Life After Life
Director: Peter Yung
Year: 1981
Rating: 7.0
This 1982 Cinema
City offering is a real departure from their typical early 80’s comedies
that they built their reputation on. It is a very dark and well-focused supernatural
tale about fate and reincarnation. Surprising for any HK horror film, but
in particular for one from this production company – the film is played out
in total seriousness and no comedy is allowed to creep in at any point. The
story becomes quite involving as the characters appear to be caught in a
fatalistic whirlpool that is sucking them along a path that they can not
escape from.
Just as surprising – at least from my perspective – is how good George Lam
is here. I have never been a big fan of his style of “relaxed method acting”
– but here he feels just right as an ordinary man who begins to discover who
he really is – and becomes terrified at what he sees.
Lam is putting together a fashion show – and has chosen Flora Cheung (Duel
to the Death) as the main model – and is going with a motif using old Chinese
puppets. He is able to locate some puppets for the show – but begins to suffer
strange painful visions – visions that are confusing and violent – of baleful
puppets and blood. Upon investigating, he finds that the puppets were “witnesses”
to a murder that took place some 28 years previously – on the same day he
was born.
But it becomes even more frightening and convoluted when he realizes that
Flora was born on the same day as well – and that perhaps his boss, Patrick
Tse (father of Nicholas Tse), was in some way also involved in the events
of the past. As Lam attempts to unravel the mystery he begins to fear that
somehow the same fate is awaiting him – and everything he does to break with
fate just brings him closer.
