HORROR HOTLINE: BIG HEAD MONSTER (2001)

I’m getting sick to death of these Asian horror films like the supremely overrated Ringu series (Dark Water wasn’t entirely negligible, but not much better), that come off more like weak X-Files episodes- all talk and investigation and the like. Whatever happened to the days of the incredibly bizarre Seventh Curse or playfully naughty (and extremely weird) Erotic Ghost Story? Why are Asian horror films taking themselves so damn seriously these days?


Well, this 2001 film is like a mixture of both types of films, and is actually reasonably watchable. I just wish it were more engagingly silly about itself. It concerns a radio call-in program where people tell of their paranormal experiences. They’re mostly (if not totally) ridiculous stories and no one at the station really takes anything seriously. Josie Ho turns up as a bilingual TV reporter who comes to the station to do a story about Horror hotline. She and the Horror Hotline gang soon get caught up in the case of an apparent mutant baby (shades of Larry Cohen), with several deaths surrounding it.

Sounds like crazy, off-the-wall fun, right? Well, sort of. Ho is a little hammy in her role (though all of the women are at least quite attractive, always a good thing), but everyone else is a little too 'Junior X-Files' for my tastes (could be worse, they could be Junior Eurovision…er…forget I said that), and the film never fully capitalises on the crazy premise, focusing on the characters and their investigation of the case rather than the mutant baby itself and the murders. This could’ve been like a Godzilla film with a mutant baby, but sadly, it never goes down that road. That said, unlike the uninteresting Ringu series, I actually liked some of these characters and found the facts of this case fascinating enough for a passable experience. Best of all is the rather creepy use of sound in the film, something Asian films are generally pretty good at. I could’ve done without the Blair Witch ending, though, the composition and use of shaky-cam in one scene is frighteningly similar to The Blair Witch Project, I’m surprised a lawsuit didn’t result (I doubt that it was parody and homage would be giving the filmmakers too much credit).


Not bad, with some interesting (if vaguely Anti-Islam) subtext and a few very weird moments here and there. I’d still rent The Seventh Curse instead, or if you want a more artistically-inclined, non-gory Asian horror film, try the Korean Whispering Corridors, much better than Ringu or any of its ilk.