Wanna know something funny about this movie? The Phantom-like character in this movie is called Song and the sort of Raoul character is called Sung and the Phantom teaches Raoul how to sing. So Song teaches Sung how to sing. Yeah, I know these are Chinese names but come on, that had to be more than a coincidence. Anyways, onto the movie. Since I do not speak Chinese, I watched a subtitled version that actually had better subtitles! No walksn foxes here! So I didn't have a problem in knowing what was going on although some of the subtitles seemed a little weird, that was most likely a language thing. With so many changes to the Phantom of the Opera story, this is very loosely a version but it does feature a disfigured musician that falls in love with a singer so I guess that's all you really need. Overall, this was an enjoyable flick but it does have a few issues. First off, the first half of this movie is very slow and honestly bored me a little. However, once Song is scarred by acid, the movie really picks up and becomes a fun watch. Song's makeup is also very well done and is certainly the best of the acid disfigurements. Plus, the scene where he sees his recently disfigured face is probably the most poignant scene in the whole movie and makes the whole "deformity is an injury" thing I'm not very fond of, much more tolerable. I also think that Song and Xia have a very genuine relationship and I liked how he was willing to sacrifice his happiness for hers. Though at the same time, that is done out of his own insecurities about his face which is a bit odd to me. They were so obviously in love, I don't think Xia would reject him because of something as shallow as his face. Oh well, maybe that's touched on in the sequel, which I haven't seen yet. Aside from that plot-hole, the story itself is pretty good and the characters are endearing enough. However, and this might just be a culture thing, I don't really get why it's considered the first Chinese horror film when it really doesn't seem to be scary or even remotely creepy. It seemed like more of a romance and drama film than horror.
Review of Song at Midnight
