Inner Senses (2002)

Floundering writer, and script translator, Cheung Yan (Lam), an edgy young girl in her early twenties, takes up residence in a large, spacious flat atop a Hong Kong apartment block. Her neighbour and landlord, Chu (Tsui), seems an affable enough middle-aged insurance salesman, but behind his outwardly cheerful exterior is a soul tortured by the accidental death of his wife and son. On her first night alone in her new home, Yan finds herself the subject of faceless shadowy figures in her hallway, eerie sounds emanating from about her unit, and visions of a weeping embittered spirit. It's not long before her cousin's husband, Wilson Chan (Lee), has referred her on to his colleague, dedicated psychologist Jim Law (Cheung). Her open admission of seeing ghosts at all turns makes Law decide her case is one of importance, and takes her into his care.

Yan's visions of horrifying apparitions soon begin to become all consuming, but Law works further into her claims, discovering prior childhood traumas that may possibly account for the frequency of her "illusions". The deeper Law digs, the more he finds himself forming an emotional attachment with Yan, the more he comes to realise that there may be underlying emotional troubles that are contributing to her visions. However, as the spark of unspoken romance begins to blossom, Yan's fragile psyche proves to be the catalyst that kicks Law's long repressed subconscious to awaken, bringing with it memories from his own darkened past to light, as well as a terrifying force that reaches out from beyond the grave. A force that may just prove powerful enough to claim his sanity, and perhaps his life.

As with the Pang Brothers "The Eye" (2002), which all but eclipsed this superior Hong Kong spooky in its wake, there is precious little one can recount in relation to "Inner Senses" without giving away far too much. Mind you, "Hong Kong spooky" is a term I apply loosely herein, as that definition should instantly draw images of hokey scares, even hokier humour, and the obligatory entourage of green-lit grinning faces. Law Chi Leung's film is so far removed from that cinematic notion, that it may as well be considered on a whole different plain of existence entirely. Within "Senses" lies a diametrically different interplay of the psychological versus the paranormal, whereupon Yeung Sin Ling's screenplay boldly builds upon a narrative that asks its viewer to question virtually all that they see, eventually leaving the questions unanswered in the capable hands of one's own perception. Is it a tale of psychological inner demons, or is it a story of burgeoning paranormal disturbance? Come the end credits, the answer will lie within the viewer themselves.

Director Law is no stranger to the realm of reinvention and reinterpretation of respective genres of filmmaking, having already served as co-director on Derek Yee's revisionist action-drama "Full Throttle" (1995) and commendable adult comedy "Viva Erotica" (1996). His solo debut as a director, "Double Tap" (2000), was unquestionably one of the finer films of its release year, as well as an impressive reworking of the popular "gun-fighting" crime thrillers so prevalent in Hong Kong cinema. This time out, under encoring producer Yee, Law crafts a solid, interpretive rendition of the already successful Chinese ghost fantasy. However, expect none of the usual light-hearted shenanigans that the Region is renowned for here, as Law has moved his elements markedly down to earth, opting instead to play out the tensions against a largely believable, realist backdrop that is mostly devoid of the usual slapstick inspired fright breaks. "Senses" takes its subject matter seriously, and Law sees fit only to punctuate the escalating atmosphere of terror with some heart-felt romance and a handful of "sweeteners" as a precursor to his harrowing final act.

Whilst borrowing its psychology motif from Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" (1999), and a peripheral titular reference, "Senses" immediately platforms out into disturbingly more terror-inducing material, playing out surprisingly effectively with its (potentially) paranormal narrative. Indeed, scarcely a few minutes into the film and the viewer has already been slapped with two jarringly jittery moments of anxiety producing fright. This should be inference enough, even to the novice viewer, of the hackle-raising momentum that is to follow. And go for broke director Law does, pulling rock-solid, compelling performances from his two leads (newcomer Lam and the always reliable Cheung), as well as engineering titanic scares via carefully composed images and stunning use of the film's digital audio track. Peter Kam's tremendously effective score (perhaps one of the best to grace any film this year) adds enormous weight, and mood, to the overall chilling atmosphere of the piece, which is perhaps marginally over-reliant on the aural to generate much of its heart-stopping moments.

Most surprisingly of all, in comparison with other Hong Kong blockbusters of recent years, is the subtlety and restraint with which the visual effects are employed. Opting to "sting" the viewer with a fragmentary jolt over drowning out the visuals with CG, Law creates some highly shocking, as well as extremely memorable, sequences (when one character is besieged by a literal sea of ghosts you'll be wondering why the room temperature has suddenly dropped ten or so degrees). "Inner Senses" is an extraordinary work that evolves symmetrically over its duration as both a profoundly frightening experience, as well a uniquely (for Hong Kong) thought-provoking character study. Virtually bloodless, as all true ghost stories should be, Law's film is heart-poundingly effective, and features just enough set pieces to leave the average viewer's heart a flutter. You certainly won't look at your bathroom's vanity the same way again!

Hong Kong's Universe Laser & Video have afforded "Inner Senses" a fairly good disc, as well as spread things out across a dual layer disc for increased quality as well as to accommodate the multiple audio options. Letterboxed at its theatrical ratio of 1.85, the transfer is sadly not anamorphically enhanced which admittedly is the disc's biggest downfall. Although the image is largely quite exceptional for a non-anamorphic transfer, it's a shame that Universe don't see fit to prepare 16:9 transfers for their Hong Kong product, when they release the bulk of their American and foreign product with the enhancement. Oh well, what's on show is good to above average for what it is. Mind you, the audio on the disc really kicks arse, so that's no small compensation. The original Cantonese language track is offered in DTS, Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 2.0 stereo, but those with DTS capabilities should only go the one option as it's responsible for most of the scares, as well as presents an extremely expansive sound stage. A dubbed Mandarin Dolby 5.1 audio track is also available, per the disc's Hong Kong origins.

Extras consist of a Making Of featurette that is largely cast, crew and FX technicians' interviews with snippets of the film interspersed. Brush up on your Cantonese for this one as, is commonplace with Hong Kong discs, no English subtitles are provided (doesn't it suck being an international parallel importer?). Additionally, the well structured theatrical trailer is included, as are trailers for Ann Hui's "July Rhapsody", Dante Lam's "Tiramisu" and James Yuen's "Every Dog Has His Date". Finishing things off are Cast profiles for Leslie Cheung and Karena Lam, as well as one for producer Derek Yee. Had the transfer been anamorphic, I would have easily said that I couldn't think of a better film to spend the HK$40 on; as it stands…I STILL can't think of anything better to spend the HK$40 on!

Review by Mike Thomason