‘Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital’ Netflix Movie Review - Lost Potential for a Decent Horror

This was supposed to be a scary movie, but it didn’t leave that much of an impact to scare me. So the film started off with two local ghost dealers who entered the Xinglin Hospital in order to investigate the long-standing rumors of it being haunted. At first, one of the local ghost dealers, named Ethan, explores the hospital, much to the dismay of his co-ghost dealer. Sadly, both meet their end, which is termed as suicide by the media. But one of the questions that also arises is, why would anyone travel that far to commit suicide? To investigate the ghost encounters, a group of celebrities, playing their versions, use their GoPro cameras to enter the haunted building. However, before entering, they are given a set of instructions that are more like warnings. They are told that whatever they are entering can leave a lasting impact on their lives. Sadly, that can only happen when a life is left for them. These celebrities enter the building and experience all kinds of haunting.

While this might be a fictionalized version, the way it has been shot looks genuine. I thought all this was real, and some further digging gave me the information that it’s not real. What I did not like was that the movie is pretty slow, and all the haunting doesn’t seem to be real, even a bit. It’s apparent that these are made up. In a time where we are preparing ourselves for the last part of Conjuring verse and where we have seen such realistic horror films, shooting a movie on a GoPro doesn’t make it look real. Everything seems to be very artificial here.

I also felt that haunting, especially in a hospital building, has a lot of scope to give us jump scares. No doubt there were a few moments of jump scares. For example, when Ethan is killed. But that’s all. There could have been moments where they should have scared us more, but that doesn’t happen. Also, everything feels artificial. However, for the shooting, I will definitely praise the makers. They definitely gave us a documentary-style horror film.

The use of an ensemble cast, however, might go against the makers, as it felt more like a celebrity watch. Something like reality shows that deploy the fame of the celebs. This too felt like that. Also, after some point, everything feels very repetitive. Yes, they are there to hunt ghosts, they live-stream it, and then they're done. This is what happens again and again. So all in all, there is nothing new. I don’t know if it is because we have seen some really great horror movies, but there is a big story behind them. Here, I felt the thing called plot was missing heavily.

Therefore, if you are big into watching such movies, go for it. If not, then feel free to pass it. You won’t be missing out on something.

Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Choudhuri
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times