Rating: N/R
Director: Kuan-Hui Lin (as Guan-Hui Lin)
Xiaogin (Ting-hu Zhang) is a smart young man with all the ambition of a sloth. At his third high school in five years, Xiaogin seems destined to be a lifelong student; a surly, quiet loner living with his grandparents since the death of his parents when he was little, he's made two acquaintances at school that he can almost tolerate - the so-handsome-he's-beautiful Little Princess (so named because he's everyone at school assuming he is gay) and nerdy wannabe-ladies-man Lu Qun - and during winter break from school these three mismatched mates find themselves shuffled off to a rundown hot springs hotel out in the sticks to work. A rundown hotel once owned by Xiaogin's parents, no less, and now run by the young man's other grandparents ... that also, supposedly, happens to be haunted. Sure enough, odd things begin to happen, much of it centered around something weird going on with the hot springs out back, and as the young, scared silly goofballs try to solve the mystery the slapstick moments ratchet up and - though silly - the film becomes a horror comedy that, while not perfect, has its hilarious moments resulting in an unexpectedly touching ending. Much of the film's success is due to the three young male leads, all perfectly cast and with Zhang, as Xiaogin, adding particularly to the film with his own brand of snarky humor. Again, not perfect, but perfectly enjoyable and - at times - laugh-out-loud funny. (In Mandarin with English subtitles) 8/10 stars
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