Troublesome Night is the first part out of nineteen Hongkong movies created between 1997 and 2003 featuring loosely bound episodes about encounters between humans and ghosts. Many of these movies include cameo appearances of famous Hongkong actors as well as of promising acting talents. The films vary from quite humorous moments to scaring passages. The biggest thrill is that one never knows what to expect. Sometimes, an episode starts quite childish and predictable and suddenly turns out to be very intense and scary. In other moments, the settings for an episode are atmospheric and dark but rather turn out to touch a more dramatic, philosophical or romantic genre. Sometimes, the ghosts are wise and try to help humans, sometimes they fall in love with them and sometimes they just want to torture the livings.
This first part of the enjoyable series is neither among the greatest nor among the worst Troublesome night features. All three episodes are well directed and atmospheric enough to convince. The acting is solid but not always outstanding and so are the stories. Let's take a brief look on the four episodes featured in here.
The first one starts rather childish and is centered around some male friends that want to celebrate an anniversary at a lake next to an old cemetery. One of the young men suddenly sees a beautiful naked woman that happens to be a ghost but nobody believes him. The teenagers then meet a group of girls that are camping on a beach and they start getting closer. As they try to play a stupid game on the nearby cemetery by ignoring several warnings, the forces of evil suddenly strike and one can't tell what is imagination or reality anymore until a stunning ending.
The second episode happens on the streets of Hongkong when the young men and women of the first episode are on their way back home. A young man and his female lover are on the road on a dark rainy night to sell a house to an old lady. The deal though happens to be a failure and the secret lovers get into a serious argument. Meanwhile, the wife of the cheating husband is preparing the couple's marriage anniversary. Then, several accidents occur on the nocturnal streets of the city and one is not sure anymore who of the characters is among the living and who has died in one of the accidents until the truth is revealed.
The third episodes goes back to some of the characters that met on that tragic night on the beach featured in the first episode. A young man and a young woman have become more than just friends and are starting a romantic relationship even if they are still shocked about the deadly events they have all been through together. After a while, the young woman starts to act strangely. Her boyfriend comes to the conclusion that she is cheating on him and starts to investigate with one of his friends and with the help of a strange exorcist who briefly appears in all four episodes and who is some sort of story teller. Soon, the trio realizes that the secret lover of the naive girl is nothing but a normal lover.
The fourth and last episode features some of the young men and women on their walk to the local movie theatres to watch the premiere of a movie. The arrogant main actor and his superficial girlfriend are also there. Despite several warnings, the couple sits on some reserved places and attracts the anger of those who should have sit down on these seats. The cinema quickly becomes a prison and madness strikes both characters that can't escape from their fate.
In the end, each episode had its gripping moments. Personally, I preferred the first episode which had several changes of pace and surprises until the very end. The episode I liked the least was the second one because it takes quite some time to actually kick off. All four episodes are though diverting enough to easily get through this flick and make you want to watch the sequels, too. Any fan of diversified and vivid horror cinema that doesn't take it self too serious at some points, should definitely check the series out. I would also recommend this flick to those that generally adore well done Hongkong cinema. Anybody who's expecting an entirely funny horror parody or a bleak and gripping slasher film might though rather dislike the film because of its variety.
