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Hong Kong · 2013
1h 45m
Director Juno Mak
Starring Siu-Ho Chin, Anthony Chan Yau, Kara Hui, Lo Hoi-pang
Genre Action, Drama, Horror
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In Juno Mak’s feature directorial debut, a contemporary homage to the classic Chinese vampire movies of the 1980s, a washed-up actor confronts the supernatural occupants of an eerie Hong Kong housing tenement while trying to commit suicide.
The Hollywood Reporter by Clarence Tsui
Rigor Mortis’ strongest suit lies with its cast. The film comes with lavish (and sometimes distractingly so) digital effects, but it’s the old-timers who are instrumental in injecting humanity and life into the film.
The New York Times by Daniel M. Gold
Applying ghoulish special effects and atmospheric slow pacing, the film also maintains a dark palette of blacks, browns and ash grays, the better to serve as a backdrop when the blood starts spattering.
The A.V. Club by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Rigor Mortis functions best as an above-average fright flick, distinguished by its sense of supernatural folklore—scads more imaginative than its Western counterparts—and Mak’s eye for bizarre close-ups.
The cause of death would appear to be visual-effects overkill in the case of Rigor Mortis, a flashy, incoherent and virtually scare-free Hong Kong horror exercise that marks the directing debut of actor, singer, record producer and fashion maven Juno Mak.
Los Angeles Times by Martin Tsai
The film supplies a succession of hyper-stylized and potent set pieces without ever establishing any sort of internal logic.
Rigor Mortis can’t fully work for a Western audience, but it does at least provide a fascinating glimpse of a strange genre that never quite crossed over.
The resulting creep show has some frantic action scenes, but never quite enough spring in its step.
RogerEbert.com by Simon Abrams
It's uneven, and more than a little mystifying, but Rigor Mortis is also a bittersweet coda to a deliriously silly series of films.
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