"The Maid" is a highly impressive and incredibly entertaining Asian ghost effort.
**SPOILERS**
Arriving in Singapore, Rosa Dimano, (Alessandra de Rossi) goes to work for Mr. Teo, (Shucheng Chen) and his family, Luan Teo, (Huifang Hong) and Ah Soon, (Benny Soh) a group of Teochew Opera works, as their new maid. Finding that she has arrived on the first day of Hungry Ghost Month, where citizens honor their dead family members, she goes about her duties while they go about their jobs until she accidentally disturbs a ceremonial ritual meant to protect the family from wandering spirits and soon begins seeing numerous visions and encounters with different ghosts around her. Realizing that the encounters have been caused by a ghost of a former employee seeking revenge on the family, she tries whatever she can to help it and stay away from the family.
The Good News: There was a lot of really good things in here. One of the better pluses here is the high number of scares that emerge from the ghosts. By playing into the usual Asian style, with the painted faces and completely feature-less facial features, they come off as incredibly striking when viewed, and when they start popping up out of nowhere, such as inside closets and under the bed-sheets, there's a bunch times when their sudden appearance out of nowhere scores big time in the opening of the film. These are aided quite considerably by the atmosphere these scenes are shared with, as it's pretty much all the different set-ups used for the celebrations. With the different elements used, such as the items placed among the offerings, and with the superstitions and different rituals needing to be appeased, it offers up a rather fun and certainly heightened sense of atmosphere when actually put all together. Both of these are responsible for the film having one of the best paces around, as the mystery helps out but it's mostly all about the ghostly interaction. That makes the film so enjoyable and easy to get-in-to, as it starts off with lots of great shock encounters before getting to explaining it. The quantity of encounters in this half is really what sets it apart, as there's plenty of ones in here that work. Besides the earlier ones, the big ones seen during the festival are the most impressive as they're genuinely creepy and really serve the film well with adding in some impressive scare scenes. There's also some nice action here served from the admittedly-exciting foot-chase that goes on. Taking place through several exciting locations, including through down-town and a really unique circular staircase that leads to a shocking conclusion, leaving it one of the best moments in the film. That also brings up the last big plus in this one, the finale, which has a lot of great stuff in it. Beyond the great action of the house being set on fire with the mad dash to get out, this also manages a lot of fun during the rest of what works. Deciding to hold off on the revelation as being told and instead shown here adds since it's pretty much really enjoyable to watch it unfold rather than being told what happened. The action is great, the revelation is well-handled and it makes the whole thing interesting and exciting. Plus, it also manages to send the film out on a high-note with how everything comes to pass here, which this segment a real highlight, and combined with the other factors here, the film highly entertaining and enjoyable.
The Bad News: This here had a couple of minor flaws. One of the biggest ones is the film's central idea of placing so much emphasis on the scares, as that can be really tiring and quite irritating at times. By simply showing the exact same types of scenes over and over with the only variation coming in the form of what's doing the action and where it occurs, there's very little that can be done with that before it starts getting repetitive, which is what starts to happen here at times. There's not much that really changes things by not moving around the type of scares it features. The only other flaw here is an entirely confusing scene where, due to later events, makes it weird as to why it's featured which makes it absolutely confusing as to why it's here. These are the only things wrong with it.
The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and creepy ghost entry, with a few minor touches to hold it down from practically nothing, as the flaws aren't that damaging. Really give this one a shot if you're into the Asian ghost films or find this one interesting, while those who aren't big on this should heed caution.
Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence and some Language
**SPOILERS**
Arriving in Singapore, Rosa Dimano, (Alessandra de Rossi) goes to work for Mr. Teo, (Shucheng Chen) and his family, Luan Teo, (Huifang Hong) and Ah Soon, (Benny Soh) a group of Teochew Opera works, as their new maid. Finding that she has arrived on the first day of Hungry Ghost Month, where citizens honor their dead family members, she goes about her duties while they go about their jobs until she accidentally disturbs a ceremonial ritual meant to protect the family from wandering spirits and soon begins seeing numerous visions and encounters with different ghosts around her. Realizing that the encounters have been caused by a ghost of a former employee seeking revenge on the family, she tries whatever she can to help it and stay away from the family.
The Good News: There was a lot of really good things in here. One of the better pluses here is the high number of scares that emerge from the ghosts. By playing into the usual Asian style, with the painted faces and completely feature-less facial features, they come off as incredibly striking when viewed, and when they start popping up out of nowhere, such as inside closets and under the bed-sheets, there's a bunch times when their sudden appearance out of nowhere scores big time in the opening of the film. These are aided quite considerably by the atmosphere these scenes are shared with, as it's pretty much all the different set-ups used for the celebrations. With the different elements used, such as the items placed among the offerings, and with the superstitions and different rituals needing to be appeased, it offers up a rather fun and certainly heightened sense of atmosphere when actually put all together. Both of these are responsible for the film having one of the best paces around, as the mystery helps out but it's mostly all about the ghostly interaction. That makes the film so enjoyable and easy to get-in-to, as it starts off with lots of great shock encounters before getting to explaining it. The quantity of encounters in this half is really what sets it apart, as there's plenty of ones in here that work. Besides the earlier ones, the big ones seen during the festival are the most impressive as they're genuinely creepy and really serve the film well with adding in some impressive scare scenes. There's also some nice action here served from the admittedly-exciting foot-chase that goes on. Taking place through several exciting locations, including through down-town and a really unique circular staircase that leads to a shocking conclusion, leaving it one of the best moments in the film. That also brings up the last big plus in this one, the finale, which has a lot of great stuff in it. Beyond the great action of the house being set on fire with the mad dash to get out, this also manages a lot of fun during the rest of what works. Deciding to hold off on the revelation as being told and instead shown here adds since it's pretty much really enjoyable to watch it unfold rather than being told what happened. The action is great, the revelation is well-handled and it makes the whole thing interesting and exciting. Plus, it also manages to send the film out on a high-note with how everything comes to pass here, which this segment a real highlight, and combined with the other factors here, the film highly entertaining and enjoyable.
The Bad News: This here had a couple of minor flaws. One of the biggest ones is the film's central idea of placing so much emphasis on the scares, as that can be really tiring and quite irritating at times. By simply showing the exact same types of scenes over and over with the only variation coming in the form of what's doing the action and where it occurs, there's very little that can be done with that before it starts getting repetitive, which is what starts to happen here at times. There's not much that really changes things by not moving around the type of scares it features. The only other flaw here is an entirely confusing scene where, due to later events, makes it weird as to why it's featured which makes it absolutely confusing as to why it's here. These are the only things wrong with it.
The Final Verdict: An incredibly enjoyable and creepy ghost entry, with a few minor touches to hold it down from practically nothing, as the flaws aren't that damaging. Really give this one a shot if you're into the Asian ghost films or find this one interesting, while those who aren't big on this should heed caution.
Rated UR/R: Graphic Violence and some Language