The Maid

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.

I liked the premise and from what I read on the box it sounded like it would be interesting, and I love a good ghost story. However, I was a bit disappointed by this movie. Not entirely mind you, it had a rather good cast and there was some good ghost moments. Still it was so thoroughly predictable...anyone who has seen say "The Sixth Sense" or "A Tale of Two Sisters" will have no problem with the shocking ending seen here. Other than it might be a bit more graphic than those two movies. The movie of a Phillipine girl who goes to work as a maid for a Singapore couple and starts her job during the time of the year when the locals must observe many customs relating to the dead or experience their wrath. Lots of burning paper and other very nice visuals during this part of the film. The job is quite easy from what I see too as the gal who was hired as a maid only does a little of this and that and when she does try to sweep up she gets in trouble with her employer. At least this gives or gal plenty of time to look after her employer's mildly retarded son and see all sorts of creepy stuff. My favorite was the play where she sat in the front row. So all in all a typical ghost flick with nothing really new to add to the mix except for a mysterious girl who dies by leaping from a food court. Didn't quite understand that one. So if you like this type of movie you may think it is an okay flick if you are looking for something new, this is not it.

A shy, young girl named Rosa (Alessandra de Rossi) gets a position as a maid. She arrives at the house during the seventh month, which, according to legend, is when the "hungry ghosts" are said to walk the Earth.

The family for whom Rosa works seems normal enough. However, she soon learns that her situation isn't quite as simple or safe as it appears to be. Rosa's new employers have a secret that will reveal itself in bizarre, terrifying ways.

THE MAID makes us wonder what is going on, almost until its final frame. A well-made, slow-building, supernatural thriller with a devilish denouement!

A classic creeper from Singapore...

Sometimes they got it, while other times they sink. That's how I feel about some of the modern ghost features coming out of Asia. 'The Maid' mostly falls in with the former. Yeah it's formulaic by your usual standards, but the low-budgeted slow-burn Singapore entry is sleekly directed with a strong enough platform for the story to open up upon and add some refreshing details to the predictable mixture.

A young maid arrives in Singapore to help out the Teo family, who own an Opera troupe. Her arrival goes hand-to-hand with that of the seventh month known as the hungry ghost month. Soon she's seeing ghosts, and the Teo's are worried she's done something to upset them for this to happen. However she learns that she has a striking resemblance to the previous maid who worked with the family, before she disappeared.

The execution of the premise isn't as good, as it sounds on paper. The concept behind the plot is actually more curious than that of the linear background story about a family with a secret, which when let out is intensely harrowing if customary. The Chinese customs and believes about the gates of hell opening up for vengeful, hungry spirits to wander among the living seeking closure or revenge in the seventh month of the lunar calendar is ideally enthralling and creepy.

Director Kelvin Tong compositional work and placement is a stand-out. Cold, gloomy and haunting imagery is beautifully catered for and Lucas Jodogne's presentable cinematography streamlines the rundown, sapping urban backdrop. The darkness lurking within every alienating corner is shared in the characters' state of minds. Heart-ache, denial and just like the protagonist (wholesomely acted by Alessandra De Rossi) we're left plunged in the dark and distressed by the revelations. The evocative music is skin crawling, as the sound effects have quite a chilling imprint when they break up the silence and terse script with sudden pitches. Some high-strung shocks are foreseeable and shadowy figures flashing by can only do so much. Chen Shu-cheng and Hong Hui-fang deliver rewardingly strong performances.

"The Maid" is OK.

It used some Chinese traditional ideas, adding them to its plot line. It is scary enough (yeah, why not for the over-sensitive).

But I think, this "Feng Shui", a Philippine flick which also used some elements from the Chinese traditions, is much scarier, technically and technologically, considering that the Philippines is from the third world and Singapore is an Asian Tiger. Well, "Feng Shui" is not without its flaws. There are ideas in the movie that are quite cheesy if you're not a Chinese(or a Filipino). But I really think, without any bias(for I grew up in the Philippines), that "Feng Shui" is more engaging and mind-blowing than "The Maid". I also think that it is much creepier. There are these rumors that Brad Pitt's gonna remake this Philippine flick. DON'T MIND IT!

"FENG SHUI" CAN STAND ON ITS OWN.

I am really tired of these remakes from the Americans. And I really think that they make horrible remakes.

There is this another Filipino horror film that's also receiving praises and attention from the international awards circle. The title is "Sigaw" in Filipino, "The Echo" (or to be more accurate "Scream"). I heard, this is sure to be remade by Roy Lee, which, if I am not mistaken, the same producer of the American version of "The Ring" and "The Grudge".

Well, just a bit of info.....