Tales from the Occult review: Spooky anthology by Fruit Chan and others offers fun departures from Hong Kong cinema’s usual horror output

3.5/5 stars

If there is one positive that the Hong Kong film industry could take from the pandemic, it is probably this: with borders shut, investors fixated on lucrative co-productions with China were suddenly willing to entertain pitches on smaller, Hong Kong-oriented genre films that otherwise have no place in today’s filmmaking ecosystem.

This has included a brief renaissance of lower-budget horror movies, the latest example of which is Tales from the Occult . Written and directed by three filmmakers of varying statures, the omnibus film features idiosyncratic stories, all set in old buildings.

It opens with the psychological thriller The Chink , the first directing effort by Macau-based screenwriter Wesley Hoi Ip-sang. In it, Cherry Ngan Cheuk-ling plays Yoyi, a pop singer who was traumatised as a high school student when she discovered a dead body in a back alley but did not report it.

When she moves into a newly redecorated flat, Yoyi has the feeling that something is creeping around – a fear not helped by the frequent absence of her best friend (Ng Wing-sze) and married boyfriend (Kelvin Kwan Chor-yiu). Is it the dead man from years back, her hunky neighbour or some random stranger that is behind her nightmare?

Setting a satirical tone is Fruit Chan Gor’s Dead Mall , set in a possibly haunted shopping centre that was once the scene of a deadly fire. A lively opening sees unethical investment influencer Wilson (Jerry Lamb Hiu-fung) sing the praises of the half-empty venue during a live-stream … as paid extras wander around behind him.

Wilson soon sees a mysterious person in a gas mask lurking in the background, and he is joined by Cecilia So Lai-shan’s occult interest influencer. Chan’s segment then devolves into slasher territory and the non-linear story unfolds via three concurrent live-streams.

In A Witness out of the Blue director Fung Chih-chiang’s thoroughly entertaining part The Tenement, rising actress Sofiee Ng Hoi-yan plays Ginny, an internet author whose writing of a crime story is interrupted when she encounters a weird-looking figure in the stairwell of her half-deserted tenement building.

As the tenants ponder how to deal with that “thing” (preferably without making their properties’ values drop), Fung draws an unexpectedly funny performance from Richie Jen Hsien-chi, who plays a formidable gangster in hiding. The director’s ability to mix genres has been put to great use here.

While Hoi’s debut plays its horror/thriller premise straight, Chan’s wildly playful part echoes the chaotic energy of his recent horror comedy Coffin Homes to good effect. Fung’s contribution is more of a dark comedy with paranormal themes than anything remotely scary, and it also has the best writing out of the three.

Taken together, the parts of Tales from the Occult make a consistently atmospheric whole – and offer a welcome change of pace in Hong Kong horror cinema, which has grown increasingly stale.