The Heirloom (2005) User Reviews

The storyline was butchered by confusion and bad direction...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 13 July 2013]

It is nice to have Taiwan step up and join the Asian horror genre. However, this movie wasn't really particularly a great one, but still the effort was made. The DVD brandishes "among the spookiest ever seen in Asian horror", to that I can only assume that the reviewer isn't particularly experienced in the Asian horror genre.

"The Heirloom" tries to tell a fairly simple story, but director Leste Chen manages to totally kill off the storyline by making the story told in a confusing way and often gives up on continuity throughout the story. It was a shame, because the storyline itself was good, but it was just subjected to an improper hand unable to handle it well. It was a real shame, because the aspect of the whole storyline with the child ghosts/spirits was really interesting and the story did have potential for something greater than it turned out to be.

As far as it being a horror movie goes, then "The Heirloom" is surprisingly devoid of scares and spooks. There wasn't even a single shock moment in the entire movie. And compared to Asian standards, then this wouldn't be considered even remotely scary.

The people cast for the various roles were doing great jobs, although it was an uphill battle against a messy script and a confusing storyline. However, Terri Kwan (playing Yo) and Jason Chang (playing James) were doing good jobs carrying the movie against all odds.

But regardless of the messy outcome of the final cut of the movie, then it is good to have Taiwan marked on the horror market as well, and I am hoping to get to see more horror from there - and hopefully movies that aren't as confusing and badly scripted as this one.

I am rating "The Heirloom" a 4 out of 10 rating, because the movie did have potential and was well produced, just a shame about the butchery that was done to the storyline.

Good supernatural horror film....

[MovieGuy01 · 6/10 · 18 October 2009]

I thought that the Asian film called The Heirloom was a good supernatural horror film. An architect called James Yang returns from the UK with his girlfriend called Yo, to inspect an old mansion that he has inherited on the outskirts of Taipei, they move into their new home. but then strange things start to happen. Yo's journalist goes missing and the James's friend Cheng gets strangled in a bathtub. they soon find out that the house may have strange or murderous powers. To find out the truth about the house, James and his girlfriend Yo start to begin to investigate the history of James's family and uncover a tale of mass suicide.

Another Example Of Why I'm Not Real Big On Asian Ghost Films...

[EVOL666 · 5/10 · 19 August 2006]

THE HEIRLOOM had a pretty decent and twisted concept - unfortunately, it didn't deliver on it. The first 40 minutes of the film were pretty much completely unnecessary and could have been summed up in 10 minutes or so. We only get into the "meat" of the story during the second half - and even then the film doesn't deliver on what could have been a pretty cool subject...

A guy inherits a house from his family that was a breeding ground for ghosts. Strange things begin happening around the house and as the (slow-moving) story goes on, we find out exactly what went down in the haunted house...

The ghost-breeding concept was pretty cool - and had this part of the film been expanded on, it could have been good. Unfortunately, the whole explanation of what happened in the house was summed up in about 10 minutes in a scene where the main character's girlfriend speaks to one of his relatives in a mental institution. The film also fails by falling into many of the typical stupid horror trappings - people staying in a house that is OBVIOUSLY haunted instead of leaving like they should have in the first 5 minutes, etc...Despite decent camera-work and acting - this one just felt too "typical" to me - hence my mediocre rating. Die-hard Asian ghost-film fans will probably love this one...personally I found it extremely average...5/10

Decent for a first try, but plain awful as a horror movie!

[alexliu_1999 · 2/10 · 12 January 2006]

Perhaps what drew me to this film was that it touted a haunted mansion, and a Chinese haunted mansion at that! It was an interesting premise, and the poster image featuring a bottled fetus (something to do with a child ghost) did little to deter me. After all, it was featured on a local newspaper along with snippets of an interview with the film's director, who stated it was his first horror movie, after directing mainly music videos.

That alone should have told me all I needed to know.

