Seventh Moon

Plot synopsis:
Newlywed Melissa (Amy Smart) and her Chinese-American husband Yul (Tim Chiou) are spending their honeymoon in China, where they intend to visit his relatives. During the day they participate in the "Hungry Ghost" Festival, a sort of local Halloween where they drink and celebrate and learn of the tradition of leaving offerings to the spirits on the full moon of the seventh lunar month, when the dead roam among the living.
In the evening, their affable guide Ping (Dennis Chan), whom the couple befriended during their stay, drives them through the countryside to reach the village where Yul's relatives live. However, a few hours later, while Yul is asleep, Ping stops the car and tells Melissa he has to go ask for directions in the small village nearby. One hour later, Melissa and Yul decide to seek out Ping in the village. However, all the houses have boarded up windows and there are live animals left as offerings along the empty streets. The locals start chanting something from behind the doors, but Yul, who's not perfectly fluent in Cantonese, does not understand what they're saying, although it sounds like they're summoning something.
The couple returns to the car and decide to drive away without Ping, trying to find the way back to the city. Soon they meet a wounded stranger on the road, and Melissa decides to help the man. But as soon as they leave the car, they are attacked by strange, pale creatures who start to chase them down. They seek shelter in a barn, where the stranger tries to knock Yul out in order to feed him to the creatures in his place. Melissa manages to subdue the man and drag a wounded Yul back to the car. The stranger follows them up, but is slaughtered by the creatures while Melissa and Yul are barricaded inside the car.
The creatures start smashing the car to reach the couple, but they manage to escape through the trunk, and lock themselves inside a crypt, where the creatures don't seem to be allowed to go. They suddenly hear the villagers chanting again, and they seem to be led by the same male voice they had heard on the radio while first trying to drive away. They are compelled to leave their hiding place and enter a house adorned with lit candles, where a large number of people are gathered. In their trance, they hear reassuring words in their mind. They let the villagers strip them down and start having sex on the floor in front of them, then black out.
Melissa and Yul wake up in a field, tied up to a tree back to back. The creatures are now all around them. Yul, realizing that they are the chosen sacrifices, start telling the demons to take him and spare his wife. The creatures comply, and Melissa wakes up inside the house, while Ping shows up again and explains to her that they have been forced to lure outsiders in as sacrifices, in order to stop the moon demons from taking one of the villagers. Ping says Yul did a very brave thing by letting himself be taken to save his wife. After an enraged Melissa assaults him and starts to savagely beat him for his betrayal, Ping reveals that Yul is still alive, as the moon demons need a live human to be turned into one of them.
Despite Ping's warnings, Melissa goes after her husband, following a trail of candles to the subterranean cave where she finds the moon demons standing still waiting for Yul to bleed out. Yul has begun to transform though the process is incomplete, and he is too weak from his injuries to move. He tells Melissa the creatures are already inside his head, and she has to leave or she'll be killed too once he's turned. They exchange a final vow of love, Melissa promises to visit Yul's relatives, who are still her family now. She puts back on the wedding ring the villagers had taken away from Yul, then resigns herself to leave the cave sobbing. Soon the moon demons begin to chase her again, but are slowed down by Ping, who sacrifices himself out of guilt to allow Melissa's escape.
Once out in the open, the creatures keep pursuing Melissa, and are nearly on top of her when the moon begins to set, turning the demons into silvery dust. As the sun rises Melissa stands in the light looking at the surrounding forest, and in the shade of a tree she sees Yul, fully transformed into one of the creature, staring at her sadly. They look at each other silently until he disappears, too.

Tags: dark

Review:
The concept of hungry ghosts is a central part of the tradition of Chinese Ancestor Worship, and had great potential for an excellent movie melding the supernatural and horror.
The script writers even set it during an actual event in the Chinese year, a festival sharing much in common with the true traditions of All Hallows Eve. Unfortunately, that is as far as it went.The film does not make the error that many movies make substituting gore for horror.
It's based on the Chinese myth that under the full moon in the seventh month of the lunar year the dead can cross over to the land of the living.
Some people may feel that the effects weren't terribly good but they didn't need to be; this movie was more about suspense.
There were a couple of times that left me scratching my head in confusion but overall a good movie.
