chrichtonsworld This movie had a decent buildup the first fifteen minutes. Everything following is for the worse. The story itself is pretty simple. The way it was told however was very confusing. Also the main actors haven't got a clue what to do with the material. At the climax this becomes clear when the lead actress acts surprised when she is told something. Completely forgetting that she already discovered this several scenes ago. Confusion is one thing but lack of suspense is not something that can be overlooked in a movie like this. Therefore "Heirloom" could be conceived as a drama with some supernatural elements. Only without any sympathy for the characters on screen or real emotions shown it does make it difficult to be touched. It did bother me though that apart from 1 or 2 scenes they didn't show much that could be considered supernatural. The movie doesn't show anything that would make sense of what is going on. It is like scenes were cut that otherwise would provide better transitions between scenes. The viewer just has to accept it without questioning anything. But even then it is hard liking this movie when essentially not much is going on. In short,don't waste your time with this one.

Scarecrow-88 James(Jason Chang)an architect, inherits a massive mansion with a disturbing family history. His stage-star fiancé Yo(the stunning beauty Terri Kwan)was planning to go abroad but decides to remain and live with James. Soon their friends, who visit them in the creepy abode, fall prey to supernatural terror..they fall unconscious only to awaken inside James' home unannounced and bewildered. Soon, Yo discovers, when meeting James' Aunt in an asylum(..and through newspaper clippings from her reporter friend experiencing the strange phenomena), that James' family committed a massive suicide and that they had performed an evil ritual concerning a child spirit and blood sacrifice for fortune and the elimination of enemies. Even worse is that James' mother was locked away by the family for being afflicted with an illness..as part of the family's curse for performing the ritual, their offspring, for the most part, were born diseased or ill. James was a healthy child sent away before the mass suicide occurred. When James' friend..and colleague..is found murdered by what appeared to be a hanging from a rope(..we see that he is murdered by a rope not visible meaning some specter or ghost had committed the deed), the family curse rears it's ugly head once again. When a cynical detective, who scoffs at the mere mention of some ghostly involvement in James' friend's murder, suffers the same fate, the idea that anyone who remains in the home for any major length of time could be in danger becomes quite prevalent. Who is causing the horrifying acts that are taking place? Could it be James' long-dead mother blazing a trail of murder? Can James protect Yo from the same grim fate others are suffering?While I shrugged my shoulders at the reasons behind the horror taking place to the cast of this flick, I certainly believe this director, Leste Chen, is a major talent. I thought his exceptional handling of such mediocre material is proof that he is one to watch in the future. Being so young is even more impressive because I found the film visually intoxicating while not being so blown away by the plot or characters within it. Director Leste does what he can, though, milking as much terror as he can from the script presented to him. It's to his credit that this film is loaded with creepy atmosphere(the stunning sequence in the opening with all this hanging bodies while a woman crawls in agony sure opens the eyes wide)and has a eerie mood that remains from start to finish. This is simply a proved case of style over substance where a talented director rises above the material he's stuck with. One aspect that majorly plagues this movie(as it does "Amityville Horror")is why this couple remains in the house when it's quite clear something's amiss..a certain evil they should get as far away from as possible.

EVOL666 THE HEIRLOOM had a pretty decent and twisted concept - unfortunately, it didn't deliver on it. The first 40 minutes of the film were pretty much completely unnecessary and could have been summed up in 10 minutes or so. We only get into the "meat" of the story during the second half - and even then the film doesn't deliver on what could have been a pretty cool subject...A guy inherits a house from his family that was a breeding ground for ghosts. Strange things begin happening around the house and as the (slow-moving) story goes on, we find out exactly what went down in the haunted house...The ghost-breeding concept was pretty cool - and had this part of the film been expanded on, it could have been good. Unfortunately, the whole explanation of what happened in the house was summed up in about 10 minutes in a scene where the main character's girlfriend speaks to one of his relatives in a mental institution. The film also fails by falling into many of the typical stupid horror trappings - people staying in a house that is OBVIOUSLY haunted instead of leaving like they should have in the first 5 minutes, etc...Despite decent camera-work and acting - this one just felt too "typical" to me - hence my mediocre rating. Die-hard Asian ghost-film fans will probably love this one...personally I found it extremely average...5/10

silence-23 As a great fan of Asian cinema, specially horror, I've think I've seen it almost all, and lately all films unless few exceptions were very repetitive, non-imaginative and quite predictable and boring. Before watching 'The heirloom', I didn't know what to expect...Another film about haunted houses...child ghosts (with long black hair...ha ha!)and the new inhabitants chased all along the way...? But as a fan I had to try, and was really grateful I did. Yes, it's about a haunted house and a child ghost, but not the usual meaning...I don't want to spoil the film but it's about a dark tradition of worshiping spirits that lead to death to almost a whole family. A relative who's being abroad inherits the house and it's when strange things starts to happen...all related to the past...the fiancée and a friend starts investigating and they discover the horrible past of the family... What I liked most of the film is the creepy atmosphere and that the horror is merely suggested, there are few 'terror' images, not the usual scares, but there's a tension during all the whole film that keeps you at the edge of your seat. The acting, specially the lead actress, who is very good, is quite o.k. Hope Leste Chen keeps this way of film-making! I give the film an 8/10.