Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The Housemaid Blu-ray Movie Review

A ho-hum horror film of eroticism and ghosts

The Housemaid is an erotic horror thriller with Gothic undertones throughout the production. Executive produced by Louie Nguyen (The Lady Assassin, Go-Go Sisters), the stylized genre picture takes place in Vietnam circa the time-period of the First Indochina War. Written and directed by Derek Nguyen (The Potential Wives of Norman Mao), the story of the film prioritizes its eroticism and cheap scares above all else.

The eerie world of The Housemaid slowly plays out at a French estate established for the farming of harvest crops. The new housemaid to the estate is the drop-dead-sexy Linh (Kate Nhung), who goes from a life of poverty and orphanage to living in a house of wealth and privilege with Captain Sebastien Laurent (Jean-Michel Richaud) lusting after her during all of her off-duty hours.

As housemaid Linh learns the trade of her new profession under the direction of the house expert Mrs. Han (Kim Xuan) she accidentally awakens the monstrous ghost of Captain Sebastien Laurent's dead wife, Madame Camille (Svitlana Kovalenko). The ghost quickly realizes she is taking over her place as Sebastien's lover. Now it is up to Linh to fight for her survival against the ghost with a deadly and vicious agenda.

"Oh, no! I forgot to do my laundry."

The entire production is underwhelming and far less successful than one would hope to find in a true class thriller or horror film. The music score composed by Jerome Leroy (Chi Chi Em Em, #iKllr) is certainly a chore to have to listen to. The cinematography that is crafted by Sam Chase (Hollywood Adventures, Price Check) is uninspired and lacking in finesse. The production design by Jose Mari Pamintuan (Sword of the Assassin, Battle of the Brides) is average at best and feels like something straight out of a television movie.

The Housemaid is less successful at scaring up a good time than it should be and it won't win over audiences in the process. The film has awful special effects that will leave one wondering if the ghost needed some extra time for additional make up or fine tuning. The one saving grace to the absurdity which The Housemaid gives audiences in rampant spades is the outright sexiness of Kate Nhung (who delivers some truly sumptuous scenes that will steam audiences up).

Derek Nguyen attempts to make the production a sexy thriller that will keep audiences entertained through the course of the eroticism and the ghost scares the creep up from time to time. Yet this is certainly a film with a less successful storyline than is ideal. The script by Nguyen is barely even sufficient at crafting a tale that can connect one dot to the next. The Housemaid has a enormously ridiculous storyline that goes absolutely nowhere and fast. The film can't even be saved by the editing by Stephane Gauger (Saigon Electric, Kiss & Spell). If the edit could manage to save the film, the end result would be a movie with no minutes left. There would be nothing left to salvage.

The Housemaid Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment, The Housemaid has received a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition presentation in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen. This presentation is startlingly crisp and well-defined with great photography and beautiful lighting showcasing the Gothic cinematographic approach. The dark imagery looks fantastic throughout and colors pop with enough detail to mesmerize for the horror and spectacle of the film. A impressive transfer.

The Housemaid Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Housemaid has received a selection of lossless audio options presented with the original language audio: Vietnamese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Vietnamese uncompressed PCM 2.0 stereo. Both of the lossless audio options will provide viewers with a crisp and clear sounding presentation. The 5.1 surround sound track has excellent fidelity and sounds lovely. Dialogue is easy to understand throughout the entire presentation.

The track is very minimalistic in design for much of the presentation and only occasionally opens up a bit for the score track (except during a handful of action-horror sequences in which the surround sound channels are used to impressive effect) but the production also has some fake sounding surround sound effects for the horror scenes. An adequate sound design that is beautifully rendered by the encoding.The English subtitles are exceptional.

The Housemaid Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Housemaid Theatrical Trailer (HD, 1:39)

The Housemaid Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A underwhelming attempt at erotic horror filmmaking, The Housemaid is not as scary or impressive as the filmmakers wish it to be. Though there are some effective elements to the film (such as the vividly realized cinematography) the screenplay and direction are atrocious. The performances are stoic (and not in a good way). The Blu-ray release features an impressive presentation (both audio-video) but is not going to win over any new fans.