Part of the Ghost House Underground DVD series, Seventh Moon is based on the Chinese legend that on the full moon of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open and the dead can enter the realm of the living.The film opens in China where we are introduced to newlyweds Melissa and Yul (Amy Smart and Chiou) as they walk the streets of China acting as regular and normal as any tourist – taking in the culture and enjoying the ethnical differences.
Sánchez emulates his Blair Witch debut by shooting Seventh Moon with hand-held cameras and quick edits.
Spooky as it was at times, the shaky camera doesn't allow the audience to get to know the characters as well as a steady-cam.
Couple the setting with the constant shaking and un-centered camera efforts, and there isn't any time for emotional investment amongst all the other distractions to care whether the two leads live or die.
In accordance with the Chinese Myth, on the full moon of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open and the spirits of the dead are freed to roam among the living.Melissa (Amy Smart) and her husband Yul (Tim Chiou) are spending their honeymoon in the month of the ghosts in China, where they intend to visit his relatives.
One hour later, Melissa and Yul decide to seek out Ping in the village, and they see the houses closed with live offering and the locals saying something in Cantonese.
Yul does not understand what they are saying and the couple returns to the car and drive away trying to find the way back to the city.
Melissa and Yul try to find a way to protect themselves and survive the hellish night."Seventh Moon" is a forgettable low-budget horror movie with a reasonable story and basically four characters only.
This is easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen, ever.Like the user comment before mine, I saw it at Fantastic Fest, an annual must of film festivals, and one year later with 09's fest about to start - I am still compelled to urge people not to waste two hours of their life on this nearly unwatchable waste of celluloid.The pacing is awful, the action is laughable, and it all culminates in one of the silliest, most disappointing endings Fantastic Fest has ever been privy to.
Spooky use of sound, silence and darkness.Some have complained of the hand-held camera-work but I was not bothered by it.Along with ALTERED, this is the best film from Eduardo Sanchez..
I must disagree with everybody who has written a review here ( 3 people to be precise ),and I will try to explain why it is like that.First of all,to the all the people who have commented about this title I must ask a simple question: Did anyone of you ever watched more than two horror movies in your life?So the movie is about old Chinese myth that turns out to be real and not a myth at all.The story is very simple and not very original.I have expected more of Eduardo Sanches since I liked ,,Altered,,.And to wait three years for something so average was certainly a disappointment.( Don't get me wrong,I don't think ,,altered,, the greatest movie of all time,but despite budget limitations and a few plot holes it was quite enjoyable and fun little b-movie).The acting by Amy and Tim was OK,but my biggest problem was the look of moon demons( they were quite lame and ordinary in my opinion ).Some scenes at the end of the movie were a total ripoff of Descent by Neil Marshall.Overall,this movie can be told in 2 minutes( I mean the story and everything that happens from the beginning to the end ).So the biggest problem of this movie is,like I said before,that it is so average it's painful.While this certainly isn't the worst movie I have seen,it isn't the best one either.You won't be missing anything if you don't watch it,and if you do you'll say : Oh,well nothing special.So since this is just an average movie I will give it an average grade 5 of 10.P.S. Also for a horror movie,this flick isn't scary at all..
Another good movie ruined by shaky camera.
The story was decent, the acting was actually pretty good, and, unlike most horror movies coming out these days, it didn't look like it was shot on home video.
The lighting in this movie is horrible, the camera shakes so much you can't see what's going on, and its constantly zoomed in so close to everything that you can't make out much of anything when the camera *isn't* shaking all over the place.Not one time do you get a clear shot of the ghosts.
A pretty good movie, but in my opinion the camera work completely ruined it.
Unfortunately, it is such a continuous cliché that I could not get enjoyment out of it, and that means it failed.The plot is as simple as possible: Cute blonde with blue eyes goes to China with her Chinese fiancée, but one that is tall and talking with an American accent and probably stepping foot for the first time in China.
Hell, I even liked Blair Witch 2, OK story, good dialogue...great cast.
Unfortunately, I watched Altered, a boring...clichéd...way overrated farce of a movie that should never have been made.Then, Mr. Sanchez lowered himself even more by making the atrocious Ghost House Underground film: Seventh Moon.
I'm disappointed, utterly disappointed in Mr. Sanchez - being a huge fan of Blair Witch even to this day - I'm sorry to say that I am boycotting all future movies by this director."George Clooney once killed the Batman franchise.
