HORROR HOTLINE... BIG HEAD MONSTER: What a name?! I guess the best way to describe this movie is by calling it the Chinese BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (I'm sure lots of other people have too). Now, this doesn't really do it justice and it can be quite insulting to director SOI CHEANG because it's not nearly as bad as that piece-o-dogshit BLAIR WITCH stinker. But I must say that this movie really pissed me off because I was SO looking forward to seeing how it was all going to end. Just think for a moment, the low budget, angry baby slaughter-fest BASKET CASE meets the supernatural, talking with spooks blockbuster THE SIXTH SENSE and starring (one of my personal favorites) Chinese character actor extraordinare, FRANCIS NG. Yup, you guessed it, it's a story of mean-ass monster babies, ghosts who like to chat with the living, and good looking Chinese chicks (and it's loaded with cuties too as in NIKI CHOW, JOSIE HO, and MICHELLE ZHANG) centered around a radio station that asks it's callers to talk about the bizarre and the unexplainable. The film's many good points include cleverly staged direction with nice camera sways, quick edits, and slow motion sequences involving the appropriate horror surroundings (hospitals, abandoned warehouses, and rundown buildings) with good looking, talented actors. All that as the tension builds from what at first seemed like a simple hoax to a full blown supernatural murder mystery. A person calls in from the medical center about a feral "monster" baby attack that just took place (poor old wacky actor, SAM LEE got it). Suddenly, a rash of calls start to come in over the next few days from other people (both alive and DEAD) who have also seen this horribly, disfigured cannibalistic infant on the loose. During this same time, JOSIE HO, a news reporter, is doing a spotlight on the radio station run by FRANCIS NG and together they decide to investigate the validity of these calls. Sounds very promising, huh? But in the end, it really drops the ball (this is the point where I get sooo pissed). Even though the MEI AH import DVD that I bought had two different alternate endings, neither one seemed to wrap up the story and both left you hanging, which was a real overpowering let-down, making you wonder why you even bothered to watch the whole damn thing in the first place. So with that in mind, I'm forced to give it a "Thumbs Down" for the most part even though I thoroughly enjoyed the film up until the end which simply decayed into a trivial and mindless "handheld camera bobbling around trying to focus in on a mysterious figure in the distance and finally falls to the ground as it's owner is slain" fiasco. Sound familiar?! It was, in my opinion, a total lack of creativity and gave the impression that the story writer or director didn't really have enough left in them to come up with a real ending. And that will certainly keep this otherwise great effort from ever garnering a top spot in the Chinese horror genre. Someone should have told them before hand, ya know.
-Steve