Tales from the Occult (2022)

A trio of Hong Kong directors provides a ghostly anthology with a trio of tales in one film.The Good Stor(ies): The Chink-After moving into a new apartment, two girlfriends try to use their newfound freedom to their advantage by using the opportunity to reconnect and build their relationship following a traumatic incident in their childhood. Once it becomes obvious that they’re not completely over those feelings of dread and fear, the two realize that more than ghosts may be after them. This is a great start to things and is a fine opening segment. The breezy setup and breakneck pace create a fantastic mood here, generating the initial means of the past trauma that affects the one girl. As an appropriately unnerving and terrifying incident in its own right, the fact that it still haunts and horrifies them still comes through not just in the dialogue between her and her uncle but the constant flashbacks trying to make sense of the initial moment in their childhood. The frequent flashes from the ghostly figure following her add to the creepy atmosphere in addition to the concept at play generating some unnerving incidents. There’s even some work showing the lengths to which their relationship has impacted their lives since the incident involving several shocking reveals and twists that come off rather nicely, and while the segment might run a bit too long trying to focus on some secondary storylines in a misguided way to boost the running time, they’re not that detrimental.Dead Mall-Working on cultivating his channel, an online wealth investor begins staging a video to encourage investment in a new mall slated to open soon by using the managers and a crew of paid actors. When things take a turn for the worse as a figure wearing a gas mask begins stalking him he tries to use whatever he can to escape the situation. Overall, this segment has quite a lot to really like about it. Offering a pointed commentary on modern consumer culture and social media influencers, the setup here is quite topical even without the grim shots of the crowded street-walkers adorned in various protective masks. The shift towards the consumerism featured here with the staged antics at the mall opening with actors nearly messing up their marks while he tries to shill the benefits of the grand opening also signals the start of the turn towards a stalker-based genre experience. The gas mask-adorned stranger continually spotted around him while trying to bilk out clueless fans of their money adds some much-needed tension to the segment aided along nicely with the subplot involving the original tragedy that destroyed the original mall and necessitating its rebuild they’re promoting. That there are several other storylines in play during the finale, with a disgruntled follower of the influencer taking revenge, the ghost-hunt livestream, the actors left behind being terrorized by the ghost, and the stalker hunting down whoever they can, all serve to generate some solid action and suspense in the facility. While there’s a bit too much going on to keep track of as it’s quite easy to lose track of who’s where in the building as well as for what reason, this segment has enough going on to be quite fun and chilling.The Tenement-Living in a worn-down apartment complex, a struggling writer becomes convinced that a ghost is moving between the various floors of the building, requiring her and several friends to band together to investigate what’s going on. As they try to figure out the cause of the strange sightings, the group eventually discovers something far deadlier may be at plan than they expected. This one manages to come off rather strongly and makes for a rather strong finish. That the segment grows in seriousness throughout the running time as we get to see more of the ghost adds immensely to the atmosphere. Initially suspecting the ghost to be the figment of their imagination brought about by the convict who moved into the building, the growing realization that it’s a genuine supernatural entity becomes far more obvious over time. From the encounter with the spiritualist who suspects something is amiss to the preparational ceremony to battle the ghost, the events that come about leading to the full reveal add a more comedic spin than expected and have a lot to like. A subplot involving the life of the gangster coming back to haunt him adds nothing of value and makes this run on a bit too long for its own good, but otherwise, there’s not much to dislike here to close this out rather strongly.The Bad Stor(ies): Despite minor flaws cropping up in each segment, none of them are truly bad.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.