I think overall it's not a bad movie but it does stretch in credebility and hard to buy into the whole concept of these zombie like, Chinese demons..
First off - if you're one of the people who didn't like 'The Blair Witch Project' and don't put much into stuff like 'Cloverfield', 'Welcome To The Jungle' or 'Quarantine' then really don't go for this one either, but I gotta say it's your bad because this movie is and has all that a true horror movie should, and I don't mean horror like the whole 'texas chainsaw massacre' flick(of which I really like the 2 latest editions) or 'saw'(which I can't stand) etc.
What I mean is horror down to the bone; one of those master-pieces not very much unlike the classics such as 'exorcist' or 'Amityville Horror'(the first 2) because what all these movies share is a real passion and love in being a part of this most underrated movie genre.Well, I really don't care much about going into movie analysis or what not, the way that these things(This is my first review here) are meant to be done but I guess what I wanted(and felt obliged to) say is already said and that being the fact that this movie is rated so poorly and it doesn't even have a poster, so...All in all this is real horror whether you know/like it or not, this is an expression of pure passion for this downtrodden genre and I won't say it scared the hell out of me, it didn't but it did something that is much tougher to achieve, what that is exactly I couldn't say, at least not in a few words and like I said I don't care much about semi-professional reviewing that is so much sought after on IMDb pages.In short: If you think a new breed of horror has emerged with the making of Blair Witch Project and that it has continued uninterrupted ever since with some of the movies I mentioned above then this is your 2008's successor to that fragile but so far successful trend of making this genre stay fresh and up-to-date.Gojo.
This movie was also directed by one of the co-creators of "The Blair Witch Project," Eduardo Sanchez.
I hoped for steak and got Spam.The whole story is based on an old Chinese myth that on the full moon of the seventh lunar month the gates of hell open and the dead are free to roam the earth and feed.
Filmed in almost complete darkness, and with shaky hand held cameras.
Shooting a horror movie in the dark is nothing new, but for some reason it's just so frustrating to watch.
I will end this unpleasant review by saying that the best thing on the DVD is a five minute featurette in the extras of an old 1980's Chinese television special on the seventh moon myth..
"Seventh Moon" is an effective little horror film that does a good job creating paranoia and delivers a good amount of scares.
Melissa (Amy Smart) and Yul (Tim Chiou), are honeymooning in China to visit Yul's parents when they get lost in the countryside and end up in a small remote village.
Their misfortune coincides with the night of the Seventh Moon, which, in accordance with Chinese Myth means that the gates of hell open and the dead can enter the world of the living.It's a scary ghost movie that gets the basics right.
While there are a few moments at the end that aren't totally effective, and throughout the movie there are stretches that are poorly shot (to the point where you'll be frantically trying to figure out what exactly is going) it genuinely scared me.
American couple spend their honeymoon in China but get duped into becoming sacrifices to "Moon Demons".
On their honeymoon in China, newlyweds become stranded in a remote village while the locals are celebrating Hungry Ghost Month to honor their deceased relatives, and find themselves as the prized sacrifices intended for the ghosts.Good grief was this an utter disappointment.
It hurts so much to actually look at this due to those absurdly dismal shaking-camera footage that runs rampant throughout this, really coming off worse than found-footage films with a similar tactic as this one really makes it impossible to see what's' going on by being so blurry and out-of-focus during the whole film.
The documentary-style feel here just looks completely terrible since it's not something being filmed by either one so there's no excuse for doing this throughout here with the kind of dedication to utter chaos and dis-coordination that's featured here, which does lower this one so far that it remains so disappointing instead of being one of the more enjoyable efforts around.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity and a brief sex scene..
What's the point of watching if you can't see anything.Melissa (Amy Smart) and Yul (Tim Chiou) are on their honeymoon in Chins where they are left in a small village.
This movie is about a newlywed couple who are honeymooning in China during the Seven Moons celebration which pays tribute to the dearly departed.
We can clearly see the creatures attacking our main characters several times during the movie, so there's no need to employ all the shaky cam shenanigans to try to disorient the viewer.
This movie was like eating bad Chinese food and getting cramps.
It was probably seen in a couple of film festivals then went straight to Ghost House--a company that seems to be picking up more stinkers lately, than even After Dark.
