NYAFF REVIEW: ‘The Tag-Along’ fails to scare

The Tag-Along, which recently played the New York Asian Film Festival, is a Taiwanese film that will feel familiar to fans of The Grudge, The Ring or their original Japanese incarnations. This horror film was inspired by an Internet video that depicts a young girl in red trailing behind a group of people in the woods. Apparently this mountain demon is known as a mo-sien, and The Tag-Along team tries to instill as many scares as possible based on her image.

The story revolves around a soon-to-be-married couple, Wei (River Huang) and Shen (Tiffany Ann Hsu), and how the mo-sien disrupts their lives. It starts with an older woman who has been missing for some time in the local neighborhood; her despondent picture is hanging at the local police station. She returns from the woods looking disheveled and offering empty stares to people around her. The mo-sien that has gripped her eventually jumps into a new vessel, this time the grandmother of Wei. It doesn’t take long for the spirit to jump again, this time into Wei himself.

When the mo-sien claims a new victim, that person normally disappears and must be found in the woods. There are also many images that flood the mind of those looking for the missing. One horribly disgusting sequence finds Wei eating a smorgasbord of worms and bugs, much to the disgust of a shocked Shen.

Shen eventually takes over the narrative and determines to end this mo-sien haunting once and for all. She needs to head into the dark and scary woods to find her fiancé and end the ghostly jumping.

Director Cheng Wei-hao, working off a script by Shi-Geng Jian, should be commended for attempting to build a suspenseful movie around this unusual plot. However, in telling this story, there are too many similarities to other horror films, and the scares are never too scary because the audience can tell when a big jump moment is coming.

It might have been better, given the mo-sien legend, to have The Tag-Along earn its chops in the atmosphere and eeriness departments. The woods, for example, could have been utilized as a better setting.

The acting is passably good, especially from Liu Yin-shang as the grandmother. She is the only relative in Wei’s life, and he dotes on her. Shen, on the other hand, has had a rocky relationship with her grandmother-in-law. They don’t see eye to eye on the future, and this causes some awkward moments. However, Shen is placed in the role of savior when both Wei and his grandmother go missing. If not for her efforts, they might be lost forever.

Although the acting is passably good, the characters are never interesting enough to hold one’s attention for the duration of the 93-minute film. Wei’s real estate business and the couple’s relationship don’t provide much dramatic oomph and seem to get in the way of the story.

The Tag-Along is not the worst horror movie. In fact, it’s watchable and earns a few mild scares. However, there are far better films coming from Taiwan and Asia in general. This one has an unfulfilled potential.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• The Tag-Along
• In Mandarin with English subtitles
• 2015
• Directed by Cheng Wei-hao
• Written by Shi-Geng Jian
• Starring River Huang, Tiffany Ann Hsu, Liu Yin-shang and Yumi Wong
• Running time: 93 minutes
• Rating: