Heirloom (R1 DVD, Tartan Asia Extreme) Review

Are you getting sick of Asian horror films yet? Apparently not. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have new ones come out every other week. Or is it just that all the Asian countries are trying to top J-horror before they quit making them? THE HEIRLOOM is from Thailand, which brought us the Pang Brothers’ THE EYE and SHUTTER.

There is a ritual going on in a mansion to summon forth the ghosts of children. Of course, doing crap like that doesn’t go the way they want it to be. They all die. Years later, a young one inherits the estate and moves in. And guess what? It’s cursed by those spirits! Leste Chen’s minimalist direction differs about from other popular Asian horrors, but it’s a bit of a mistake because the film chooses style over substance. THE HEIRLOOM never gets exciting because not much really happens. It is very moody (in fact, it is beautifully photographed) and creepy, but it is not engaging and most of all, it
isn’t scary.

The film spends most of the time (if not all) guiding us to the mystery of the ritual by having those youngsters wander around the house and get killed. I’m cool about the film engaging in some horror clichés, but if it does nothing else, the result is simply brutal. Any scare is once again just a cheap-shot quick-jump, which is always uninspired. Perhaps Chan lacks what it takes to create a true scare, to explore the genre. The film doesn’t do anything on any level.