Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 01/02/2006 Take one part Scream, one part Sixth Sense, and a heaping helping of The Ring, mix it up real good and you have Dial D for Demons. This film is a vehicle for several young stars quite popular in 2000; Jordan Chan, Terence Yin, and alluring Joey Man are featured along with 3 other young actresses. Although Jordan Chan was well established as a genuine Hong Kong movie star, Terence Yin was just starting out and had not become the "bad guy" star he is today [2005]. His odd performance is all over the place as he displays the raw energy he was able to harness in later roles. Director Billy Tang manages to create some spooky sensations but the movie suffers from a screenplay short on ideas. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 04/15/2002 Summary: BAD With a budget of 50 cents, it's no surprise it's a complete waste of the cast talent. Rating: 1/5 Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: Zilch321 Date: 06/01/2001 Summary: Horror Buffs only Dial D for Demons is nothing special. It doesn’t have a shocking ending, it doesn’t have a bunch of explosions and car chases and it doesn’t have loads and loads of special effects. The movie did however find a way to entertain me. When a group of friends go on a trip to a resort, they find that all is not well in their surroundings. What follows is a handful of dead bodies and lots of screaming. In a “Ring” like fashion, an evil spirit communicated with resort-goers via their pagers and cell phones. Though I enjoyed the movie, I think would have been 1000 times better if the most interesting character had not also been the first to die. Oh well.

Reviewed by: trenty Date: 12/27/2000 Summary: Old stuff or maybe copied. "Dial D for demons" basicly had a bad english title to the movie itself. During the run time of the movie, I see no relationship between the title and the movie. Before the movie was viewed, I personally thought that the movie would about characters in the movie communicating with the demons side. However, it turned out to be an old story we saw before or maybe the story itself was copied from another one we known. The run time of the movie was unevenly supported by the script. The movie started off with a group of 6 to vacation at a haunted mansion, then one by one dies after reading their pager while everyone of them trying to escape this so-called "curse". Here, we wasted almost 9/10 of the movie run time already. What's the last 1/10 of the movie about? The 9/10 part of the movie we had watched was nothing but characters running for their lives. The 1/10 part of the movie ended with another story just to make what we watched earlier unique but no. It's because the 9/10 we watched had no script to backup or support the ending itself. There are nothing much to enjoy from this movie but some pop-up sound effect moments. In general, zero scare here. There are a few times where the pagers/phones popped out from the silence which may draw some viewers' attentions. However, I found that the misuse of this effect will no longer work because it's boring and predictable to recent ghost-movie viewers, in other words, same old stuff we watched from other ghost movies. Also, the occasion appearrance of the ghost was also copied from another ghost movie (The Ring) and due to repeatedly shown, it resulted zero effect also to audience. The performances here are up to their average and none of the actors/actresses here are specially to talk about. There was lack of character development of the six main characters. For example, the relationship between Big Bully, Gabriel and May was covered bad. The relationship only concentrated at Big Bully and Gabriel (which was welly covered) but left out May. There could have been a more descriptive between three of them to fulfill the development of their relationship in the movie. Also, the relationship between Pently and PJ was starting to develope but then we lost them due to their suspicous deaths. As to the last character, Sammie, I didn't see what's the need for this character to exist but to waste a bit more run time during the movie. To conclude, this movie wasn't as enjoyable as others because there are many scenes in the movie were borrowed from previous ghost movies we watched. I would not recommand this movie to ghost-moviegoers unless someone in the cast you like to watch.

