Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

lost-in-limbo I went in expecting another by-the-numbers, predictable modern Asian ghost story, but the Chinese made "The Matrimony" played a little differently in that its focus point relied on the heart of the story and its well-etched characters. Sure it had some jarring jolts, sinisterly echoing score and plenty of creepy atmospheres within its large remote house, but it never lost sight of its tragic, if traditional love tale interwoven with the supernatural with a clever spin to its outcome. This is where the tension was consolidated from. Quite slow-burn and subtle, so were the performances which were soundly agreeable. Rene Liu and Leon Lai acquit themselves well presenting the hurt, but it's the beautifully haunting and obsessive presence of Bingbing Fang that leaves a mark. Junchu married Sansan, but still pines for his late fiancé Manli where he keeps her belongings locked away in the attic. Forbidding Sansan to enter. However she comes across the key and enters the attic encountering the spirit of Manli. A deal is made between the two, but at what cost is this help from beyond the grave. What starts off as light-weight and good-will, gets darker when suspicions are raised and intentions are manipulated becoming threatening. It's illustrated with a polished touch by director Hua-Tao Teng, despite some lousy CGI at the beginning (but the rest were better realised) and pacing remains breezy. A tidily presented old-fashion ghost chiller."Ghosts are ghosts. One can never trust one"

gavin6942 A woman finds the key to a room in the attic that her husband forbids her from entering. When she opens the door, she is confronted with the haunting existence of the woman her husband refuses to forget.This film keeps getting compared to Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca". I see it. I really do. But I think it is also unfair to this movie because it really stands on its own. The plot is solid. The film is visually striking (the cinematography is quite good and should be talked up). The effects are not quite as smooth as they could be, but being an Asian film with supernatural elements, it actually did not bother me too much.

gradyharp MATRIMONY ('Xin zhong you gui') is a 2007 artistically satisfying film from China, a suspenseful ghost story written by Qianling Yang and Jialu Zhang and directed with distinction by Hua-Tao Teng. It is in Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles. The cover for this DVD does not do the film justice in that it suggests a story in the category of body dismemberment like the tiresome 'Saw' movies. This film is instead an old-fashioned ghost story more Henry James than James Wan/Leigh Whannell. It is a beautifully photographed (Ping Bin Lee), richly colorful atmospheric love story gone wrong. The film opens with a lady relating a drama in front of a microphone at a radio station (the time frame is supposedly the 1930s). The scene switches to downtown where Shen Junchu (Chinese heartthrob Leon Lai) waits one the street until he spies his beautiful girlfriend Xu Manli (the very beautiful Bingbing Fan) riding on her bicycle towards him. Obviously both are excited to see each other and Manli drives into traffic and is killed; the shocked Junchu drops the little gift he had for Manli - an engagement ring. In the next scene we find the hardened sad Junchu in his home, having been forced by his mother Rong Ma (Songzi Xu) to marry the girl Sansan (Rene Liu) to assuage his devastation over his loss of Manli: Juncho merely tolerates Sansan and forbids her to enter the attic where he has stored all of Manli's earthly belongings. In her despair Sansan finds a key to the attic, enters it and discovers the ghost of Manli. A pact is made whereby Manli will assume the body of Sansan. From this point on the story develops as a clash between Junchu gradually accepting Sansan and slowly the ghost of Manli reveals herself and now in the corporal status of Sansun she appears to Juncho - but is it too late, and how will the transfigured ghost of Manli secure her position in Junchu's life? The ending is very smart and reminds the view of the old Guy de Maupassant short stories, known for their unique surprise endings. The story is told with Gothic finesse accompanied by a delicate musical score by Sin-yun Lee and Norman Orenstein. The acting is splendid and the special effects (the smoky apparition of the ghost of Manli is beautifully managed) are first class. This is a film rich in cinematic creativity and a story that is just off-kilter enough to be a frightening ghost tale without the excesses that we have grown used to seeing in recent horror films. Highly Recommended.Grady Harp

AirPlant Sansan (Rene Liu ) finds herself in an unhappy arranged marriage to melancholic film director Junchu (Leon Lai). She lives in the shadow of Junchus lover Manli (played by the ethereally beautiful Bingbing Fan) who was killed the year before. Lonely ...(read more) and despairing for the survival of her marriage, Sansan enters into a pact with Manlis ghost to win Junchus heart. There is much to like, all the performances from the small cast are spot on (Rene Liu is perfect as the shy, unhappy wife, and Bingbing Fan is a revelation). Although ostensibly a ghost story, this is suitable for those who normally steer clear of the genre, the horror element is played way down and is secondary to the wistful tale of love lost and, perhaps found again. The cinematography is superb, with Shanghai of the 50s brought to gorgeous, vibrant life. A lovely film deserving of a wider audience and, certainly not routine or clichéd.