Right, well I have to say that I wasn't harboring much of any high hopes for the 2022 Hong Kong horror anthology "Shi Heng Xiong Jian" (aka "Tales From the Occult"), simply because it was a horror anthology. But given my fascination with the Hong Kong cinema and this being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I gave it a fair chance.
Writers Fruit Chan, Chi-Keung Fung, Wesley Hoi Ip Sang, Ryan Wai-Chun Ling, Ho Siu-Hong and Stanley Wong delivered what you would expect from a horror anthology. So if you enjoy horror anthologies, you might get a kick out of "Shi Heng Xiong Jian". I, however, found very little enjoyment here.
The stories, titled The Chink, Dead Mall and Tenement, were simply too mundane and rather devoid of anything even remotely scary, and that made for a rather bland viewing experience. There were only three tales in this anthology, and they weren't exactly all that enjoyable.
Of all the cast members in the three segments, I was only familiar with actor Richie Jen. I will say, though, that the acting performances in all three segments were fair enough, especially taking into consideration the limitations imposed by the inferior storylines.
For a horror anthology then "Shi Heng Xiong Jian" was a pretty weak experience. The stories were lacking scary bits, and not even in terms of traditional Asian horror was there anything to write home about here.
"Shi Heng Xiong Jian" is the type of horror anthology that came and went without leaving a lasting impression. And should you happen to be one of the people that end up watching it, you will most likely shelf it immediately after watching it and never bring it out ever again.
My rating of "Shi Heng Xiong Jian" lands on a three out of ten stars.
