Without fail count on Asian filmmakers to provide some of the best horror entries in any given year. From the onset this film is suffused with dark sights, creepy moments and tension throughout. This movie has it all: dark cults, creepy dolls, possession, ghosts, occult conspiracy, sorcery, madness and paranoia. While this movie wastes little time in setup, provides a decent amount of depth and backstory, and as the movie proceeds it unveils layers of additional information concerning the motivations and machinations of most everyone involved. The tone is eerie and increasingly unsettling, with the main character investigating an escalating threat to her family and sanity that casts doubt on her own sanity. There is a focus on familiar fears around grief and the capacity to let go and move on, and the steps people will take in avoiding the pain of loss.This movie gets thick with its plotting, almost akin to a supernatural heist movie with double crosses and triple crosses, betrayals and hidden motivations, retold through multiple timelines layered upon the same events. By the third twist revelation, things start to get a bit much, requiring quite a bit of attention. The movie has no shortage of eerie sights and concepts but requires the viewer to be invested in the mysteries to follow the disjointed narrative. There are a number of great scares, that thankfully don’t really rely on a startle factor, but in getting under your skin and anticipating where the threat approaches. The nature of the greater threat is a unique form of terrifying, especially if one can imagine and empathize with what the character stands to lose if she fails. There is a lot of emotion and genuine heart in this film, and the coda is rather heart-wrenching although might tangentially qualify as a ‘happy ending’. Overall, one of the better entries of the year although selling it as ‘based upon true events’ seems a rather ludicrous claim.
Home For Rent (2023)