But like a protagonist in one of these horror movies, I trudged eagerly forward, blissfully ignoring those warning signs. Now, having bore witness to this travesty, I must say that it was just plain bad for a horror movie. It fails in all regards: It is NOT scary in any way, shape, or form.

I am a fan of psychological horror (like the 1963's The Haunting, The Others, and the Japanese masterpiece, The Ring), but this film did nothing for me. It had only one single scene that was averagely scary in suggestion, but that was placed early on in the movie, and was ruined by MTV style jump-cuts... obviously the director's music video routes showing through here.

And though I don't always enjoy shock-a-thon type scarefests, well placed moments certainly work wonders for a film. Unfortunately, this 'movie' has not a single scary jump-in-your-seat type jolt. Considering that I was seated in an almost empty cinema on an empty row at midnight, that IS quite an accomplishment.

Strange that for a horror film, nothing in it is even remotely scary. What little resembled horror in this film was borrowed from other Asian movies that did a much better job (Shutter comes to mind). There was however a slightly disgusting point about the fetus, but throwing in a bag of worms (hypothetically speaking), while disgusting, won't make a scary movie scary.

I must admit though, that the soundtrack for this movie was the (only?) highlight of the film. At times, it sounded almost like a disconcerted rendering of an old fashioned Gothic horror movie. Likewise, the premise of the film is quite an interesting one, but thrown into this neophytes hands is nothing but a jumbled mess.

Now I suppose that while this is decent for his first try, but the director should go back to directing those music videos. For now though, all you parents out there, this is probably a horror movie you can show your kids without fear of giving them nightmares...

It creates a good and creepy mood but the story itself just doesn't hold up

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 10 June 2007]

A young man inherits a home from his family, though he really doesn't know any of these relatives. The place is very large but also very dilapidated--as if no one has lived there for decades. Oddly, when friends visit the man and his fiancée at the house, these friends begin acting strangely--as if in a daze. Later, the friends die mysteriously by some outside force--and so does a police detective investigating. So far, so good as far as the plot goes. Then, the fiancée finds out about an aunt that lives in an asylum and she tells them a super-bizarre tale about a curse on the home due to a frightening and stupid ritual that has been in the family for many generations. It seems to get good luck, they buy dead babies and pour their blood on them!? What all this means is pretty confusing as well as the bizarre tale of the family members.

The music, lighting and setting for this film all give it the eerie and ghostly quality the film needs. So at least from an aesthetic point of view, this horror film is very competent. Unfortunately, when it comes to the story, it was far, far from engaging and seemed downright silly and full of plot holes. After all, if the house is so evil and bad, why didn't they just burn it down or bulldoze it when they figured this out? Instead, they reacted in the most silly and unexplainable fashion--proving they were too stupid to live. In fact, the people often just acted like zombies and the acting was especially poor and unengaging.

Overall, not especially interesting or satisfying, but at least it set a lovely and scary mood.

Terrible!

[chrichtonsworld · 3/10 · 12 March 2010]

This movie had a decent buildup the first fifteen minutes. Everything following is for the worse. The story itself is pretty simple. The way it was told however was very confusing. Also the main actors haven't got a clue what to do with the material. At the climax this becomes clear when the lead actress acts surprised when she is told something. Completely forgetting that she already discovered this several scenes ago. Confusion is one thing but lack of suspense is not something that can be overlooked in a movie like this. Therefore "Heirloom" could be conceived as a drama with some supernatural elements. Only without any sympathy for the characters on screen or real emotions shown it does make it difficult to be touched. It did bother me though that apart from 1 or 2 scenes they didn't show much that could be considered supernatural. The movie doesn't show anything that would make sense of what is going on. It is like scenes were cut that otherwise would provide better transitions between scenes. The viewer just has to accept it without questioning anything. But even then it is hard liking this movie when essentially not much is going on. In short,don't waste your time with this one.

Looks like nothing special at first, but is full of elegant and discrete qualities!

