Rigor Mortis (2013)

"Never take the mask off"

Rigor Mortis was an homage to the Mr. Vampire franchise even casting Chin Siu Ho and Anthony Chan as the leads. Director Juno Mak made a stylishly bleak film lacking the humor of other hopping vampire films. A stellar veteran cast helped cover over gaps in the story.

Chin Siu Ho is an actor down on his luck and separated from his wife and son. He moves into a dilapidated apartment building with aging tenants. Death is ever near and, in many cases, still lingering. Two Taoist priests, one retired and the other who practices black magic work together and against each other as vengeful ghosts and a hopping vampire terrorize the building. Chin owes Taoist Kau for saving his life and bands together with him to cleanse the evil and put an end to it.

I wasn’t aware this film had any connection to the Mr. Vampire films when it started and officially it didn’t. Chin Siu Ho (MV, VvV, MV1992) walking across the screen was my first clue and Anthony Chan (Four-eyed Taoist MV, MV4) playing a reluctant bespectacled Taoist was another. Chin had cast pics from Mr. Vampire with the late Lam Ching Ying (THE Uni-browed Taoist MV1,2,3, 1992, VvV) and Ricky Hui (MV1) on display. Billy Lau (MV1,2,3,1992,VvV) made a guest appearance as a cook, Chung Fat (MV2 & 4) as the black magic practitioner and finally, Richard Ng (MV3) played a beloved husband. Kara Hui gave a great performance as a widow whose sanity hung by a thread after her husband was involved with a double murder/suicide in their apartment. Pau Hei Ching was brilliant as the dedicated wife who would do anything to bring her deceased husband back. Anything.

The fights were brutal and CGI/wire assisted. Chin Siu Ho practiced martial arts in real life and even at 50 made some impressive moves. The jiangshi went from graceful slow-mo hopping with a wind machine to rapidly crawling up walls. The two malevolent ghosts were creepy as they floated about and possessed the living and the dead. Juno Mak created this world primarily in tombstone grays and muted tones , saving the bigger pops of color for rooms lit up in red or puddles of blood. The film was quite stylishly filmed for a low budget horror flick.

For true horror connoisseurs this movie would be tame. For fraidy cats like me, I had to turn my head a couple of times although I did not miss the slapstick humor often associated with hopping vampire films. The cast gave excellent performances. The gloomy apartment setting offered all the hope of a cemetery where the people didn't realize they were dead. The biggest drawback for me was Chin Siu Ho’s character not having a proper backstory and the epilogue. The epilogue may have actually given meaning to the title, but I found it disappointing. Whether it was the director’s way of trying to be clever or the censors stepped in, it came across as mundane after the thrilling battles. Still, it was a pleasure to have much of the gang back together (RIP LCY!) which caused me to give this film a ratings’ bump.

"In this business, no one gets a happy ending."

30 October 2024
Trigger warnings: Child death, insects, gore, suicides, sexual assault

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