Visits: Hungry Ghost Anthology
Starring: Loh Bak Lai, Yuhang Ho, Ong Kok Liang. Adlin Aman Ramlee, Len Siaw Mee, Carmen Soo, Ling Tang, Pete Teo
Directed By: Yuhang Ho, James Lee, Low Ngai Yuen, Ng Tian Hann
Written By: Tan Chui Mui, Low Ngai Yuen, Ng Tian Hann
Released: 2006
Grade: C+

Visits: Hungry Ghost Anthology begins at a radio station in Malaysia during hungry ghost month when the gates to purgatory open and the hungry ghosts are released. The host tells us the 4 stories that he feels are the most emotional and who have a direct relationship to human spirits.

The first story we see deals with a young girl, Mae Ling who wakes up in the hospital with little knowledge of how she got there. A women there blames her for the death of another and claims that she will be haunted by this spirit. She does in fact begin to see this spirit, but can’t make any sense of it. Mae Ling doesn’t remember who this is, what happened to her, or why she is being haunted. Someone brings her back to where her accident took place, triggering all of those lost memories, giving her closure as well as a more terrifying dilemma.

The second story is about a woman and her friend, Anne, who has had a traumatic experience in the past that she can’t seem to get over. She tries to help her, but she disappears for days at a time and she seems to be on the edge, losing her stability more and more everyday. The person she is spending time with may not even be completely human at this point. Another storyline centers around a group of young filmmakers, toying with elements of the supernatural. They try to capture spirits to make a groundbreaking film that will shock their audiences. However, once they try to create this illusion on screen it becomes a bit too real for them to deal with. The last chapter of the film centers on obsession that takes a morbid turn.

The different stories aren’t very closely related. They were meant to be one film, showing these people that were connected. They are really 4 separate short films that follow one another. None of them are traditional horror either. The stories take ghosts from a much more emotional side and takes out almost all of the blood and scares. Majority of the films I found very bland. There wasn’t any real emotion that would make you really care what was going on. Especially in the last chapter it took so long for anything to happen. Morbid obsession gives great possibilities physically and psychologically of the twisted mind set behind it as well as what it can lead to, yet the film took the easy way out and didn’t really display any of this. There were mostly just a lot of shots of cameras recording different angles. Overall, there was very little action, next to no dialogue in this feature, and in the end there was very little pay off.

The first film segment was without a doubt the best one. It had the right amount of insight on the characters, dark atmosphere, and strong charm that translated wonderfully. Director, Low Ngai Yuen, gave a very artistic look to this to really emphasize the tone of his piece. Everything is heavily shaded, especially Mae Ling who is in the darkness as the truth is a mystery to her. The vibrant reds fit as a contrast to this. There is this faint green glow on the walls that almost give it a dreamlike feel, which is very fitting since this is when Mae Ling is venturing in to the past through the memories that suddenly come back to her. This piece more than any other illustrates that through this hungry ghost month being a part of Asian culture, these spirits almost seem to be less of a phenomenon than you would expect. No one thinks Mae Ling is crazy or questions her at all. Some try to protect her while others feel that it is only justice being served. We see a bond with her and this spirit and it serves as a great connection with this childlike innocence to it. There are dark turns in the truth, but it still ends up being what sets her free. This story was a great start to the film and was very well done all around. After being involved in the film, the movie just totally lost me as the segments got worse and worse throughout. Most of them are just boring and don’t take too much time to put real thought or creativity forth. When you take the emotional and personal side to ghost stories and leave this out you are not left with much. The first feature did everything right and it is worth seeing, but the others hold this back from being a quality ghost anthology.