[fedtho · 7/10 · 21 February 2006]

My motivation for this comment is the only, very negative review, that says exactly the opposite of what I found in this movie! The overall rating is terrible (though 11 votes is not representative of anything), and the film definitely deserves more.

To me, it has a good story, for once. It avoids Asiatic horror movie clichés and creates a mood of its own. It is superbly photographed. Under a seemingly classic form and approach lie lots of elements that makes this movie much more special than you'd expect it to be in the first 10 minutes.

It's well worth a try. To be perfectly honest, I saw it in a festival, and one develops a certain tendency to see the good things in the four to six movies you watch every day, so I can't rule out that I might react otherwise if I saw it today.

Still, I am confident this is more than just another Asian horror-flick, and that, if you're curious and open-minded, you'll find something to feed your movie-hungry appetite...

The Heirloom

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 13 August 2007]

James(Jason Chang)an architect, inherits a massive mansion with a disturbing family history. His stage-star fiancé Yo(the stunning beauty Terri Kwan)was planning to go abroad but decides to remain and live with James. Soon their friends, who visit them in the creepy abode, fall prey to supernatural terror..they fall unconscious only to awaken inside James' home unannounced and bewildered. Soon, Yo discovers, when meeting James' Aunt in an asylum(..and through newspaper clippings from her reporter friend experiencing the strange phenomena), that James' family committed a massive suicide and that they had performed an evil ritual concerning a child spirit and blood sacrifice for fortune and the elimination of enemies. Even worse is that James' mother was locked away by the family for being afflicted with an illness..as part of the family's curse for performing the ritual, their offspring, for the most part, were born diseased or ill. James was a healthy child sent away before the mass suicide occurred. When James' friend..and colleague..is found murdered by what appeared to be a hanging from a rope(..we see that he is murdered by a rope not visible meaning some specter or ghost had committed the deed), the family curse rears it's ugly head once again. When a cynical detective, who scoffs at the mere mention of some ghostly involvement in James' friend's murder, suffers the same fate, the idea that anyone who remains in the home for any major length of time could be in danger becomes quite prevalent. Who is causing the horrifying acts that are taking place? Could it be James' long-dead mother blazing a trail of murder? Can James protect Yo from the same grim fate others are suffering?

While I shrugged my shoulders at the reasons behind the horror taking place to the cast of this flick, I certainly believe this director, Leste Chen, is a major talent. I thought his exceptional handling of such mediocre material is proof that he is one to watch in the future. Being so young is even more impressive because I found the film visually intoxicating while not being so blown away by the plot or characters within it. Director Leste does what he can, though, milking as much terror as he can from the script presented to him. It's to his credit that this film is loaded with creepy atmosphere(the stunning sequence in the opening with all this hanging bodies while a woman crawls in agony sure opens the eyes wide)and has a eerie mood that remains from start to finish. This is simply a proved case of style over substance where a talented director rises above the material he's stuck with. One aspect that majorly plagues this movie(as it does "Amityville Horror")is why this couple remains in the house when it's quite clear something's amiss..a certain evil they should get as far away from as possible.

A very nice and refreshing surprise

[silence-23 · 8/10 · 11 March 2006]

As a great fan of Asian cinema, specially horror, I've think I've seen it almost all, and lately all films unless few exceptions were very repetitive, non-imaginative and quite predictable and boring. Before watching 'The heirloom', I didn't know what to expect...Another film about haunted houses...child ghosts (with long black hair...ha ha!)and the new inhabitants chased all along the way...? But as a fan I had to try, and was really grateful I did. Yes, it's about a haunted house and a child ghost, but not the usual meaning...I don't want to spoil the film but it's about a dark tradition of worshiping spirits that lead to death to almost a whole family. A relative who's being abroad inherits the house and it's when strange things starts to happen...all related to the past...the fiancée and a friend starts investigating and they discover the horrible past of the family... What I liked most of the film is the creepy atmosphere and that the horror is merely suggested, there are few 'terror' images, not the usual scares, but there's a tension during all the whole film that keeps you at the edge of your seat. The acting, specially the lead actress, who is very good, is quite o.k. Hope Leste Chen keeps this way of film-making! I give the film an 8/10.

