Phi Phong: The Blood Demon is a brutally effective ghost story
A little too long and a little too much of everything, Phi Phong is nonetheless a gorgeously realized folk horror that delights, disturbs, and surprises at every turn.
Region Free rating
Vietnamese genre cinema has grown leaps and bounds in the past couple of years, and there's no better example of that than Phi Phong: The Blood Demon.
Written and directed by Quoc Trung Do, it's a stylish and old-fashioned exorcism chiller that packs in a dozen or more ideas, big set pieces, and twists, nearly suffocating the already bloated two-hour length. Yet, somehow, it's never boring. How's that for a magic trick?
The story begins simply enough with siblings Con and Duong, who work as local exorcists for concerned housewives and the elderly. Whatever real talents they have are wasted in the everyday hustle, and it's not long before something far more menacing comes their way. Their mother, who lives in a remote village in the mountains of northern Vietnam, falls victim to a malevolent demon hell-bent on vengeance for decades-old wrongs. The siblings, who had left wards to protect their mother, race back home to save her, only to discover a stranger, more dangerous trap waiting for them.
From there, the scares come at a rapid pace and from increasingly inventive scenarios, as director Trung Do milks the spectacular landscape and setting for all their worth. Part of the great pleasure in Phi Phong is how little we've seen of this world in the West, especially through the eyes of genre cinema and folklore. Here, the tidal wave of ancient curses, mythology, and cultural influences that permeate through history takes the forefront, and the results are breathtaking at best.
It helps that Trung Do has a budget to work with, and Phi Phong looks gorgeous for the most part. Certain bits, like an early car accident, reveal some uncertainty in how to handle some SFX, but they're such minor issues it never hurts the story. Phi Phong has a drive and desire to entertain, and that alone overcomes any obstacles in delivery.
Trung Do also has a great eye for mood and atmosphere. From the very first scenes, where our heroes first recognize a shift in the weather, Trung Do builds up a growing unease that gains momentum all the way to the kind of rousing finale most bigger-budget productions can only dream of.
The uniformly good cast helps, too. Kieu Minh Tuan and Minh Anh are wonderful as the lead pair of magical siblings, and Trung Do allows them ample room to grow into their roles as saviors of a place they once left behind. While the script hits most familiar beats that you'd expect, there are cultural deviations that take the story for at least a couple of unexpected loops. And while Phi Phong does overstay its welcome by about twenty minutes (a fault many films in this genre share), it leaves with such a flourish and joyous proclamation of newly arrived talent that it's hard not to get whisked away in the process.
For those in the mood for good scares, enticing mythology, and something completely different from anything else that's offered in cinemas today, Phi Phong: The Blood Demon is a brilliant excursion into the unknown. Here's hoping we don't have to wait too long to see what Trung Don does next.