Reviewed by: Paul Fonoroff Date: 11/23/2000 If nothing else, Dial D for Demons points out the need for a cinematic equivalent of “caller ID” and “call blocking”. A group of six yuppies goes to Lantau for a fun holiday, and the result is anything but—for the characters and, to a lesser extent, moviegoers. Director Billy Tang Yin-sing has the distinction of not one but two low budget quickies released at the same time, his Raped By an Angel 5 reviewed here last week. Dial D for Demons looks like it might have been on the shelf for some time, what with its summer setting and the presence of teenage model Lee An (who left the silver screen a while ago to continue her education). It is clearly a summer movie geared for younger crowd who will either appreciate or ignore the inanities in Chung Kai-cheung’s scenario. The Chinese title—“The Evil Curse of the Burning Charcoal”—is more descriptive. The picture opens with a young lady’s suicide by inhaling the carbon monoxide fumes of her charcoal burner and making big headlines in the tabloid press. The holiday-goers gossip about the news, little realizing that they are in danger of suffering the same fate. Tai (Jordan Chan Siu-chun), his girlfriend Ka-po (Man Yee-man), colleagues PJ (Terence Yin) and Pently (Lee An), and two other chums journey to a vacation villa in Lantau. They begin to suspect all is not right when their pagers start transmitting sinister messages. The presence of charcoal-burning heaters in each room provides little comfort. Then, one after another dies a horrible death. It’s not a bad idea for a chiller thriller, and one that could have made for an outstanding cheapie had the filmmakers come up with a decent script. Dial D for Demons is not without flashes of inspiration. The villa is sandwiched in by two other mansions. After the first friend dies, these two buildings suddenly disappear and leave the “death house” standing alone. (It just shows you what can be done on a shoestring budget with ingenious location hunting.) Other cost-cutting inspirations are in evidence when the remaining five pals try to escape the evil villa. They drive desperately in the wilds of Lantau, only to be continually led back to the house. The constant ringing of pagers and mobile phones; the lethal messages on caller display; phoning 999 and getting the mortuary instead; these touches all demonstrate that expensive special effects are not necessary to create spine-tingling results. There is also a healthy dose of black humour in the Scream vein, though not nearly as consistent or sustained. “Pagers don’t kill!” comments one vacationer after receiving a scary message. The other friends agree and then frenziedly proceed to stomp on and smash those little electronic boxes. The sight is hilariously absurd and elicited guffaws from the audience. A tender love scene between office romancers Pently and PJ becomes almost stomach-churningly mawkish when they state, “Even if I die at this moment, I have no regrets.” Fortunately, it takes a pleasurably grizzly turn as the two begin to strangle each other. Alas, these snippets and vignettes do not lead to a satisfying pay-off. One character returns from the dead to explain that the curse originated two thousand years ago in the Qin Dynasty. He uses lots of mumbo jumbo that is more copout than intriguing elucidation. It’s as if the moviemakers had a grab bag full of ideas but didn’t know quite what to do with them, how to follow through on the more promising ones, and how to weed out the dead wood. Though the brief 84-minute running time is a definite plus, Dial D for Demon ends up being another case of “Sorry, Wrong Number”. This review is copyright (c) 2000 by Paul Fonoroff. All rights reserved. No part of the review may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 10/18/2000 Summary: Awful As Ryan mentions, this movie is basically a ripoff The Ring, but with no budget, no atmosphere and no scares. For the first half hour, you get plenty of padding, lousy acting (especially from Jordan, who seems to have only suffered through a few days of shooting)and incongruously "spooky" music. After that, it's beepers going off and people running around screaming for an hour. Now, granted the assets alloted to film apparently consisted of: 1) 1 office set, a few secluded outdoors locations, an SUV, and two houses (one of which has appeared in other cheapo horror flicks) 2)Two slumming actors and a handful of women in midriff-baring tops and cutoffs and 3)about fifty bucks to spend on special effects, his is probably about the best movie they could be expected to come up with. Sometimes, though, there's no shame in just not making a movie.

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 09/19/2000 Summary: CRAP!! Not scary, a waste of time!! BORING!! There is nothing i can recommend about this movie. Low budget stuff with a amateur-ish feel to the movie. 2/10

Reviewed by: ryan Date: 03/24/2000 Summary: Duplication from Japanese Horror "The Ring" Maybe the influence of the successful Japanese horror movie "The Ring" is too strong in Hong Kong. Over the past few months, lots of local movies that are clearly influenced by "The Ring" have been filmed. Some of them haven't got chance to be shown at cinemas until now. Billy TANG's "Dial D for Demons" is an example. With the coming of Jordan CHAN's "Those Were the Days" as well as MAN Yee-man who stars in the current popular TV Drama "I have a Date with the Vampires 2", this movie has a chance at screen success. The headlines report a young woman's suicide, suffocated by burning charcoal in a furnace. She was unhappy that her boyfriend has put football before their relationship. Commenting on the stupidity of the death, Bully, girlfriend Gabriel, Pently and PJ decide to take a short break at a resort, travelling with May and Sammie. When they arrive, Bully who is sensitive to the supernatural, can feel that something is unusual. Pagers start to deliver strange messages and dead bodies are found one by one... "Dial D for Demons" gives audiences a strong feeling of being duplicated from "The Ring". This time there are no video tapes but messages from pagers and cell phones. Even the roles here bear a number of similarities to the roles in "The Ring". The main problem of the movie is the lack of plot to support the whole idea. It tries to make the whole atmosphere scary but it fails due to lack of detail. The showing of the advertisement for a resort with some creepy music doesn't work in this day and age. The quality of the remaining two-third of the movie isn't very good. Playing the trick of going back to the same haunted house is too predictable. The death of Bully is also unsatisfactory. Other than that, there isn't anything else in the movie which is scary. The starring performances are another thing to get bothered with. Gabriel is too noisy in the movie, which makes audiences annoyed with her loud voice. The description of the relationship between Pently and PJ is also not detailed enough to show their love and their feelings when facing death. The ending of the movie is the worst part of all. It should be the most exciting part of the movie. Due to lack of detail in the storylines of the movie, the ending has to make everything that has happened in the past 80 minutes make sense. Unfortunately, it is a bit late to save the film. Despite the crappy plot, the sound effects in the movie are very good. The loud voice and the sudden source of the loud voice might scare audiences. Those who are get scared when watching these type of films should sit near the speakers in the cinemas. In short, "Dial D for Demons" looks like a direct duplication from "The Ring" (changing the killing means from a video tape to a pager message). The plot is too crappy to draw audiences attention and to make them feel scared. A flop for director Billy TANG. Written by Ryan Law, from Hong Kong Movie DataBase, on 23 March, 2000.