As a self-proclaimed horror-movie-phile, I love to show off about the fact that I’m rarely ever scared watching content in the genre. Coming from a lineage of horror lovers, I pride myself on this unnecessary standard that nobody really cares about. But the first time I watched Paranormal Activity, I found myself running off to sleep next to my younger sister because I was apparently terrified without realizing it. Cut to many years later, and I found myself in a similar plight while watching The Blair Witch Project for the first time. The main thing that these two horror movies have in common is the fact that you never see a ghost/spirit/monster; it’s the “feeling” that there’s something unknown ready to attack you at any given moment that really puts you in the worst place possible.
Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital is the first Filipino meta found footage film. I suppose what this means is that it’s found footage within a found footage film. I can admit it’s marketing genius, because the actors all play themselves within the film, and I bet if you’re Filipino, you had a lot of fun with that. The film tells the story of an actor who’s decided to go to the most haunted places in the world with a group of people he’s put together for a horror livestream. I suppose it’s like Ryan and Sean from Watcher on YouTube, but live-streamed. The show’s called Strange Frequencies, and their first spot is all the way out in Taiwan. We soon learn that the 7 celebrities who have gathered don’t have the authorization to enter the hospital they’re going to explore. This sets the premise for whatever sinister story is going to follow, but is it worth your time? Let me help you find out.
Right off the bat, there’s great chemistry with this cast, and they feel like real people. What I mean by this is that each character seems to step out of a real-life scenario, and that definitely adds to the found-footage-ness of this film. However, that’s the only positive thing I can think of about this movie. I think it’s the timing of it all that really doesn’t work out for Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital. The film seems to be inspired by the 2018 Korean found-footage film Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum. The funny thing is that while this film ups the stakes in terms of view count a little bit, the thing that they don’t change is the fact that they’re not allowed to be at the hospital. The problem is that if they’re hoping to livestream to three million people, it’s automatically going to grab attention, which means the authorities will ultimately be involved.
The film definitely tries to engage with commentary about streaming and streaming culture but fails to have any real impact. I found the first half very entertaining, getting to know the characters; it almost felt like watching something on YouTube; however, as soon as the scary stuff began, the film lost me instantly. The first ghost we see looks like something out of a comedy Instagram meme. I couldn’t take the film seriously after that. It also doesn’t dive deep enough into the origin story of the haunted house, the kind of thing that makes genre films so entertaining. As I mentioned before, the thing that makes found footage work as a subgenre is the absence of an entity. This builds the tension and makes you want to look over your shoulder when you go to the bathroom at night.
There’s one sequence near the end of the film, involving Jane, which is very well done, and I must admit the actress did a compelling job looking terrified. However, soon after, I found myself lost in the blood, rashes, and vomiting. The problem here is that it’s difficult to do something original in a genre that’s already pretty inventive. So, the only way to keep things entertaining is by introducing jumpscares that really don’t work. The ending of the film is certainly interesting, and might leave you scratching your head a little bit, but apart from that, I can’t really say it’s got a lot going for it.
Ultimately, this film has nothing new to offer, and it has me wondering if it’s time to retire the found footage genre. It’s very tropey, it’s got bad CGI, and the thing that I hate the most about new age found footage is that it never really looks like found footage. It’s edited too well; it’s got no cracks, no noise, which immediately makes it feel like it’s fake. I felt the same way when I watched the Thai film The Medium, which tried to be original by mixing a bunch of genres. It didn’t work; however, it was at least a little bit scary.
At the end of the day, Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital had the potential to be decent, but it missed its chance because it ended up being way too familiar, like it came out back in 2010 and everybody forgot about it. There’s no humor to make it entertaining, and most of the scares don’t work at all if you’ve ever seen this kind of film before. I think the actors do an incredible job with what they’ve been given, but even then, because the plot is wonky, there isn’t enough to like about the movie. Every other movie I’ve mentioned in this article is more recommendable than this one, and there are some that I don’t even like. The problem with making a horror movie today is that you really have to manage to grasp your audience’s attention without stuffing them with CGI babies and squirting blood. Unfortunately, Strange Frequencies doesn’t do so well in that department, so I wouldn’t recommend it. However, if this is a type of film you’ve never seen before, and you really want to give it a go, then I won’t stop you. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’d give this film 2 stars out of 5.