Creepy and Dark

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 27 August 2015]

The architect James Yang (Jason Chang) returns to Taiwan after living for twenty years in England since he has inherited a family home. He learns that the old seventy year-old house has been empty for twenty years. James invites his girlfriend Yo (Terri Kwan), who is a dancer, to move in together with him to the house. Their friends Yi-Chen (Yu-chen Chang) and Cheng mysteriously appear in the house with no memory of how they arrived there. Soon Cheng is found dead in his bathtub and a snoopy detective suspects of Yi-Chen. He decides to stay in the house, but strange events happen also to him. Yi-Chen decides to investigate the only relative alive in the Yang family and goes to an asylum to interview James' Aunt Sue Yang. She learns a dark secret about the Yang family. Will she find who is haunting the house?

"The Heirloom" is a creepy and dark Taiwanese horror movie with a story based on a Chinese legend of dead children ghosts fed with blood and raised to bring fortune to the family. This legend is totally unknown to Westerns and maybe this might be the reason why this film is underrated in IMDb. However, the screenplay is well-written; the direction of Leste Chen is effective, supported by good performances of the gorgeous Terri Kwan and Jason Chang and beautiful cinematography. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not available on Blu-Ray and DVD

Fine supernatural horror film,but nothing really impressive.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 8 October 2006]

"The Heirloom" tells the story of a young architect James Yang who inherits an old family house in Taipei.He moves in and bring his long time girlfriend Yo along.James quickly starts having bad dreams connected to long buried memories form his childhood.It seems that the house hides a dark secret,in which thirty years prior the entire family attended bizarre rituals an ended up committing suicide all at the same time.Each relative hung on a rope to die.Taiwanese horror flick "The Heirloom" is not as good as it's reputed to be.The visuals are certainly impressive,but the script is quite weak.The total lack of scariness is seriously disappointing.Overall,"The Heirloom" is a rather mediocre horror film from Taiwan that left me unsatisfied.My generous rating:7 out of 10.

good storyline, good scares but poor idea.

[Tokyo-1997 · 7/10 · 14 October 2010]

I found this film quite interesting though very slow pacing at times. The characters chosen were really good. I am a Singaporean and I do understand Chinese. Hence, I do not really need to look at the subtitles to understand this film. Though this films may not be as scary as J-Horror films, I think it does a great job in creating a creepy atmosphere. This movie is very original. Very much like Ringu, tension and fear builds up to only one very terrifying scene. The scene in the toilet at the airport was terrifying. The girl got hung without even with a rope around her neck. Just like ringu, this terrifying scene occurs in one of the most unexpected moments in the show, that makes the scene scary. The idea used in this movie was rather ridiculous. It is about a strange tradition a family has in which people who are unhealthy have to get locked up. However, the storyline was done so well that I found this film very entertaining. The acting, especially the main character, in this movie did a very great job. Score: 8/10

This Movie Has 1975 Written All Over It...

[wkduffy · 8/10 · 24 June 2006]

I know, I know. Here it is 2006, and who on planet earth is paying attention to Asian horror movies any more? I mean, haven't we all moved onto Spain or France or whoever is the new Korea already? Clearly, if the Asian Wave of Horror has washed itself down the drain, who could be left but a bunch of sixth-generation Sadako wannabees, right?

Actually, scrap all that. I have another theory. If J-Horror has truly gone stale, and no one is paying attention (or money) any longer, maybe the filmmakers still hanging around the soundstage are the true heroes--maybe those directors who continue to unapologetically explore the genre are the truly dedicated artists who believe there's still meat on them thar bones.

