Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital review
Some footage worth finding.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital
Directed by Kerwin Go
Written by Kerwin Go, Dustin Celestino and Leovic Arceta
Starring Enrique Gil, Jane de Leon, Alexa Miro, MJ Lastimosa, Raf Pineda and Ryan Azurin
Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital Review
Found Footage. The words alone are enough to make some people turn around and walk away. The subgenre/concept has been a controversial one since The Blair Witch Project debuted over a quarter of a century ago. While that wasn’t the first movie to use the found footage idea…it is the one that broke through into the mainstream. The result was a large group of movie goers walking out of the theater asking what in the Hell they just watched and vowing to never watch anything like it again. Ok…that’s an over-dramatization. But it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. That much we can agree on.
That hasn’t stopped people from making them, however. Which is where most of the hate actually comes from. Put simply, shooting a found footage movie is cheaper. It results in a lot of low budget found footage movies hitting the marketplace…many without the remote attempt to push the concept forward in any way. On one hand, it opens up filmmaking opportunities for a lot more people. If you have a smartphone and a dream…you too can go into the woods and shine a flashlight at some trees. There have been plenty of great found footage movies, of course. Deadstream, Hell House LLC: Origins and The Outwaters are a few recent examples. Late Night With the Devil is found footage too…though the people who are quick to tell you why they hate the format wouldn’t count it as one. It doesn’t fit their description of what it is.
Recent Netflix release Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital does fit their description. While the merry band of misfits here may not walk into the woods to point their shaky cameras at some trees…they do shine their flashlights into the darkened corners of an abandoned (and allegedly haunted) hospital. The shakiness the main complaint, I’ve found. Some viewers can find the POV full of quick turns and shuffles nauseating. That’s fair criticism. But Strange Frequencies, like many quality found footage releases…finds a way to make it work for itself and, importantly, its story.
The plot of Strange Frequencies is simple…as most found footage films usually are. A group assembles to investigate a supposedly haunted hospital and livestream their findings online. There’s a big payday if they can reach certain viewership benchmarks. A feat that is virtually guaranteed if the hospital lives up to its billing. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. A variation of that plot makes up a lot of the movies in the subgenre. A hospital, a mansion, a summer camp…the woods. Plenty of haunted places for unwitting victims to find out too late they should have taken more seriously.
So why does Strange Frequencies succeed where so many have failed? Well…there’s a few reasons, but the top answer has to be…energy. There is an excitement to this movie that can’t be denied. The characters are a little more dynamic…cameras are a little more focused…the setting is a little spookier. Strange Frequencies can’t quite extend that excitement and energy for the full length of its broadcast…but it comes pretty damned close.
The characters here are all people playing exaggerated versions of themselves. Enrique Gil (or Quen as is repeatedly yelled over microphones once they enter the hospital) puts together a team of pretty faces to do a bit of ghost hunting. His crew includes actors, influencers, YouTubers and a Miss Universe contestant. To a person…the stars of Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital are having FUN with this movie. They bring the excitement level up several notches from the standard “slowly walk around a scary location acting scared” production. The strong personalities are the best weapon that Strange Frequencies has at its disposal.
But it’s not the only thing that makes the movie work. This is a clean looking production that makes its cameras work for it instead of against it. Each explorer wears a rig that shows us their faces (and what’s behind them) as well as what a forward pointing camera is catching in its lens. The footage is being controlled by Quen from a control spot. Basically, it takes the shake out of the proceedings until they want things to shake.
The setting is a winner as well. Xinglin General Hospital is full of dark corridors and hidden secrets. A cold open shows us the degree of danger that the crew is walking into. A visit to a medium directly warns them of what awaits. Once they enter…they can’t leave until morning. Making it that long is going to make for a heck of a show. Characters split off in pairs to investigate…spreading lore about the history of the hospital along the way. An operating room that isn’t as empty as they thought…the children’s ward where 15 babies were poisoned by a killer nurse…secret passageways to leftover occult ritual sites…this hospital has it all.
So too does Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital. It’s a fun ride through its first two acts of discovery. The script seems to understand that even a well-made haunted house tour will wear thin after too long. It saves its kills for the third act…just when you need the format to be shaken up a little. Discovery becomes survival. One member of the group has disappeared…and the crew isn’t the only person looking for her. Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital breaks through the usual found footage pitfalls with an extra layer of energy, a game cast in a great setting and rock-solid production values. Even found footage haters should give it a try. They won’t…but they should.
Scare Value
Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital can’t fully sustain its early momentum…but it makes for a more enjoyable movie than most found footage features. The cast is all in. The atmosphere is strong. And the first two-thirds of Strange Frequencies hum along at a brisk pace. It wisely saves its kills for act three…when everything starts to feel a bit too similar to what we’ve already seen. Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hosptial is worth a visit. Even if you are staunchly against the format.
3.5/5
Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital Link
Streaming on Netflix
