Story: As an aspiring writer, LOC (Tuan Cuong) seeks solitude in an abandoned piece of property to complete his latest piece of writing. Loc is only able to work at night, which also happens to be the time when the house reveals its terribly dark secret.

With the success of his writing, Loc purchases the property and makes it his home. Consumed by his obsessions, Loc falls into a temporary state of insanity. A blooming companionship develops between Loc and a young nurse named LINH (Kathleen Luong). Inspiring him to write again, she ultimately becomes his wife. All seems well, until one day, Linh's disturbing past comes back to haunt her.

Loc rents out a portion of the house in his elder years. His tenant is a traveling fortune-teller, LAN (Catherine Thuy Ai). Through her perspective, the story comes full circle when she uncovers the summation of the troubled history contained within the house.

Review: Director Victor Vu’s second feature film ‘Oan Hon: Spirits’ strives to bring something new to the horror genre that we are all so accustomed to seeing. Rather than being a typical slasher flick starring girls with big bouncy breasts running for their lives from an unseen terror, we are treated to a much more fleshed out movie. Spirits breathes life into the ghost stories of today, no pun intended. Victor Vu manages to pull off a romantic, yet ghostly feel of distant rural Vietnam.

Spirits: A Vietnamese Ghost Story as it was originally dubbed is first and foremost a horror film, and what film of this genre wouldn’t have its moments of scares? I’m glad to say that this film does deliver in the scare department. I don’t scare too easily, but I did find myself jumping in few of the scenes. The mood and eerie atmosphere of the movie work together in a rather cohesive manner to effectively scare the viewer. Scares are for the most part, not up front and in your face “Boo!” and are much more due to overall atmosphere. Though there definitely are some parts that will come as a shock factor. Spirits uses close to no CGI for effects and are mostly traditional effects like those used in older films. Director Victor Vu knows that a lot of films nowadays use CGI in abundance, and tries to steer clear away from the recent mold of horror films. And that works great on this movies part because nothing is too outrageous to distract from the overall look and feel of the film. It’s all a complete package so to say. What I found to work in this movie’s favor is the use of some underlying jokes and humor. It’s not overly used, but these moments help to break up the tension of the movie and offer a few laughs. I feel it doesn’t distract from the overall story because they do help with the storytelling in the end. For an independent movie, this movie’s presentation is done pretty well. Cinematography and camera angles are nicely captured.

Victor Vu picked an excellent cast to work with for this particular movie. The main cast comprising of Kathleen Luong (Linh), Tuan Cuong (Loc), and Kathy Nguyen (Hoa) are good in their respective roles of Loc’s new love interest with a haunting past, a writer fascinated with a world of fiction and the perfect yet troubled woman of Loc’s fantasies. Kathleen portrayed Linh without any problems whatsoever and came across as the ideal person to cast for this role. Tuan Cuong is simply mesmerizing to watch especially during his older years where he’s supposedly gone cuckoo. That’s where he simply shines and where the magic is all at. And last but not least, Kathy’s portrayal of Hoa is done fairly well. My only complaint is that it seems she has trouble speaking the Vietnamese language and just seems a little stiff and forced overall. The part might’ve been stronger had another actress more capable of the language took helm of the role. At first, her part comes off as a bit refrained, but later it all makes perfect sense when you know Hoa’s true role in Loc’s fictional world. So I suppose I found Kathy’s representation of this character pleasant and it work out well in the end. All other supporting actors: Becky Vu (Loc’s Mother), Dang Hung Son (Hoa’s Father), Michael Minh (The Divyner’s son), Catherine Thuy Ai (The Divyner), and Nam Sinh Tin (The Divyner) are pretty decent in their roles as well, but nothing to go crazy over though. They serve their purpose and that’s that.

Something that viewers will definitely walk away with by the end of the final scene of the movie is the strong message that it carries with it. At one point in this movie, Linh says “Life has given me a second chance; I won’t let anything get in the way of my happiness.” In this case, the movie evokes the frightening notion that Karma is inescapable. Whether in this life or the next, your past actions…good or bad, will catch up to you, and that you will pay for those sins. You may not pay for it now, but you’ll definitely pay your dues sometime. That’s certainly a daunting notion whether one would want to believe it or not. What’s interesting is that the antagonist of this film is actually Karma or Fate itself, and not any central character. There isn’t a certain person or thing that’s causing this entire ruckus… it’s the gears of fate turning, and we the audiences are left to watch as these characters are dragged into the grinding wheels of Fate.