Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is now playing in select theaters from 3388 Films.
If I wasn’t as nosy or as perpetually online as I am most days, I wouldn’t have known about Victor Vu’s latest goings on with mystery thriller, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror. Thankfully, the film is now playing in U.S. theaters following its recent acquisition and select international rollout, giving Vu and his cast a bigger audience beyond Vietnam’s Reunification Day holiday release back in April.
The film is also a follow up to Vu’s 2023 flick, The Last Wife. I can’t comment much on that film since I’m new to this particular Nguyen-era cineverse that Vu adopted for the screen based on the work of novelist Hong Thai, except to say that his reinvitation to actor Quoc Huy in the titular role for that film’s sequel, makes a viewing of the initial movie all the more enticing.
Detective Kien: The Headless Horror is set in a rural village whose forestial landscapes and rich green pastures come laced with an ominous air. The village is gripped with fear by a dark entity known as “The Drowning Ghost” as the root of a rising bodycount with missing heads. Amidst the frenzy, a woman named Hai Man (Dien Ngoc Diep) summons our protagonist in light of the disappearance of a young girl named Nga (Doan Minh Anh), ensuing an investigation full of intrigue, deception, and unquestionable danger.
Kien, with the reluctant inclusion of Mai’s help, uncovers a spell of clues that slowly pull back the curtain on Nga’s tragic past, as well as a deep-seated upheaval that afflicts the village chief’s family. What it all means with respect to the supernatural force that threatens the village and its connection to Nga’s vanishing remains to be seen, ultimately putting Kien’s usual resolve and faith in the investigatory and lawful processes to the ultimate test.
This film is one of the most immersive stories I’ve seen of late. Huy’s performance is fantastic as the title hero with Diep lending just a little more than charm and a pretty face to her support. They’re almost polar opposites, but they share a past that bonds them in a way that’s endearing without too much romantic camp to make it tolerable. Much of that aspect of the movie is attributed to Nga and the rotation of events that encompass many of the films other characters, including humble ceramist Thac (Quoc Anh), the chief’s daughter, Tuyet (Anh Pham), and a village exile named Dong (Si Toan) to name a few.
The film’s beautiful landscapes serve as the backdrop to the eerie allure Vu constructs for the film’s two-hour runtime. Horror fans will get a kick out of the film’s macabre and brooding, topped off with terrific performances by the cast, while leaving enough mystique in the air to keep the viewer curious until the big reveals occur well in the second half.
One thing I didn’t really expect going into the Detective Kien: The Headless Horror were the few action setpieces throughout. The role of Kien is billed as an inspector who is also a skilled pugilist, so while my hopes were up as the film brought things to a close, the only real clash is a big swordfight finale in which we get to see Huy and his on-screen opponent show their stuff, and it doesn’t disappoint.
The adventure certainly doesn’t end there, however, with an open-ended conclusion that nonetheless pulls back the curtain on the film’s big enigmatic question mark. Cosigning with themes of justice, generational trauma and vengeance, and the circular myopia of evil, Detective Kien: The Headless Horror contributes to a greater woven tapestry, one that continues to put director Vu in good filmmaking standing with this critic.
