Shiver (film)

Shiver

Film poster
Traditional 心寒
Simplified 心寒
Mandarin Xīn Hán
Cantonese Sam1 Hon4
Directed by Billy Chung
Produced by Billy Chan
Screenplay by Paul Chung
Starring Francis Ng
Athena Chu
Nick Cheung
Tiffany Lee
Music by Matsuzaki Geki
Tajima Taku
Yoshida Naoki
Lee Kai-cheung
Cinematography Choi Sung-fai
Chan Yiu-ming
Edited by Poon Hung
Production
company
Universe Entertainment
Hand Made Films Company
Distributed by Universe Films Distribution
Release dates
4 September 2003 (2003-09-04)
Running time
87 minutes
Country Hong Kong
Language Cantonese

Shiver is a 2003 Hong Kong horror film directed by Billy Chung and starring Francis Ng, Athena Chu, Nick Cheung and Tiffany Lee.

Plot

Regional Crime Unit officer Chan Kwok-ming (Francis Ng) and his wife, Sammi Mok (Athena Chu) were on the way to finalize their proceedings for separation where an armed robbery breaks out in the streets. Kwok-ming steps in to assist in hunting the criminals, but Sammi was hit by a stray bullet and was seriously injured, leading her into a coma. Several months later, Sammi awakes from her coma. Sammi's doctor, Ko Chuen (Nick Cheung) warns her to be especially careful with her body as her blood type is very rare.

Since Kwok-ming is often busy and handling cases at the police station, Sammi is left home along to recover and have been hallucinating often lately. One time, Sammi sees a female celebrity, Kitty Chow (Tiffany Lee), killed in her hallucination. While being skeptical, Sammi walks into the back alley of a bar and discovers the corpse of Kitty. Since then, Sammi's mental became more severe. When Kwok-ming wanted to take a leave at the police station, his supervisor demands him to cancel all his leaves and investigate the case of Kitty Chow's murder. One night, Kwok-ming returns home and sees the walls being covered in words written with blood. The same night, Sammi also goes mad and heads into the road, causing serious traffic congestion. Afterwards, Sammi was taken to hospital to be examined by a psychiatrist.

Meanwhile, Kwok-ming was investigating another case where a lawyer was murdered and discovers that the case is linked to the murder of Kitty Chow. While the crime scene, Kwok-ming shockingly witnesses the lawyer coming back to life and takes him to the hospital. In the hospital, Kwok-ming is informed that the lawyer requires an emergency blood transfusion from a rare blood type, which incidentally, happen to be the same blood type as Sammi. However, in this critical moment, Sammi mysteriously goes missing.

Cast

Critical reception

Beyond Hollywood gave the film a mixed review, praising lead actor Francis Ng's performance and concluded the review stating "although it’s not a film of spectacular quality, there’s enough about Shiver to recommend."[1] LoveHKFilm praised the direction of Billy Chung and the performances of Ng, Athena Chu and Nick Cheung, but criticizes how problems were easily and conveniently resolved.[2] So Good Reviews praises its "effective establishments of character relationships" and Chung's direction of quick cut horror imagery, but criticizes the cinematography as "flat."[3]

References

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