32/32
Overall, there’s a lot to like here
Line of Events
After her mother dies, a Japanese-Cambodian manga artist and her boyfriend decide to travel to Cambodia to learn more about her past, but when she encounters strange occurrences in the building that suggest something darker is going on with the residents, she must stop it before it spreads. One of the strongest features is a really enjoyable and immersive setup that features many interconnected parts that come together quite well. Starting with the background of her mother’s death under mysterious circumstances while living in the community she long ago moved away from, it provides the means to establish the motive for the return as well as giving enough information about their past with each other.
This setup helps make the film much more entertaining once the ominous instincts start to come to fruition
Since we are aware of the relationship presented and how it affects her, the desire to reconnect with everyone once she arrives to understand the cause is a natural part of their reunion. It also serves to highlight the behavior and rituals of the community, which appear as quaint customs before gradually becoming darker and more disturbing. It creates a fantastic sense of impending dread the longer the two remain in the community, with the increasing danger leading to more thrills.
All of this brings a lot to like here as while there aren’t too many drawbacks present here, several issues do arise
With the low-key nature revolving around the good-natured, if slightly off-kilter, behavior of the community or simply noticing ritual decorations left behind, it is enjoyable enough to serve the film until it gets to the more explicit sequences later on once she is left alone in the apartment. The big sequence plays out as some form of bizarre meal preparation with the gathered family members and others she has met in the community performing what appears to be a ritual ceremony designed to prepare her for a special occult ritual that soon turns into a nightmarish fever dream that she can’t distinguish from reality, which is pretty impressive. She begins the remaining portion of this in a much darker genre effort that includes several revelations about the visions she has been experiencing, leading up to the wild finale where the dark origins of the ceremony are revealed as it involves bringing the new spirit into the body of a host that is once again more secretive than expected but still manages to have some generally creepy visuals and chases around the compound.
Among the major factors is the sense of confusion present here as very little is explained
As the first half is much more ominous and low-key than anything else, there isn’t much that reveals what’s going on, preferring to stay focused on the haunting atmosphere of the building as well as their eerie behavior to generate the scares almost exclusively. As a result, almost nothing is revealed about what the community is trying to do, what their ritual entails, or how everything is supposed to be conducted, so very little is hinted at. It’s not until the end that everything comes together, so there’s a chance that it might be a little confusing at first to get into what’s going on.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language
The other downside is that this setup also makes for a rather slow first half and very little happens beyond setting up the plots that are rewarded at the end, which takes a while to get its point across. Here are the few minor downsides on display with this one. After her mother’s death, a Japanese-Cambodian manga artist and her boyfriend decide to travel to Cambodia to learn more about her past, but when she’s confronted with strange occurrences in the building that hint at something darker going on with the residents, she must stop it before it spreads.