Creepy and thought-provoking, a group of scientist follow a caught spirit in the sci-fi supernatural horror film, Silk.
Creepy and thought-provoking, the sci-fi supernatural horror film Silk shows a group of scientists following a caught spirit.
Qi Tung (Chang Chen, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) is a cop whose unique skill is lip reading, which he accomplishes with incredibly close attention to detail and remarkable retention. He's requested to join a group of scientists lead by Dr. Hashimoto (Yosuke Egochi) to try and help discover why the captured spirit of a boy became a ghost. Trouble arises when the ghost starts killing people and the Japanese government wants to close down the operation just when they're starting to piece together the ghost's origins.
To describe the film as just a horror movie would be incorrect. While there are scary ghost moments filtered throughout, it's the drama that keeps it from being just another ghost story. Similar to films like The Eye and Monster, these part-horror films play more like dramas with supernatural elements.
In the case with Silk, Tung's hospitalized mother suffering from ALS is kept alive despite her being unresponsive and comatose. His girlfriend Wei (Karena Lam) loyally sticks by him even though she turned down his proposal two years back. She questions his motives for keeping his mother alive despite her deteriorating state. In a parallel plotline, Dr. Hastimoto has a condition affecting his legs and has to walk around with the aid of a crutch. He envies the ghost boy and his ageless, pain-free existence. Dr. Hashimoto's hatred and rage grows into an obsession as he is consumed by wanting to know how one becomes a ghost.
What makes the film slightly confusing is that it switches from Mandarin to Japanese with all its key players fluently speaking both. In the initial scene where Tung is introduced to the science team. Hashimoto's assistant Su Yuen (Barbie Hsu), converses with Tung in Mandarin, but in Japanese with Hashimoto. Hashimoto while he can speak Mandarin, chooses to immediately converse in Japanese with Tung, then switches to Mandarin, then back and forth. The rest of the team chooses to converse with Tung in Mandarin.
This is just a small detail in an overall satisfying film. The change in language is never really addressed in the 'Making Of' featurette included on Tartan Video's DVD release. The only trace we see is a behind the scenes clip of the script supervisor and director debating which language to use at what time and Egochi revealing how difficult it was for him to use the Mandarin he'd learned in Japan.
The 'Making Of' also includes the make-up and visual effects for the show. They explain how the film is not a visual film, so no computer generated images were created. Instead, they used the actors in front of green screens and super imposed many shots.
Also included in the Special Features is an Alternate Ending, the director's initial ending of the film as well as outtakes and deleted scenes.
