Matrimony review

            It has become difficult to impress me with a ghost story, especially one coming from China. There have been countless over the years, and few are more memorable than the last. Matrimony is no different. Sure, it is a competently made film which has moments of terror mixed with fairly believable characters. Certainly, Matrimony is beautifully shot and elegantly presented fro a horror film. So why is it that I still feel as though I have already seen this film a dozen times before?

            The storyline seems to take after Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca in some regards, though it doesn’t allow the audience the same respect for the relationship at the center of the film. We are quickly thrown into a scene in which a man watches his girlfriend killed by a car accident. Then we jump forward in time and once again find ourselves jarring inserted back into the story. It seems that the man has already moved on and remarried a woman named Sansan to replace the lost girlfriend, Manli. But the marriage is mostly done to appease his mother, and Manli’s spirit still has not left.

            Manli and Sansan soon become friends, as much as that is possible between ghost girlfriend and living wife. Before long it is clear that there are ulterior motives for this friendship, though this is hardly a secret which cannot be guessed by any audience member, regardless of how many Asian ghost horror films you have seen. The high definition certainly makes the film look spectacular, but I wouldn’t recommend this Blu-ray to anyone who isn’t a huge fan of the sub-genre.