But this time the storyline is weak, some scene's are too long and be honest, we have seen it all before with all those remakes of Japanese ghost movies like The Grudge and others.
i had never heard of it, was in movie store and seen it was a ghost house production(which i am a HUGE fan of) with Amy smart, i thought it had to be good.
i fell a sleep in the middle(no joke!!!) i have to say this is the first ghost house movie i have seen that i didn't like(in fact hate).
I'd never have thought someone like Amy Smart could pull off a role like this, and she did a great job.Unfortunately, the use of shaky cam just detracts so much from the movie that parts of it are almost incomprehensible.
His "style" (LOL) of film making is to shove a hand held camera right into the face of each actor in every single scene.
But the guy who made this film makes him look like he's standing still and filming in slow motion.And for all I know, they could have made this entire movie inside a closet.
SEVENTH MOON is another missed opportunity from director Eduardo Sanchez, the man who brought us THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT back in 1999.
I originally gave this move a seven, but then changed my mind after having fallen asleep TWICE trying to watch this film.The movie began well enough: newlywed Americans in China enjoying the sights and sounds of the region.
The couple goes to the little town and are haunted by the darkness, the voices, and the animals left out for sacrifice.Then they come; the moon demons(?), undead, "zombies"...
then it all goes to Hell.The movie lost it's way when the couple find a house where all of these people are just standing around.
I really don;t know why some idiot directors have to film their movies this way.
A pair of newlyweds decide to spend their honeymoon in China, where Yul (Tim Chiou) intends to visit his relatives, including his grandmother Nai Nai. His love Melissa (Amy Hart) finds joy in their first days of stay, extremely pleased with the exotic appeal of the Hungry Ghost festival.
Apparently the ghosts are not a myth, but actually the Asian cousins of the crawlers (from the movie "Descent").Eduardo Sánchez of "Blair With Project" fame executes his new endeavour with some old-style classical frights mixed with some of his trademark hand-held camera filming.
Several plot points to stick out like a sore thumb and given how little of a story there actually was it is a major flaw of the movie.
I'm unable to watch this all the way through because the jiggling camera induced a migraine of Biblical proportions, but the pattern is clear anyway.Two honeymooners, Tim Chiou and Amy Smart, are being driven by an older man named Ping to a remote village but Ping gets lost and stops the car in a spot that is close to a haunted village, or so he says.
The structures in the village are all dark, as is everything else, and the only light comes from Chiou's flashlight.I give the film points for its attempt at hybridization, crossing the cheap American horror movie with a Chinese milieu.
"They come to our village in the seventh lunar month on the night of full moon.
They took away one of our living each time." A recently married couple, a Chinese man and American woman, Yul and Melissa(Tim Chiou and Amy Smart), honeymooning in China, are left by their tour guide, Ping(Dennis Chan)in the middle of nowhere in the blackness of night.
What is really frustrating is that there's a damn good scary movie here that's obliterated, ruined, by the decision to shoot the story this way.
What infuriates me the most is the fact that Eduardo Sánchez's "Seventh Moon" could've been one of the best horror movies of the last five or so years..it contains a solid premise and a pretty frightening threat.
I can add little to the general view that this sure is a murky and shaky visual experience, and so there is no real point in watching a film in which a lot happens that you cannot see much beyond flashes of two characters running about trying to escape out of focus wraiths, which is not exactly what I bargain for when I sit down to view a horror film.
In terms of the positives, it is interesting to see a wider cultural take on the supernatural, and the Chinese Ghost Festival is genuinely interesting, so it is just a shame that all of the potential to be unique is cast aside in favour of a cinematographic style that looks as if the camera operator was filming the action from atop a rollercoaster, at night.
The couple is chased by ghosts that come to claim souls every 'Seventh Moon'.
The ghosts are very creepy and you don't really get a good look at them (which makes them scarier) until the end.
Like Sanchez's 'Exists' I found this to be a damn good, simple but intelligent and SCARY indie horror movie.
While it's true that many nighttime films are overly lit in that made-up way so that the audience can get into it, this movie does the opposite -- it's too dark to figure out what's going on most of the time.
Based on a Chinese myth of the hungry ghosts that arrive one night a year in China.
Melissa (Smart) and her Chinese/American husband Yul (Chiou) are on their honeymoon on this particular night as their tour guide Ping (Chan) gets lost in a rural part of China.