The Maid (2005)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Kelvin Tong

Writer:

Kelvin Tong (writer)

Release Date:

18 August 2005 (Malaysia)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

"Every year, for thirty days during the lunar seventh month, the Chinese believe that the gates of hell are thrown open...

Plot Keywords:

Singapore | Chinese Opera | Superstition | Ghost Story | Hanging

Cast

Alessandra de Rossi	...	Rosa Dimaano
Huifang Hong	...	Mrs. Teo
Benny Soh	...	Ah Soon
Zhenwei Guan	...	Wati
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mohd Haizad Bin Imram	...	Mailman
Griffin Chan	...	Accident Boy
Shucheng Chen	...	Mr. Teo
Airick Chia	...	Cyclist
Celine Chia	...	Ghost on the Ground
Tan Ooh Chye	...	Mahjong Player
Christina Goh	...	Girl on bridge
Cecilia Heng	...	Maid Agency Boss
Li Rong Heng	...	Little Girl
Chua Swee Huang	...	Mahjong Player
Nur Awal'liyah Ja'afar	...	Ester Santos
Lim Hui Kee	...	Mahjong Player
Ng Yong Kiang	...	Mahjong Player
Zen Law	...	Mailbox Ghost
Tay Chun Lian	...	Mahjong Player
Doreen Lim	...	Mother of Accident Boy
Sunny Pang	...	Young Hearse Driver
Tian Chong Poh	...	Kopitism Assistant
Emmanuel Kevin Suraiskumar	...	Bayani Dimaano
Johnson Teng	...	Father of Accident Boy
Stella Tham	...	Maig Agency Office Girl
Sarah Tng	...	Chinese Maid
Chun Keng Wah	...	Elder Hearse Driver
Gan Kim Yan	...	Bus Stop Old Lady
Tan Hong Zhi	...	Boy on bridge

Runtime:

93 min | Philippines:89 min (cut)

Country:

Singapore

Language:

English | Teochew | Filipino | Tagalog

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Philippines:PG-13 | Malaysia:U | Portugal:M/16 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Singapore

Company:

Dream Movie Entertainment Ltd.

Trivia:

According to English language promotional material, this 2005 production was the first horror film produced in Singapore.

Disjointed substance and style.

A horror story about a maid in Singapore? We've heard quite a few, but in this one instead of a horrified Ma'am, it is the maid who is standing at the gates of hell. And unfortunately they are wide open.

Rosa Dimaano (Alessandra De Rossi) is a trusting, pretty Filipina orphan who comes to Singapore to see the world. But it is the start of the lunar seventh month, Hungry Ghost time, and the world is a place of confusing and jarring chaos. Ignorance is no protection and Rosa inevitably offends "something" and soon she is seeing ghosts and having nightmares. Her only happiness is playing with her employers' simple son, Ah Soon (Benny Soh), but to be honest this is hardly a relief as he is also really spooky.

Rosa's employers - a solitary chain smoking artist (Chen Shu Cheng) and an unpredictably tempered dressmaker (Hong Hui Fang) - live in a near derelict shophouse, cluttered with Wayang costumes, creaking cupboards and glowering pictures of the ancestors. Add a failing electricity supply, no telephone or TV and Rosa is absolutely alone in her misery. Or is she? From "The" Title to the twisting joints and/or heads of creepy kids, crawling long-haired wide-eyed zombies, blurring of identities, burnt photos, unprovoked suicides, the proliferation of grabbing-stalking-glaring-weeping-hanging ghosts and even the scorpions, this is a tribute to Asian horror. All the traditional, requisite and much loved scares are here and impossible to miss thanks to a heavy hand on the violin (think amplified Hitchcock).

Though regularly repetitive (especially by the nth explanation of the state of things during the seventh month) and disjointed, The Maid does not suffer from a lack of substance. No doubt this year we will all be more careful about kicking along the ash-ridden pavement and sitting in the front row of the Chinese opera.