Dating Death is a Chinese Horror movie directed by Herman aYau and it was released by Tai Seng Entertainment Studio in December 14, 2004. It was produce by Raymond Wong with a casts that includes Stephy Tang , Edwin Siu , Theresa Fu , Deep Ng , Don Li , Ricky Fan and Horace Lee
The Plot:
Five guys spent their night – Herman, Clark, James, Charles and Ken at a villa owned by their friend Sophie and Lilly in a remote island. While they are having a good time the gang decided to play “Truth or Dare” by asking “Who do you adore?”. Coincidentally all four chose Sophie. When it is her turn to choose, she point Ken as someone she adore, Ken then surprisingly return the favor to Sophie. This frustrates the ignored Lilly to open her mouth, and then changed the subject by saying “Who should die tonight?” and selected Ken as the first victim. The sudden outburst get the rest of the group more upset and decided to end the night. It was later revealed that Ken and Lilly actually has been secretly dating for a while. Ken later admitted that he is only trying to protect them both from embarrasment by telling a lie. While waiting in the lobby to get ready to leave the island the next morning, the friends found Ken’s room soaked in blood and a shattered window, an indication that he had been thrown out . With no body to be found, Police Investigation were at a dead end.
After the incident, Sophie, now a future heir to her uncle business return from a US visit after a one year hiatus invited the remaining friends for a get together dinner party. On their way home, each found a mysterious invitation card supposedly from Ken asking them to meet at the villa. Curious as to what is going to happen, the six friend decided to go back to their old hangout. With tension still running high one of them started to disappear again, The group now realized that they are experiencing Deja vu all over again.
My Review:
Dating Death can only be summarized for its lack of depth and more of a “who did what?”. If its not for its surprising supernatural and slasher elements that relieve the glory days of the genre in the near end of the film, I would have rather watch “I Know What You Did Last Summer” instead. The movie features young casts that you would want to see but can just easily forget in a New York minute, add that to the lack of chemistry that can only be compared to a dull moment in the office. With that being considered, there is one question that begs tons of answer – “Why are they best friends when they totally hate each other?”
While the rest hopelessly tried their part in a very forgettable way, one character that stands out is Lilly (played by the cute actress Stephy Tang). Although she maintained innocence by trying to act as puzzled by the disappearance of her boyfriend and convinced that he is alive, all fingers point to her. Her suspicious action is viewed as a sign by her friend that could only mean one thing – a motive for revenge. Another character that worth mentioning is Hermen (Horace Lee) the group self proclaimed magician who is also the most hated person second only to Ken for playing pranks.
Stephy Tang is an actress of several Hong Kong horror genre. She was cast in title like In Love With The Dead. She also work with Horace in comedy horror film Nine Girls and a Ghost.
Herman Yau, a veteran who produced and directed more than 70 movies, has been known known to turn low budget film in to success. I truly admired the directors work in The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome, but I would say that the bad acting undermined the experience he laid in here.
Special Effects is very amateurish, sure it is a B-movie but I have seen been better work from countless of movies out there that are supposedly not Hollywood material and still find its niche. I just find it just plain cheesy. ( One more caution, the subtitles on the original release years ago is not well translated. If you ever bought the older copy You are probably better turning of the subtitles, you can still get to their point rather than punishing yourself reading something that you found very laughable )
I did not entirely gave up on Dating Death, there are scenes in here that is memorable. Two things that I find worth watching is the discovery of the hidden door and a scene when two of the friends finally reveals a very interesting identity – a subplot that did turn everything around during the climax part of the movie. Directors Yau’s frequent use of the flashback techniques to reveal a sequence of events did add a very surprising element.
Overall, If you want to spend a couple of hours just to burn, watch this otherwise buy or rent The Seventh Night.
[flv:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQl7BLD5Jn4 250 185]
