I'm not really into the whole supernatural thriller genre sometimes, but I got this movie for my birthday from my brother, and I decided to watch it tonight. First of all, I've never heard of this movie, and so I thought it was going to be low-budget, stupid movie with a cheesy title (which I still think is cheesy by the way). Boy was I wrong...


SPOILERS BELOW

Sypnosis: Rosa, a young woman, arrives in Singapore from the Philippines to work as a domestic maid. A non-believer in the supernatural world, she innocently breaks the rules, one by one. Now she will understand that the spirits should never be disturbed...

It starts out with a small story about a holiday in China called the Chinese Calendar Seventh Month, where the gates of Hell are opened and spirits, or 'Hungry Ghosts,' are released for 30 days, seeking revenge on people. Then, an 18-year-old girl, Rosa, moves into Singapore into a family's home, where she is their maid. The family consists of a father, mother, and a mentally challenged son. But after a day or two after Rosa has moved in, she begins to experience paranormal activity, from doors opening and closing by themselves, to hands grabbing at her arms and feet and having weird, disturbing dreams.

She is terrorized by these spirits, but hides her fears, saying she is not afraid, and continues with her work as a maid. But as she continues to see a ghost named Esther, she must find out a mystery concerning Esther, and how the father and mother of the home are part of why Esther are terrorizing her. But what Rosa finds terrifies her, as she discovers that Esther was burned and her body was stuffed in a drum hidden in the upstairs attic. But once Rosa finds out the past, the father and mother of the home find out, too, and they begin to do what they did to Esther: kill her.

So to make a long story short, Rosa turns out to look exactly like Esther, and Esther has been warning Rosa, and sticking around the home to get her revenge on the mother and father, collecting their souls before the Chinese Calendar Seventh Month is over, and the gates of Hell are closed.

At first it was hard to understand what was going on here. At first I thought it was a zombie movie because on the back of the DVD cover, it says something like, "...the gates of Hell open and the dead walk the Earth...," but then there were ghosts everywhere! And then, it started to turn out like the Grudge, since most of the ghosts look like what you'd see in The Grudge or The Ring. But as the movie got into more depth, I began to understand, and it got creepier and creepier.

The acting is a little cheesy, but I can understand, since the actors' fluent language isn't English. But it was pretty good for those whose first language isn't English. In this creepy tale about revenge, I recommend this to those who like horror and suspense and mysteries...

...oh, and before I finish up, for those who might watch this, wait for the ending. It's priceless...

***1/2 our of ****

Sean