The Heirloom (2005) Zhai bian (original title)

Director:

Leste Chen

Writer:

Dorian Li

Release Date:

16 September 2005 (Taiwan)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Tagline:

Sometimes inheritance is a curse

Plot:

A Taiwanese man returns to the island after years abroad when he inherits a house; when he and his fiancé move in, strange things start to happen.

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Family Secret | Inheritance | Hanging | Penthouse

Cast

Terri Kwan	...	Yo
Jason Chang	...	James
Yu-chen Chang	...	Yi-Chen
Tender Huang	...	Ah-Tseng
Yi-Ching Lu
Kuo-cheng Cheng
Ching-Ching Lin

Directed by
Leste Chen

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dorian Li

Produced by
Josh Yeh	....	assistant producer
Michelle Yeh	....	producer

Original Music by
Jeffrey Cheng

Cinematography by
Pung-Leung Kwan

Film Editing by
Ju-kuan Hsiao

Production Design by
Shun-fu Luo

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hsun-Wei David Chang	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Yu Teng Hsu	....	boom operator

Production Companies

• Three Dots Entertainment Company

Distributors

• Buena Vista International (2005) (Taiwan) (theatrical)
• Festive Films (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Shaw Organisation (2006) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Palisades Tartan (2008) (UK) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2005) (USA) (all media)
• Splendid Film (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Tartan Video USA

Also Known As:

"Zhai bian" - Taiwan (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violent images (rating surrendered)

Runtime:

Taiwan:97 min

Country:

Taiwan

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (rating surrendered) | USA:Unrated | Taiwan:R-12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Germany:16

Company:

Three Dots Entertainment Company

Fine supernatural horror film,but nothing really impressive.

"The Heirloom" tells the story of a young architect James Yang who inherits an old family house in Taipei.He moves in and bring his long time girlfriend Yo along.James quickly starts having bad dreams connected to long buried memories form his childhood.It seems that the house hides a dark secret,in which thirty years prior the entire family attended bizarre rituals an ended up committing suicide all at the same time.Each relative hung on a rope to die.Taiwanese horror flick "The Heirloom" is not as good as it's reputed to be.The visuals are certainly impressive,but the script is quite weak.The total lack of scariness is seriously disappointing.Overall,"The Heirloom" is a rather mediocre horror film from Taiwan that left me unsatisfied.My generous rating:7 out of 10.