So, was looking forward to watching this one, since HK cinema seems to be in the grip of backward looking nostalgia these days, perhaps because filmmakers are unable to see a way forward...

But then I watch Herman Yau's category III gore and taoist magic fest, and it, too, is nothing more than a nostalgic look back, albeit of a different kind. (full the complete argument, click here).

Anyone else see this one?

Not yet Peter, but I plan to soon. Thanks for highlighting the review, which is great as usual.

I was somewhat disappointed. I thought the story was very dull and predictable but the whole baby corpse thing was a little gratuitous and served only to provoke the audience. Additionally, it fell into the same trap as SO CLOSE where the effects people where milking their computer algorithms for all they were worth - breaking glass in the case of UP CLOSE and spurting/oozing/misting blood in this case. Nevertheless the premise and raison-d'etre for the film doesn't call for a masterful script so I shouldn't complain. I wanted a modern, gory flying-head movie and that's what I got. If you forgive the lousy story and don't take it seriously, it's worth a watch. I reckon it could've been better though.

Victor

I just keep expecting the release of the Shaw Brothers catalog to light a fire under today's filmmakers, many of whom are seeing many of those films for the first time, or at least the first time since they ran in theaters. GONG TAU seems to have been inspired at least partly by those films. Peter Chan Ho-Sun went on and on about paying tribute to the old musicals when he released PERHAPS LOVE, but his film clearly went to Hollywood for its inspiration. I'm curious about his upcoming remake of BLOOD BROTHERS, but the trailer, with its dull brown-grey palette, has lowered my expectations a bit.

Hi Peter and interested others: I am another person who has -- and have to say that I've got a soft spot for it, seeing as it was the first Hong Kong movie I saw post moving to Hong Kong.

My review of the film can be found over here:-
http://hk.bcmagazine.net/hk.bcmagazine.iss...3/17cinema.html

(Scroll down to review number 4 -- and yes, I do know that there's a typo in the body of text that rendered Mark Cheng's surname into Cheung! :()

And yeah, Peter, it does seem that Hong Kong movie makers are referencing the past a lot these days. OTOH, it's a lot of different pasts plus genres. (E.g., prostitute dramas -- WHISPERS AND MOANS and female flatmates a la MODERN LOVE -- SINGLE BLOG as well as Category III horror a la ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA -- GONG TAU.) And some of these movies are better than others.

Those who find CGI effects, especially those in Hong Kong movies, to be on the lame side should be well advised to steer clear of KIDNAP -- whose CGI during a climactic scene rendered that scene thoroughly laughable rather than dramatic. OTOH, they should get a kick out of INVISIBLE TARGET -- a movie whose trailer made the fire that features in a scene look fake but I was personally assured by one of the actors in that scene (at the risk of name-dropping, it was Jaycee Chan) that the fire was, in fact, absolutely real.

Sadly, the Shaw Brothers catalog seems to be ignored or go plain unnoticed by many of today's filmmakers, etc. A case in point: Alexi Tan (BLOOD BROTHERS' director) told me (I know, I know -- but what can I say other than I've currently got a job which has me meeting and interviewing my share of film folks...), after I specifically asked him, that he has not seen BOXER FROM SHANTUNG and only saw THE BLOOD BROTHERS after he made BLOOD BROTHERS. Also, Kenneth Bi (son of Ivy Ling Po and Chin Han) told me that he seriously doubted that Jaycee Chan -- who stars in his THE DRUMMER (a film that should satisfy people looking for something original in a Hong Kong movie) -- knows who Ivy Ling Po and Chin Han are as far as film appearances and such are concerned...

And should anyone be interested, here are links to the:-

Jaycee Chan interview:-
http://hk.bcmagazine.net/hk.bcmagazine.iss...ee_charmed.html

Alexi Tan interview:-
http://hk.bcmagazine.net/hk.bcmagazine.iss...odborthers.html

Enjoy? I hope so! B)

It's heart and head might have been in the right place but I thought the film was structurally weak, and with the characters being impossible to empathise with, it ultimately became a chore to sit through. It was just relentless, lacking an underlying sense of fun, or at least mischief, that such an undertaking desperately needs. It wanted to resurrect the spirit of those 70's, 80's and 90's HK horrors but ended up just another one for the 2000's scrap heap.

Yvonne, don't apologize for having the inside scoop! The info just adds another facet to the films. On the other hand -- freaking heartbreaking that these guys haven't seen -- at least -- BOXER FROM SHANTUNG, for crying out loud.

Also from your post I realize that BLOOD BROTHERS (2007) is the Shanghai story similar to BOXER, whereas I was thinking in the above post of Peter Chan's now renamed pic THE WARLORDS, which is a remake of the original BLOOD BROTHERS, and that was the trailer I saw. BLOOD BROTHERS 07 has a nice style going for it, but how disappointing that the director has no foundation in the classics.

Re: Gong Tau, I think Miles hits it on the head regarding the lack of an underlying sense of mischief. Failing that, I might have enjoyed a bit more tragedy. There's really no payoff either way after all that they go through to try to remove the curse. I haven't picked up a copy yet, but I do plan to watch WHISPERS AND MOANS as well, though I already suspected it would be another exercise in genre nostalgia, but might as well.

Especially if I share it, right? ^_^

So it's not just me who thought that the storyline sounded similiar? At least it did when reading the synopsis. But, if anything, BLOOD BROTHERS (2007) does have the most affinity with BULLET IN THE HEAD -- just like Alexi Tan said.

You know my prejudices and preferences but I'll still say it anyways: FWIW, WHISPERS AND MOANS and HOOKED ON YOU -- the latter of which I really had low expectations for, despite it being a Milkyway Image movie and all -- are the two Hong Kong films from thus far this year that I like most.