There are some gorgeous tracking shots through the expanse that are just great. Combine that with an intriguing score, and you have a movie that does have a distinct feeling that something bad is afoot; it is the story, and the dreadful pacing that ultimately sinks the movie.
Audio/Video. The film is presented its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and it delivers a very nice image, nicely detailed and free of any major defects. Audio is presented in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1. I listened to the Dolby track, and there is nothing to complain about.
Extras. There are a few included here, but nothing terribly compelling. Included are a commentary track with the director, screenwriter, and production crew, a brief making of featurette, deleted scenes, and the original trailer.
Bottom line. You could do much worse, but unless you are starved for Asian horror, I would not really recommend this. The pacing is just a killer of insomnia. There is some nice atmosphere, but again, not enough to save this bore.
Not Recommended.
Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about entertainment when he isn’t sitting in a movie theater. He is known around the office as the “Movie Guy” and is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Interests include science fiction, horror, and metal music. His writings can be found at Draven99’s Musings, as well as Film School Rejects.
