Neighbor

午夜怪谈

China, 2019, colour, 2.35:1, 85 mins.

Director: Wei Lizhou 卫立洲.

Rating: 5/10.

Above-average budget psycho-horror benefits from the performances of its two young leads.

STORY

Guangzhou city, southern China, the present day. A blackmailer is killed in his flat by a figure wearing a motorcycle helmet who takes the man’s mobile phone and a camera’s memory card with nude pictures of a young woman. Yang Bowen (Zhang Chi), a young man in his 20s who’s still haunted by the deaths of his father (Li Lei) and mother (Tang Yigao) at home 10 years ago, moves out from living with his maternal aunt (Cao Meili) into a big modern flat. Almost immediately he’s attacked by Helmet Man, who leaves behind a family photo with the faces of Yang Bowen’s parents scrubbed out. Meanwhile, Xia Zixi (Wang Ziqing), spokeswoman for the successful online game Horrible Neighbour 恐怖邻居, has an argument with her lubricious boss, Zhou Zhifeng (Zhou Zhixuan), over wearing scanty clothes for a publicity shoot and storms off home. Helmet Man snaps her in the shower and then attacks her; she asks help from her neighbour, who turns out to be Yang Bowen, but Helmet Man escapes. After Yang Bowen finds Xia Zixi and Zhou Zhifeng’s numbers on his mobile, he and Xia Zixi decide to investigate the mystery. In Zhou Zhifeng’s office at night they see a man dressed like Helmet Man, who turns out to be Zhou Zhifeng’s assistant (Zeng Guanjie) who’s been charged with taking sexy pictures for his boss’ private collection. But then the real Helmet Man murders Zhou Zhifeng and his assistant, and takes the memory stick with pictures of Xia Zixi. Police detective Lu Guorong (Liang Guorong) investigates. Meanwhile, Xia Zixi’s jealous ex-boyfriend Gao Quan (Zhang Gongle) is convinced she and Yang Bowen are romantically linked. Yang Bowen visits his aunt and asks why his mother killed his father 10 years ago; she still won’t talk about the incident, but suddenly shows interest when Yang Bowen mentions Helmet Man.

REVIEW

An above-average budget psycho-horror that benefits from good playing by its two leads and some sustained building of atmosphere, Neighbor 午夜怪谈 is the first theatrical feature by Guangdong-based director Wei Lizhou 卫立洲, who’s career so far has been in online movies hitching a ride on popular genres, such as comedy Herbalist Doctor Detective 中医神探 (2017), crime drama 法医秦明之车尾游魂 (2018), centred on forensic pathologist Dr. Qin, and tomb-robbing adventure Mojin 鬼吹灯  巫峡棺山 (2019). Made back in 2017, it made no impression at the box office (RMB1.6 million) when finally released in spring 2019 with a generic title (literally, “Weird Tales of Midnight”) better suited for a ghost story.

Credited to five writers, including Hong Yanyan 洪燕燕 (Herbalist) and Hu Yun 胡韵 (director of horror Midnight Ruins 午夜废墟, 2018), the script basically revolves around the mystery of who is the black-garbed figure in a motorcycle helmet who’s killing anyone linked with peekaboo pictures of a successful computer game’s publicity girl. Among those involved is the girl’s new neighbour, a young guy whose parents were mysteriously killed a decade ago. The plot is so lean that the hero’s occupation is never even mentioned and a police detective has a nothing role, though the concentration on the main drama helps in sustaining an ever-present atmosphere of threat, further aided by the steely-grey widescreen photography by d.p. Li Decheng 李德成 and the atypically light scoring.

The film isn’t so successful at action and dialogue. But without over-rating the whole thing, it cleverly diverts the viewer’s attention by a series of plot feints and the two main performances. Onetime cosplay champion Wang Ziqing 王梓清 (now more commonly written 王子清) makes a sympathetic heroine who’s more than just a scream queen, while equally young actor Zhang Chi 张驰 (Herbalist) convincingly plays the naive, likeable hero. Prominently billed in the main titles, gaming icons Yumiko [Yu Jiankai 余健凯] and Bella [Taiwan’s Xie Yitong 谢依彤] pop up in cameos as a studio photographer and herself, while veteran Cao Meili 曹美丽 coolly anchors everything as the hero’s aunt.

CREDITS

Presented by Guangzhou Zaba Films (CN), Beijing Bianbian Jiaojiao Film & TV Culture (CN), Guangzhou Like Media (CN), Guangzhou Tuoying Culture (CN), Beijing Nihao Shuaiqi Culture Media (CN). Produced by Guangzhou Zaba Films (CN) Guangzhou Tuoying Culture (CN), Guangzhou Golden Swallow & Philosophical Advertising (CN), Guangzhou Boxi Miya (CN).

Script: Zhao Jie, Hong Yanyan, Wei Lizhou, Hu Yun, Li Peijuan. Photography: Li Decheng. Editing: Wei Lizhou, Chen Boyu. Music: Wang Mengyang, Xie Xinni. Art direction: Wu Jiaxuan. Styling: Zhou Shaomei. Sound: Chi Hai, Chen Jihao. Visual effects: Li Decheng.

Cast: Zhang Chi (Yang Bowen), Wang Ziqing (Xia Zixi), Yumiko [Yu Jiankai] (studio photographer), Bella [Xie Yitong] (herself), Chen Kaiying (Helmet Man), Cao Meili (Yang Bowen’s aunt), Liang Guorong (Lu Guorong, detective), Qi Ji (Lu Guorong’s assistant), Zhou Zhixuan (Zhou Zhifeng), Zeng Guanjie (Zhou Zhifeng’s assistant), Zhang Gongle (Gao Quan), Li Lei (Yang Bowen’s father), Tang Yigao (Yang Bowen’s mother), Wei Lizhou (security guard in Yang Bowen’s building).

Release: China, 7 May 2019.