Chow Yun Fat was awful in Occupant. I really didn't know before this that it was possible for him to be awful. At the time he was running back & fourth between two sets, shooting Waiting for Dawn (Dang doi lai ming) simultaneously with Occupant. Perhaps he was run too ragged to put even slight energy into this film, which he probably recognized immediately as a dog.
Chow Yun's character's personality was completely overwhelmed by the Super Nurd (Raymond Wong), who was himself grating & not at all funny but since hew as supposed to be annoying he was doing a better job with his character than Chow Yun was with his. The leading lady (Salley Yeh) never exhibited much character at all.
Yeh as Angie has moved into an apartment which is haunted. After the ghost chucks the Nurd out the window, Chow Yun Fat (improbably a detective from the CIA) tries to help out. Between the slapstick comedy devoid of humor & the horror devoid of chills, this adds up to a neither/nor film wins neither giggles nor gasps.
I'm sure I've seen a worse film somewhere, but I can't remember it just now. When it was trying to be funny it was merely stupid, & when it tried to be "spooky" it was already so undermined by the stupidness of the failed comedy that nothing worked even for a split second.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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