Konterr Brilliant and touching

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Paul Magne Haakonsen It is nice to have Taiwan step up and join the Asian horror genre. However, this movie wasn't really particularly a great one, but still the effort was made. The DVD brandishes "among the spookiest ever seen in Asian horror", to that I can only assume that the reviewer isn't particularly experienced in the Asian horror genre."The Heirloom" tries to tell a fairly simple story, but director Leste Chen manages to totally kill off the storyline by making the story told in a confusing way and often gives up on continuity throughout the story. It was a shame, because the storyline itself was good, but it was just subjected to an improper hand unable to handle it well. It was a real shame, because the aspect of the whole storyline with the child ghosts/spirits was really interesting and the story did have potential for something greater than it turned out to be.As far as it being a horror movie goes, then "The Heirloom" is surprisingly devoid of scares and spooks. There wasn't even a single shock moment in the entire movie. And compared to Asian standards, then this wouldn't be considered even remotely scary.The people cast for the various roles were doing great jobs, although it was an uphill battle against a messy script and a confusing storyline. However, Terri Kwan (playing Yo) and Jason Chang (playing James) were doing good jobs carrying the movie against all odds.But regardless of the messy outcome of the final cut of the movie, then it is good to have Taiwan marked on the horror market as well, and I am hoping to get to see more horror from there - and hopefully movies that aren't as confusing and badly scripted as this one.I am rating "The Heirloom" a 4 out of 10 rating, because the movie did have potential and was well produced, just a shame about the butchery that was done to the storyline.

MovieGuy01 I thought that the Asian film called The Heirloom was a good supernatural horror film. An architect called James Yang returns from the UK with his girlfriend called Yo, to inspect an old mansion that he has inherited on the outskirts of Taipei, they move into their new home. but then strange things start to happen. Yo's journalist goes missing and the James's friend Cheng gets strangled in a bathtub. they soon find out that the house may have strange or murderous powers. To find out the truth about the house, James and his girlfriend Yo start to begin to investigate the history of James's family and uncover a tale of mass suicide.

Scarecrow-88 James(Jason Chang)an architect, inherits a massive mansion with a disturbing family history. His stage-star fiancé Yo(the stunning beauty Terri Kwan)was planning to go abroad but decides to remain and live with James. Soon their friends, who visit them in the creepy abode, fall prey to supernatural terror..they fall unconscious only to awaken inside James' home unannounced and bewildered. Soon, Yo discovers, when meeting James' Aunt in an asylum(..and through newspaper clippings from her reporter friend experiencing the strange phenomena), that James' family committed a massive suicide and that they had performed an evil ritual concerning a child spirit and blood sacrifice for fortune and the elimination of enemies. Even worse is that James' mother was locked away by the family for being afflicted with an illness..as part of the family's curse for performing the ritual, their offspring, for the most part, were born diseased or ill. James was a healthy child sent away before the mass suicide occurred. When James' friend..and colleague..is found murdered by what appeared to be a hanging from a rope(..we see that he is murdered by a rope not visible meaning some specter or ghost had committed the deed), the family curse rears it's ugly head once again. When a cynical detective, who scoffs at the mere mention of some ghostly involvement in James' friend's murder, suffers the same fate, the idea that anyone who remains in the home for any major length of time could be in danger becomes quite prevalent. Who is causing the horrifying acts that are taking place? Could it be James' long-dead mother blazing a trail of murder? Can James protect Yo from the same grim fate others are suffering?While I shrugged my shoulders at the reasons behind the horror taking place to the cast of this flick, I certainly believe this director, Leste Chen, is a major talent. I thought his exceptional handling of such mediocre material is proof that he is one to watch in the future. Being so young is even more impressive because I found the film visually intoxicating while not being so blown away by the plot or characters within it. Director Leste does what he can, though, milking as much terror as he can from the script presented to him. It's to his credit that this film is loaded with creepy atmosphere(the stunning sequence in the opening with all this hanging bodies while a woman crawls in agony sure opens the eyes wide)and has a eerie mood that remains from start to finish. This is simply a proved case of style over substance where a talented director rises above the material he's stuck with. One aspect that majorly plagues this movie(as it does "Amityville Horror")is why this couple remains in the house when it's quite clear something's amiss..a certain evil they should get as far away from as possible.

wkduffy I know, I know. Here it is 2006, and who on planet earth is paying attention to Asian horror movies any more? I mean, haven't we all moved onto Spain or France or whoever is the new Korea already? Clearly, if the Asian Wave of Horror has washed itself down the drain, who could be left but a bunch of sixth-generation Sadako wannabees, right?Actually, scrap all that. I have another theory. If J-Horror has truly gone stale, and no one is paying attention (or money) any longer, maybe the filmmakers still hanging around the soundstage are the true heroes--maybe those directors who continue to unapologetically explore the genre are the truly dedicated artists who believe there's still meat on them thar bones.If this theory is true, that means "Zhaibian/The Heirloom" offers something to the genre that is decidedly different, new, convincing, or at least creative. And, ultimately, it does just that. More specifically, it creatively turns back the clock on horror films, and transports the viewer backwards in time to the glorious era of classy 1970s horror flicks that relied on plot turns, creepy settings, and characters. Although narratively the film shares next to nothing with American classics like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Changeling," or "Audrey Rose," I couldn't suppress the urge to make the comparison (repeatedly while watching). The problem is, I just couldn't put my finger on why. There's some ineffable quality about "The Heirloom"--maybe the photography, the color palette, the dilapidated mansion as setting, or the wistful music-- that kept me saying, "Jeez, this reminds me of The Omen more than the 2006 remake of The Omen." I think there's no hiding the fact that this film is awash in that "ephemeral something" borrowed from those 70s classics; the director is clearly influenced by the era and style (even the lead women wear bell-bottoms rivaling those donned by Cristina Raines in "The Sentinel"). And allowing those influences to shine through is what I believe is so striking--and even risky--here. Again, I'll reference the recent remakes of so many genre classics--The Omen, The Amityville Horror, The Hills Have Eyes. What I often see in these remakes is not an understanding or embracing of 70s high-class horror style, but instead mere mimicry (often shot-for-shot). Who cares?Of course, the flick has its faults--most prominently (at the 1 hour, 15 minute mark) the action slows to a melodramatic crawl with nonstop slo-mo panning shots of people and places, accompanied by sweeping violins. Unfortunately, the film never regains its pace before the end--but it's still eye-candy worth savoring.Ultimately, seeing a film like "Zhaibian/The Heirloom" is like tripping upon some long lost 70s American horror classic I've never heard of. (It's just that the story is steeped in Buddhist tradition and is peopled by Asian actors, heh.) In so many intangible ways, it's like watching "The Manitou" or "Burnt Offerings" for the first time. For a director to achieve that kind of "seventies something-ness"--I applaud him roundly. On the other hand, I suppose many movie buffs (and especially younger horror buffs) would shrug off this 70s appropriation, saying "That's old stuff. It's out of date, out of step." But I wonder--will they be pining for "Hellraiser 6--straight to DVD" when they turn 40?