Plenty of potential, but way too predictable – this is Asian horror by numbers…
Macabre attacks are taking place place in the city. Women are being targeted, their kidneys stolen, and left in a bath of ice with the words ‘Call the police or you’ll die’ scrawled on the walls. So Koma begins…
Chi Ching (Angelica Lee, The Eye) literally stumbles over the latest victim after getting drunk at a friends wedding, and becomes convinced that the perpetrator is a suspicious looking woman she sees leaving the hotel. The irony, Chi herself suffers from renal failure.
The truth behind the woman’s identity turns out to be just as strange. The mystery lady is Suen Ling (Karena Lam, Inner Senses) who’s been having an affair with Chi’s boyfriend (played by Andy Chi-on Hui). The police, predictably at a loss concerning the identity of the assailant, immediately dismiss the matter as jealousy between the women, but Chi is not so convinced - until Suen saves her from having her kidney plundered.
A peculiar friendship begins between the two: Suen, the poor girl with a fatally ill mother; Chi, the spoilt rich girl with everything her heart desires, except a working kidney and perhaps an honest boyfriend. But all is not as it seems…
It all seems a bit of an Asian horror by numbers. Director Chi-Leung was also responsible for Leslie Cheung’s swansong Inner Senses, and stars Lee and Lam both made their name in horrors. Even the themes seem rather familiar. The icky kidney business from Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, the drugged victim, unable to even move whilst the assailant performs the worst horrors on them, reminiscent of Audition, the old school friends from Oldboy, the inept police from Nowhere to Hide (or a whole host of other Korean movies).
Yet despite this Koma ends up more Italian giallo than J-Horror, with lingering shots of the murders hands reminiscent of the exploitation thrillers that Dairo Argento made famous (or at least their lesser imitations). Not that that’s a bad thing, but the obvious signposting and familiarity of the ideas makes the whole affair too predictable, particularly in the last act. A few more red herrings and a little less taking the audience for granted wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Not that there aren’t many things to recommend Koma. It’s well directed and played by all concerned. Scenes like the first victim waking in the hotel, or when the assailant catches Chi in the hotel lift, holding a scapel to her neck, are exceptionally well played. And the ineffective flu ridden cops, with a particularly good performance by typecast Kai Chi Liu (Internal Affairs II, Princess Madam), are great. But it all too quickly descends into melodrama between the three leads, which all comes as less of a surprise when you consider screenwriter Susan Chan’s first hit was the overblown A Moment of Romance II. Not helped by the characters often bizarre actions.
Sadly this isn’t up there with the best thriller/horror coming from Asia at the moment. It’s not bad, but that only highlights the films potential had the script been a lot cleverer.
DVD details
Distributor: Tartan (UK)
A good transfer for the Tartan Asia Extreme DVD release, it also includes a director’s commentary.