If this theory is true, that means "Zhaibian/The Heirloom" offers something to the genre that is decidedly different, new, convincing, or at least creative. And, ultimately, it does just that. More specifically, it creatively turns back the clock on horror films, and transports the viewer backwards in time to the glorious era of classy 1970s horror flicks that relied on plot turns, creepy settings, and characters. Although narratively the film shares next to nothing with American classics like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Changeling," or "Audrey Rose," I couldn't suppress the urge to make the comparison (repeatedly while watching). The problem is, I just couldn't put my finger on why. There's some ineffable quality about "The Heirloom"--maybe the photography, the color palette, the dilapidated mansion as setting, or the wistful music-- that kept me saying, "Jeez, this reminds me of The Omen more than the 2006 remake of The Omen."

I think there's no hiding the fact that this film is awash in that "ephemeral something" borrowed from those 70s classics; the director is clearly influenced by the era and style (even the lead women wear bell-bottoms rivaling those donned by Cristina Raines in "The Sentinel"). And allowing those influences to shine through is what I believe is so striking--and even risky--here. Again, I'll reference the recent remakes of so many genre classics--The Omen, The Amityville Horror, The Hills Have Eyes. What I often see in these remakes is not an understanding or embracing of 70s high-class horror style, but instead mere mimicry (often shot-for-shot). Who cares?

Of course, the flick has its faults--most prominently (at the 1 hour, 15 minute mark) the action slows to a melodramatic crawl with nonstop slo-mo panning shots of people and places, accompanied by sweeping violins. Unfortunately, the film never regains its pace before the end--but it's still eye-candy worth savoring.

Ultimately, seeing a film like "Zhaibian/The Heirloom" is like tripping upon some long lost 70s American horror classic I've never heard of. (It's just that the story is steeped in Buddhist tradition and is peopled by Asian actors, heh.) In so many intangible ways, it's like watching "The Manitou" or "Burnt Offerings" for the first time. For a director to achieve that kind of "seventies something-ness"--I applaud him roundly. On the other hand, I suppose many movie buffs (and especially younger horror buffs) would shrug off this 70s appropriation, saying "That's old stuff. It's out of date, out of step." But I wonder--will they be pining for "Hellraiser 6--straight to DVD" when they turn 40?

A delightful Taiwanese horror movie

[killercharm · 6/10 · 29 February 2020]

Man returns to live on Taiwan after years abroad. He and his fiancé move into the family house he inherited, which is the reason for his return. The attic turns out to be scary indeed. For generations his family has been raising Hsiao-guei - dead-baby ghosts. The attic is where they were held, inside their little urns, the ones they were placed in when they died. Then the weakest child in the family was also imprisoned in the attic - to feed the hsiao-guei with her own blood. This horror could not be kept up indefinitely without disaster striking, and strike it did.

Great film, great visuals!

[Muviegirl · 8/10 · 6 March 2006]

This was a great Thai film with some really amazingly beautiful visuals. The premise was really interesting and I appreciate the look it gave me into certain Chinese beliefs, particularly the darker ones. I could not stop thinking about this movie for a couple of days after I saw it, which to me is always a sign of a good film! The film is basically about this family that raises a baby ghost, which according to Chinese and Taiwanese beliefs can bring a family lots of money and good fortune. Well, this family certainly had wealth, but they did not have good fortune! In the beginning of the film, we see that they have all hung themselves in some sort of bizarre mass suicide.

Twenty years later a distant relative returns from China to claim the house, from ancestors he never even knew he had. He brings his fiancée with him and the two proceed to move in. It begins to get really creepy when a secret fourth floor is discovered and the real family history inevitably gets discovered. Now, I don't want to give anything away so I will stop there. But, I have to tell you again this film is soooo worth seeing! The acting of the lead actress is great, the guy not so much. But overall it was the really awesome visuals, coupled with an interesting story that did it for me and made me want to recommend this one.