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Review

This creepy-crawly Hong Kong giallo thriller about organ theft proves that director Law Chi-leung’s success with Inner Senses wasn’t just due to the late Leslie Cheung’s great (and final) performance. Here the filmmaker delivers consistent suspense and keeps the audience guessing what’s around the next corner with clever use of lighting and editing. He also coaxes believable performances out of his lead actresses without ever trying to make them too sympathetic. Angelica Lee isn’t stoically brave in the face of danger like most typical gothic heroines; instead, she turns into a real bitch! And Kar Yan Lam doesn’t act spooky merely to make her character more of a suspect; she’s quite twisted. As the suspense ratchets up notch by notch, Koma gives these actresses plenty of opportunity to be brave — scenes with nudity, drenching, vomiting, pratfalls, and lots of rough handling — and they manage to look good under all these stressful conditions. It’s a real movie movie, meaning it allows itself to get a bit farfetched at times, but the talent behind the show keeps viewers in on the fun — even when the story (by Susan Chan – Who Am I?) takes a twist that threatens to send it off the road.

 -- Brian Thomas