Rigor Mortis released on July 8 from Well Go USA.
Remember that scene in Ghostbusters when Ray explains that Dana’s apartment building was designed by Gozer-worshiping architect Ivo Shandor to attract psychokinetic energy?
“The whole building is a huge super-conductive antenna that was designed and built expressly for the purpose of pulling in and concentrating spiritual turbulence. Your girlfriend, Pete, lives in the corner penthouse of Spook Central.”
It’s a great line but when you watch the film it really seems that this phenomenon’s effects were limited to Dana and Louis. It follows to reason that if there were ghosts and spooks torturing the other inhabitants of the massive high-rise, the one paranormal elimination agency in town would probably have heard about it, right?
But what if a giant apartment tower really was Spook Central, and the concept was played seriously as a heavy horror film instead of for laughs?
Once a successful actor, a suicidal man (both the character and actor who plays him are named Siu-Ho Chin) moves into a drab, dilapidated apartment tower to contemplate why his life has gone to pot, and ultimately to kill himself. As he is hanging himself from the ceiling fan, some weird things suddenly happen. A ghostlike entity enters his body, presumably to occupy it now that his essence is leaving, and a guy in a bathrobe barges in and slashes the rope with a sword, and then combats and expels the paranormal entity.
It turns out the Chinese Big Lebowski that saved Chin is actually a post-active vampire hunter named Yau, who is mentally attuned to the spiritual world. He also literally spends the entire film in a bathrobe and underwear. Yau isn’t the only strange inhabitant; the whole building’s full of weird people and happenings: ghosts both good and evil, a necromancer who can raise the dead, and a mysterious pale woman and child who roam the halls endlessly. When a desperate widow entreats the necromancer to bring back her deceased husband, the stage is set for a showdown between the two unlikely heroes and a newly undead vampire, as well as two evil ghosts that want to inhabit the vampire’s soulless corpse.
The film is visually engrossing with subdued, desaturated colors, sharp, rich textures, cool makeup, and CG touches that are effectively used to accentuate rather than stand in for practical elements. The atmosphere adds to the somber tone that permeates the film, and overall there’s just a great creepy vibe across the board.
There’s also a whole ‘nother level of 4th-wall, intertextual fan service for those who are familiar with the genre of jiangshi or “hopping corpses”, the Chinese equivalent of vampires or zombies. The most notable of these is the Mr. Vampire horror-comedy franchise of the 80s. It’s clear that writer-director Juno Mak crafted the film as an homage to these classic movies. Both leads, Siu-Ho Chin and Anthony Chan, starred in the Mr. Vampire series. Chin plays a character who shares his name and is an actor, suggesting that he’s playing a fictional version of himself, and Chan’s character is clearly a callback to his earlier Mr. Vampire role, perhaps even a descendant.
I really enjoyed this strange movie, and suspect that it may even be my favorite Asian horror film since Ringu. Not only did I like the film, it makes me want to track down the Mr. Vampire series and familiarize myself with the earlier Chinese vampire films.
THE PACKAGE
Rigor Mortis comes to Blu-Ray in a slick package from Well Go USA, featuring original Cantonese and English dubbed soundtracks. My copy included a slipcase with identical cover artwork.
Special Features
In terms of extras, this is a pretty barebones release. If would have been nice to have a featurette on the film’s influences and callbacks to the jiangshi genre.
Trailer (2:02)
The domestic trailer is the sole bonus feature. The disc also contains promotional trailers for Well Go USA releases Child Of God, The Suspect, and SX_Tape.
A/V Out.