23:59 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

23:59 Blu-ray Movie Review

Gonna need more campfires.

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf June 17, 2013

Most horror films are content to manufacture a single menace, concocting a spirit, demon, or monster to terrorize innocents, using the run time to expand on the motivation of the otherworldly antagonist. The Malaysian fright fest “23:59” somehow settles on at least five different directions of torment, allowing itself only 75 minutes to establish and figure out the design of doom. It’s a messy, unconvincing picture emerging from a knowing place of experience, with monotonous barrack life in military service the setting for Gilbert Chan’s effort, pouring his history with ghost stories and urban legends into a movie that should really only take on a single evil entity at a time. Overwhelmed and undercooked, “23:59” is earnestly acted, helping to ease obvious directorial discomfort, but there’s too much going in this small-scale endeavor, which loses coherency the longer it engages in constant gear-shifting when approaching the formation of an engrossing paranormal villain.

The year is 1983 (just try to ignore background posters for “The Terminator” and “Platoon”), and a squad of soldiers is showing difficulty with interpersonal relationships, with timid Tan (Tedd Chan) constantly bullied by Dragon (Lawrence Koh), requiring the intervention of pal Jeremy (Henley Hii). To pass time at night, the group shares ghost stories, establishing that when a person dies at 23:59, their soul remains on Earth to haunt the living -- a tale that disturbs Tan, who swears he’s been visited by spirits in the barracks. Sergeant Kuah (Mark Lee) also displays belief in the unknown, offering talismans to his troops before a punishing march through the deep jungle, aware that eerie events are afoot. When Tan is mysteriously killed during the excursion, the men are deeply rattled, while Jeremy recalls his damaged youth as a prop in his medium father’s con games. Unsure who or what murdered Tan, Jeremy hopes to locate answers at the site of the tragedy, spotting a ghostly woman with ties to a dark secret involving a deformed child. Also disturbing the peace is the possession of grunt Chester (Josh Lai), inciting additional panic within men already fearful of everything they encounter.

Perhaps “23:59” would’ve been more interesting as an omnibus event, with the disparate ghost stories explored by the characters in a manner that’s more complete in short-film thought and execution, breaking the hauntings into bite-sized genre treats that Chan could manage more successfully. Instead, the writer/director stuffs numerous ideas into a thin feature, opening “23:59” with two different tales of torment and a Ouija board sequence to set the mood, spending more time tinkering with the dark unknown than he does developing his characters. In fact, we don’t even learn Tan and Jeremy’s name until 15 minutes into the movie, handed only clichéd depictions of weakness and protection to define the personalities, while Dragon is a standard-issue bully, leading the charge against Tan’s defenseless manner.

The paranoia of “23:59” is urged along by Sergeant Kuah’s growing trepidations about the jungle hike, offering his men spiritual protect from evil, yet the gift is unable to save Tan, who inexplicably dies, leaving the platoon to wonder what’s exactly after them. After two ghost stories, introducing the viewer to the concept of the “kuntilanak” (the spirit of a woman who died while pregnant), “23:59” shift over to investigative mode, with Jeremy attempting to reach out to a curious women who inhabits the area. And then Chester’s possession begins, though it’s not clear what’s inside him. A demon? Tan? Is he simply cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs? Chan’s too busy dreaming up additional threats to pay attention to the one at hand.

While “23:59” chases underdeveloped evil, the cast at least keeps the endeavor engaging. Although hardly a Shakespearean trained bunch, the talent displays a welcome dedication to the premise, communicating anger and sorrow cleanly, keeping the viewer clear on intended emotions while Chan dedicates himself to making the feature overcrowded and incomprehensible. There a lot of untested actors collected here, a few making their screen debuts, but their emphatic choices are agreeable, helping to calm the screenplay’s disorganization.

23:59 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.79:1 aspect ratio) presentation seems as afraid of the dark as the characters of "23:59." There's some subtle brightening in play as evening sequences are clarified for all viewers, leaving inconsistent blacks behind, losing a rich sense of foreboding backgrounds and deep horror cinematography. Colors are modest but effective, mostly registering from the green uniforms of the soldiers and the deep red blood that emerges from gore zone visits, while skintones remain largely natural and stable. Banding is a regular problem once the movie moves out of the daylight, graduating to a distraction in the film's dimly-lit finale. Fine detail is acceptable on facial reactions and costuming, while ghostly visions and monstrous developments display pleasing texture and depth, inadvertently revealing limitations of the make-up department.

23:59 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD sound mix is somewhat subdued for a horror picture. Primary activity remains in a safe position up front, with dialogue exchanges handled crisply and solidly -- a necessary firmness when dealing with the infrequent use of broken English. Scoring is monotonous but never intrusive, positioned in a complimentary manner. Surrounds are active for atmospherics emerging from jungle expeditions and general ghostly actions, but seldom do they come alive during paranormal events, detailing only rare directional activity. Low-end is also light, losing heft for heavier incidents of violence. No distortion was detected.

23:59 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (23:02, SD) has a nasty habit of padding the featurette with extended clips from "23:59," showing viewers a sizable chunk of the movie between segments detailing its creation. Interviews with cast and crew are enthused and humorous, captured on-set and during the film's press junket, making it fun to see the actors in everyday attire with their hair grown out. While promotional fluff, the mini-doc manages to isolate the production experience, covering story origin, dramatic motivation, make-up efforts, and location misery, where the gang encountered a most persistent problem in the daily extraction of leeches. Also entertaining is footage showcasing the use of a wild boar in the jungle, with the creature quickly making a break for freedom while shooting. Attitudes are positive and BTS visits are compelling, making the featurette worthwhile. Just keep your finger on the fast-forward button.

• Two Theatrical Trailers (3:04 total, SD) are included.

23:59 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's something approaching a resolution to "23:59," though it's impossible to catch the profundity Chan hopes to convey with his story of a malformed girl, her grieving mother, and Jeremy's spooky interactions with the pair. The antagonist is so sketchily defined and undeveloped as a threat, she's just another nightmare figure in movie already full of frightening things. Nothing about "23:59" makes much sense, but at the heart of the story lies a desire to share the experience of army camaraderie and the development of downtime ghost stories, passed along from year to year. There's genuine feeling put into the concept of the film, showing signs of real-life experience inspiring the work, but so little of this ambition makes it into the final cut. There's no intriguing study of barrack traditions and the telephone game of urban legends. Instead, Chen attempts to stuff all his ideas into a formulaic endeavor, without the cinematic seasoning required to step back and complete his malevolent inventions one at a time.