Beijing Guild Hall
北平会馆
China, 2020, colour, 2.35:1, 97 mins.
Director: Li Lu 李路.
Rating: 3/10.
Budget haunted-house horror, set in 1920s Beijing, just about gets by with its serio-comic tone.
STORY
Beiping [former Beijing], 1926. Of the capital’s four great haunted houses, Beiping Guild Hall is reputed to be the most haunted. Young writer Lu Biancheng (Zhu Ziyu) arrives to get material for a novel. Also there is Jian Ning (Pu Jing), who studied forensic pathology in the UK and has been sent by the police to find some missing bodies connected with the premises. The same day there arrives runaway bride Song Peipei (Gao Shangqi), who takes refuge on the premises and, to Jian Ning’s annoyance, quickly attaches herself to Lu Biancheng. In the Ming dynasty the buildings were occupied by a government official; now they are owned by a louche former actor, Li Tianmo (Wu Dake), who tells them that the sound of an erhu always portends a weird event. An old man, Wang (Peng Chaohui), who was scarred by leprosy used to look after the house but has been missing for some time. As night falls Wang suddenly appears, begging them all to leave and saying the haunting stories are all true. Next day the five split up to find the erhu and destroy it, but without any luck. That night Jian Ning accuses Lu Bianchen of spying on her taking a bath, but he denies it. Later there’s the sound of an erhu, but it’s a false alarm. Later, however, Song Peipei disappears and in the morning is found dead in an alley. Xu Liyuan (Zhou Yuelong), head of the Beiping Chamber of Commerce, arrives to offer his help in solving the case, as his cousin died in similar circumstances, but the group turns him down. Police inspector Lu (Du Dong) then arrives and says the police will take charge. That night Lu Biancheng finds some handwriting in his notebook that says Song Peipei will return on the seventh night. When she does, Wang sends her packing with some incantations. Jian Ning and Lu Biancheng decide to check if Song Peipei’s body is in the mortuary but are unable to find it. Song Peipei then turns up, looking apparently normal and 100% alive. However, she no longer eats meat and next day appears to be afraid of sunlight.
REVIEW
The big-screen debut of TVD director/producer Li Lu 李路, 54, Beijing Guild Hall 北平会馆 doesn’t do much for the fairly battered reputation of the Mainland horror genre, but it has a kind of quirky serio-comic tone that just about gets the viewer through its 90-odd minutes. Hitching a ride on the “haunted house” genre (whose box-office champ in China is the vastly superior The House That Never Dies 京城81号, 2014), this one is set in the 1920s in “the most haunted of the capital’s four famous haunted houses”. A budget exercise, shot in Shanxi in spring 2018 as an online movie, it was then planned as a 2020 Valentine’s Day theatrical release and finally scraped a brief post-Covid run in late August, with a respectable hawl (for the genre) of RMB8 million.
As various people gather at the titular haunted premises, now owned by a louche young actor (metrosexual singer Wu Dake 吴大可, a Super Boy 快乐男声 TV talent show finalist), most of the atmosphere is character-driven rather than horrific, with a playful young writer, a pert runaway bride and a stern female forensic pathologist among the mix. With the last as the scientific voice of reason – which we know will inevitably triumph over superstition – there’s a lightly comic, flirtatious touch to all the action that compensates for the lack of any chills. The solution is both long and over-involved. As the writer wearing very 21st-century shoes, Zhu Ziyu 朱梓瑜 has an entertainingly light touch, while Pu Jing 濮晶 has her moments as the runaway bride who makes goo-goo eyes at him. The busy score includes eerie sound effects and traditional wood-block; other technical credits are so-so, including Li’s direction.
CREDITS
Presented by Hebei Mars Media (CN), Shanghai Songhao Cinema (CN). Produced by Hebei MiDi Media (CN).
Script: Ruan Jingdong. Photography: Ma Baolin, Zhang Qiuliang. Editing: Fang Ning. Music direction: Li Dekang. Art direction: Bo Zi. Styling: Ji Ye. Sound: Liu Bao, Li Dekang. Action: Yun Long, Kong Libing. Visual effects: Ma Shuai.
Cast: Wu Dake (Li Tianmo), Zhu Ziyu (Lu Biancheng), Pu Jing (Jian Ning), Gao Shangqi (Song Peipei), Du Dong (Lu, police detective), Peng Chaohui (Wang Mazi/Pockmarked Wang), Duan Zhifeng (Liu, Xu Liyuan’s friend), Zhou Yuelong (Xu Liyuan, head of Beiping Chamber of Commerce), Cao Yi (Liu, old female servant).
Release: China, 21 Aug 2020.