Reviewed by: gwailo Date: 06/16/2001 Summary: Almost spooky.... A trio of "ghostly love" tropes that almost makes it. Similar in form to the Troublesome Night series and The 1:00 a.m. etc. films, Esprit D'Amour fills the viewfinder with haunting images. A very 'European' feel crosses with contemporary Chinese ghost stories. The first two stories take hold but suddenly end. The last, though, is sleep inducing. A neat little tie in ending can't overcome the film's almost spooky shortcomings and a 'dead' final act. Quietly diverting, but nothing special.

Reviewed by: Paul Fox Date: 03/05/2001 Summary: Espirit D' Amour A Bit Too Troublesome Espirit D' Amour is an anthology film of separate ghost stories. It is similar to earlier films in the long running series "Troublesome Night" (currently up to number 9 ) and the less popular "AM" series ( 1:00 AM, 2:00AM, etc). The difference here is that all three of Amour's tales deal specifically with love from beyond the grave. While this makes for an interesting premise, the stories themselves are less than exciting. By the film's conclusion the writers have tried to tie all three stories together, but only the link between the first and third tale is really interesting. The director knows how to create a sense of eeriness in his scenes, but at times Amour relies a bit too much on camera tricks to get the audience to jump. The largest fault with Espirit D'Amour is the fact the each tale ends just when things get interesting. This is in fact more the fault of the anthology format than the stories themselves and given more time each story might have proven more interesting. Similar films such as Step Into the Dark (1998) and The Returning (1994) have dealt with the romantic ghost genre with more success partially because they were full length features. Viewers beware, while Esparto D' Amour is not likely to scare you to death, if your not careful it just might put you to sleep. Overall review rating : 2.5 Review by Paul Fox Location: AMC Festival Walk 11 - Kowloon Tong Time: Thursday 1 March 5:15pm