Detective Kien: The Headless Horror review
Vietnam brings us a mystery with horror movie trappings.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Detective Kien: The Headless Horror
Directed by Victor Vu
Starring Quoc Huy
Detective Kien: The Headless Horror Review
It was a bit of a surprise when Detective Kien: The Headless Horror popped up in several theaters across the country this weekend. I’d never heard of the Vietnamese film…and, despite crafting a constantly updated new release calendar on this very website, I had no idea it was coming until the last minute. It made its way into theaters around the world based on the strength of its box office success in its home country. While not an all-out horror film, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror utilizes effective horror imagery and a supernatural myth to aid an already engaging investigation.
I was about to type the sentence: Detective Kien: The Headless Horror may be the first Vietnamese movie I’ve ever watched. But that would be inaccurate. SCREAMBOX released a Vietnamese horror movie called The Ancestral two years ago. That was a very good movie in its own right. The release of Detective Kien: The Headless Horror makes my Vietnamese movie experience a firm two for two. The new film from director Victor Vu is, however, the first movie from Vietnam that I ever watched in a movie theater. Given the great cinematography and excellent locations…I suggest that you do the same.
Set sometime in the 1800s, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is far more of a mystery than a horror movie. It uses horror concepts well, though sparingly. Mostly, this is the story of a detective’s investigation of a missing girl. Detective Kien (Quoc Huy) arrives in a small town at the request of the missing girl’s aunt. She’s run into a roadblock due to being stonewalled by the local ruler. Kien is able to blow open the investigation with his keen deductive skills and strict adherence to protocols. What complicates a fairly straightforward missing person’s case is the local legend of a ghost in the water. People go missing here…and are soon found floating in the lake…with their heads removed.
The ghost gets enough attention in Detective Kien: The Headless Horror for the film to earn its horror designation on IMDB. It’s listed third behind “suspense mystery” and “drama” and that feels exactly correct. Like many foreign films, especially from Asian territories, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is longer and more in depth than you’d expect. Generally, I chalk this up to cultural expectations and recognize that not every country follows the Michael Bay-ification, all gas no breaks version of storytelling. It’s worth noting, however, that The Headless Horror does have one or two scenes that could easily be removed from the story without losing anything. The investigation hits brief, but ultimately unimportant, turns that seemingly exist simply to pad an already extended runtime.
Detective Kien is a lawful good character. He is by the book and will go however far it takes to solve his cases. Miss Moon, the aunt of the missing Nga, is far more emotional and desperate. He doesn’t want her to be working on the case with him…but she doesn’t take no for an answer. Their dynamic is one of the strengths of The Headless Horror. So too are the interesting characters that they investigate. Throughout Kien’s search we discover the politics of the region, secret love connections and, of course, that pesky ghost. Performances are universally strong. The mystery is involved and engaging. On top of that, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is a beautiful movie. 19th century Vietnam looks incredible. There are more than enough working pieces to understand why this movie became a hit.
A big enough hit, one hopes, to greenlight a sequel. The story sets itself up for one…there is no denying that. It leaves the future of some characters in a place where a sequel is practically demanded. The supernatural aspects of the movie form a mystery of their own…related to Nga’s disappearance or not. Hopefully Detective Kien will return one day to continue his adventures. Hopefully it will also make its way to US theaters.
If you’re looking for an engaging (and often sweeping in scope) mystery film…you could do a lot worse than Detective Kien: The Headless Horror. You’ll get a bit of horror, a lot of intrigue…and even some climactic sword fighting. Aside from a few unnecessary dead ends in the primary investigation…Detective Kien: The Headless Horror delivers beautiful vistas, memorable characters and a worthwhile mystery.
Scare Value
Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is a strong investigative horror movie even though the horror elements are light at best. Great characters fill out a world that feels fully lived in. It features effective horror imagery to complement its seemingly supernatural mystery. Detective Kien is an interesting character who, hopefully, we’ll see explored in future movies. Given the success of The Headless Horror at the Vietnamese box office…one assumes that we will.
3.5/5
Detective Kien: The Headless Horror Link
In theaters now – Fandango
