23:59
23:59
Malyasia/Singapore, 2011, colour, 1.85:1, 78 mins.
Director: Chen Qiquan 陈启全 [Gilbert Chan].
Rating: 5/10.
A well-shot budget horror about haunted army recruits that’s weak on real shocks.
STORY
An island in Singapore, the seventh lunar month, 1983. Among a group of recruits doing army service in a remote barracks, Tan (Zeng Guohui) has been plagued by nightmares involving a young boy and his hideously deformed mother. Platoon bully Dragon (Xu Lingfu) tells Tan that a recruit called Lye (Lai Junyuan) hanged himself three years ago in the same dormitory after being goaded for being effeminate. It was exactly 23:59, and legend has it that if you die at that time of the night your spirit will not rest and will eventually return to the mortal world. Dragon goads Tan for being a sissy, but Tan is defended by his friend Jeremy (Xu Liangyu), who reminds Tan that they only have a 
week more on the island. Prior to going on a punishing route march, Platoon Sergeant Kuah (Li Guohuang) gives all the recruits a talisman, as the day is an inauspicious one. Tan feels ill, convinced that that the ghost-woman is coming to get him; but he goes on the march anyway, at the urging of Jeremy. During the march Dragon recounts the story of a powerful female medium who gave birth to a deformed baby girl, whose spirit is still reputed to be on the island. That night, Tan goes missing, and is later found dead. Jeremy becomes determined to solve the mystery.
REVIEW
Inspired by the true story of a Singaporean army recruit who went missing and was later found dead, 23:59 is a well-directed horror movie on a modest budget that, like so many Southeast Asian chillers, is rather light on real horror. The first solo feature by Singaporean director Chen Qiquan 陈启全 [Gilbert Chan] – who previously co-directed the digital movie S11 (2006) and (with Liang Zhiqiang 梁智强 [Jack Neo]) Love Matters 幸福万岁 (2009) – was shot in Malaysia and, as the young recruits doing their military service on an unidentified island, has a trio of young Malaysian Chinese singers for local box-office appeal. Outside the region, however, 23:59 doesn’t have enough dramatic clout or originality to travel far.
Though they handle the Chinese-Singlish dialogue okay, the lead trio aren’t especially charismatic as actors: Xu Liangyu 许亮宇 has the bod but a rather weak personality, as a recruit out to solve the death of a friend; Chen Guohui 陈国珲 is rather bland as his haunted friend; Lai Lihao 赖力豪 is just okay when he comes into his own in the later stages. (In what is largely an all-male story, Malaysian Chinese singer Zhong Xiaoyu 钟晓玉 has one brief dialogue scene as a canteen cook.) Among the group of recruits, it’s actually non-singer Xu Lingfu 许淩福 who makes the strongest impression as the dorm bully. But director Chen Qiquan also takes care to buttress the youngsters’ lack of acting experience with mobile direction (neatly edited to a tight 70-odd minutes by Su Zhiyun 苏智韵), plus the addition of veteran Singaporean comic Li Guohuang 李国煌 [Mark Lee], looking a little out of place as the platoon sergeant.
Set during Chinese film-makers’ favourite period of the seventh lunar month, when spirits roam, the tale is absolutely Southeast Asian in its folklore flavour, with a vengeful kuntilanak (ghost of a woman who died in childbirth) supposedly on the prowl. Chen evokes some atmospheric moments from scenes of the recruits spooking each other out in the dorm or wandering at night in the nearby jungle; but real shocks are few and far between, and the thinly developed script tends to dawdle in the first half and then cram a lot into the final 15 minutes. The climax, however, is refreshing, with the movie closing on a tender, dying fall rather than in regulation blood-and-guts thrills. Another big plus is the well-lit and composed photography by Malaysian Chinese commercials/musicvideo d.p. Zhang Jihe 张基和 [Kelvin Keehoe] (Greedy Ghost 贪心鬼见鬼, 2012).
The real-life crime, still unsolved, took place on Tekong Island, eastern Singapore, in 1983. After going missing on a route march, an army recruit was found under a tree with his stomach opened and organs laid out on the ground.
CREDITS
Presented by Gorylah Pictures (SG), Clover Films (SG), Grand Brilliance (MY), MM2 Entertainment (MY). Produced by MM2 Entertainment (MY).
Script: Chen Qiquan [Gilbert Chan]. Story: Chen Qiquan [Gilbert Chan], Huang Shiyong. Photography: Zhang Jihe [Kelvin Keehoe]. Editing: Su Zhiyun. Music: Huang Zehui. Art direction: Du Wenhui. Costumes: Jiang Caohua. Styling: Lebon Ang, Yao Ruoshi. Sound: Pan Keqiang, Sato Kazuo. Visual effects: Wendy Liow. Animation: Mojo.
Cast: Li Guohuang [Mark Lee] (Sergeant Kuah), Xu Liangyu (Jeremy), Lai Lihao (Chester), Zeng Guohui (Tan), Xu Lingfu (Dragon), Guang Dongmin (Lim), Zhong Xiaoyu (Shirley), Susan Leong (Yi Gu), Lin Xixiong (Captain Hong), Angelene (young Shirley), Liu Likang (young Jeremy), Lin Guifen (Shirley’s canteen colleague), Chen Xiangsheng (father), Huang Yanping (mother), Liu Meili (sister), Lin Yuancheng (old man), Zhong Guoqiang (Tang Kee), Wang Baoxuan (faceless woman), Cai Yongjun (Alex), Lin Shengyang (Meng), Li Jiahui (David), Lai Junyuan (Lye).
Release: Singapore, 3 Nov 2011; Malaysia, 29 Dec 2011.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 1 Aug 2012.)